A cluttered mind cannot accomplish anything. When the brain gets fogged up, the best remedy is to perform a thorough decluttering.

Do you feel like your mind is in a state of disarray?

Want to Declutter the Mind?

Is Physical Decluttering correlated with Decluttering of the Mind?

Who will not want to have solutions for such situations? Before we discuss further, I want to share my experience with you.

A few days back, I was working on an important project and in the midst of it, I started having problems with my laptop. It was not functioning the way it should. The laptop was performing slow and was even overheating while running too many applications. I was deeply concerned.

Is it getting old?

Does it need new components?

Which components need to be changed immediately?

Will I get the perfect match?

How much will it cost?

For how long will it work with the new components (if I get them changed)?

Do I need to purchase a new laptop?

From this perspective I even started looking for the most suitable model with my required configuration. It further led to a spiral of thoughts related to the alphas and omegas of the different configurations; and then again, there were the so important cost considerations.

In addition to that, the pieces of advice that I was getting from my friends were making the situation far from clear. In a nutshell, it was driving me crazy.

When it was enough and I could not take any more, I decided to visit a hardware expert. I explained the problem and gave the necessary details.

The answer that I received was beyond my expectation!

The person asked me not to worry at all. My laptop just needed a thorough cleaning and nothing more than that. I couldn’t believe my ears. A simple cleaning task was the solution to all my problems, and here I was getting hopping mad with the imaginary scenarios about all the changes and costs associated with it.

Many a times, the same thing happens with our brain as well. With the varied nature of tasks, be it related to home, office, business or family, our brain too sometimes feels overwhelmed. If this issue is not handled properly at the right time, then it may turn out to be a serious problem.

When our brain gets cluttered with ‘n’ number of thoughts, it is definitely going to fog our reasoning and decision making capacity. In order to defuse this fog we need to carry out a good spring cleaning.

Remove the Physical Clutter

De-cluttering of brain starts with removing the visible physical clutter around you. It includes your work-desk, room, cabin, car, wardrobe, drawers, shoe cabinet, handbag/wallet/purse or any such thing.

When your nerves feel clogged, then removing clutter from your surroundings, especially from the above mentioned places will definitely make you feel as if you have created some space for yourself. This physical activity will provide psychological relief to you.

So, let’s get going!

Do you have any inkling about the majority of the articles that you are carrying in your Handbag/Satchel/Wallet or the ones which you have placed in your drawers or wardrobe? It will only be after some painstaking activity that you will realize, how many unnecessary articles or junk or long-forgotten things are tucked away in the hidden corners.

You will be amazed by your discovery!

There is high possibility that you will immediately want to throw out some articles, and feel relieved to find certain objects that you had assumed to be lost. Quite possibly, you might have been planning to purchase a few accessories, but this recent discovery will save your time, money or even a trip to the nearby supermarket.

Time and again, it happens that you understand the significance of this activity; but due to some or other impending tasks you postpone and re-postpone it. The point which you are missing is – as the physical clutter goes on piling, the psychological clutter exacerbates too.

The sooner you get rid of this clutter, the better it is for the clear functioning of your brain.

Understand it this way:

Physical Cluttering leads to Cluttering of Mind

&

Physical Decluttering leads to Decluttering of Mind

A desk where files and folders are piling, yet papers are strewn in every direction. Stationery items are lying haphazardly and certain items on these piles are positioned precariously. Everything seems to be in a state of knife edge equilibrium, where getting one thing means an avalanche. Will you see such a situation worthy of taking pride? Yet, some people maintain this view that this is how a desk of a person, who is busy multitasking all the time, looks like. It’s mere codswallop!

Just as Rome was not built in a day, likewise such a pile is not a product of a day or two. It reflects the lackadaisical attitude of the person concerned. You need to get it straight from the very beginning that such an attitude will hamper your work as well as your thought process. An organized work desk will help you think much clearly than a cluttered one.

Make space on your desk and discard the junk. It will have a positive effect on your thoughts.

If you are still disbelieving about the linkage between these two phenomena, carry out another exercise. Whenever you are in such a situation (your work-desk is in a remarkable state of disarray), keep stock of your thought process. Pay attention to your state of mind –

What kind of thoughts are you experiencing?

What is the degree of clarity of those thoughts?

How slow or fast is your decision making process?

The answers to these questions will remove all or any of your doubts and you will be able to clear the mess of your thinking device by clearing the nearby physical clutter.

Your wardrobe and shoe cabinet also provide good tips to clear your mind.

Make a raid!

Aha!

So, have you hit upon something?

There will be such tees and sweat shirts and pair of loafers and what not that need be immediately chucked out. Some ought to be mended and would be as good as new. Rearranging the rest will make it easy for you to make immediate choices among your belongings and create space for new articles. It’s better if you go for categorization for your apparel and accessories – daily wear, casual, party wear, formal or any other category that suits your lifestyle.

You will realize that you have a similar situation with your brain. There are many such issues that you are clinging to and you need to let them go. Besides, there are some that are weighting you down, and all you require is to sort them out.

You should not waste your time and energy on matters that are irreparable. They are merely emotional burdens and the sooner you get rid of them, the better. Focus your energy on the matters that can be mended.

See! Your wardrobe cleaning is going to make you a rational being. The candle is indeed worth the game!

Create/Design Something New

When you are engrossed in the routine of your life for a prolonged period of time, you will definitely feel like stuck in a rut. To break the monotony, you should divert your energy towards something creative. It can even be a new way of doing the same work.

Let’s say while going to your work place, you follow the same route day after day. Most of the times, you don’t even pay attention to the details of your routine drive. Even if your brain is clouded with thoughts, it has acclimatized to the route in such a way that no matter how crowded it is or how circuitous it is, you can still reach your destination with the help of internal GPS guided by your subconscious mind.

Then one fine day, due to some circumstances you have to change your route.

With this change, you now pay attention to things that you generally do not. Some landmarks will fascinate you, some may derive your criticism, while some may arose some curiosity. Whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure that it will be different from your routine ride and you will get out of your reverie which otherwise does not happen.

When you focus on creating or designing something, your brain concentrates on the new activity and thus gets recharged.

Creating something can include anything – be it some utilitarian item from waste material, a collage or designer re-framing of old photographs, small repair work, stitching, quilling, flower arrangement, some experiments with paints on different household stuff, etc.

Once you start with this type of activity, you will understand its utility in various ways. You will further get new ideas for designing and furnishing which you can do yourself without incurring any extra cost. Most importantly, it will be interesting and invigorating, thus re-energizing your brain to work more productively.

Nourish Your Mind through Cooking

If you like cooking and are a regular cook, then try some new recipe. On the other hand, if you are a person who is not much into cooking (just managing few simple tasks like brewing tea or coffee or preparing a salad), it’s time to upgrade now.

Even performing the regular chores in and around your kitchen proves to be very fruitful.

Cooking needs imagination, efforts, patience and practice. It involves all the attributes that can clear your foggy state of mind.

Whenever your mind is perplexed, gather all your faculties and immerse yourself in cooking. It is essential to focus yourself on the work in hand and do not let the muddling thoughts distress you. The end product of this manoeuvre is a yummy delight which not only declutters your mind but also satisfies you. As a bonus, it brings a smile on the face of your near and dear ones.

Refresh Your Mind with Gardening

Working with nature always induces clarity of mind and the fun about gardening is that you don’t need an extensive garden to practice it. While working with soil, water and manure, you will enjoy the peace of mind.

As you get engrossed in cutting, pruning, applying fertilizer or manure to the plants, you will feel more connected to Mother Nature. Above all, the verdant foliage will have a soothing effect on your senses.

Plants are that type of God’s creation that breathe in toxins and pollution from their surroundings and breathe out energy and life for others. Taking care of them provides tranquility. Particularly, a tranquil mind is indispensable for rearranging one’s thoughts, removing the clutter and increasing the productivity of brain.

Exercise or Practice Yoga to Boost Your Mind

Motivate yourself to do some exercises. With an effort of will, you can push yourself in this direction. You really have to!

Yes, exercising releases good hormones that will motivate you, refresh you and keep the limbs in proper functioning state. Just start with a few simple moves. You don’t need to attack the gym head on. While exercising, just concentrate on maintaining the right posture and move. Do not ponder about the impending tasks or ongoing issues.

Yoga and physical exercise are immensely instrumental in decluttering your mind.

You can start with simple workout incorporating movements of arms, neck, shoulders, legs, etc. A step ahead can be practicing yoga or pranayama, followed by meditation. It regulates the breathing process along with stimulating the brain. This is essential for creating harmony among the trinity of mind, body and soul.

Learn a New Skill or Upgrade an Existing One

Skill development does not necessarily mean joining a new course or workshop (online or physical classroom based). Watch any subtle difference in your modes operandi that can bear a positive impact. Practicing with such simple changes bring about major positive changes in the cluttered state of mind.

For instance, in your general speech you may have been using too many slang words or clichés. There might be repetitiveness in your usage of certain words or phrases. Practice paying attention to such minor things while speaking. Avoid their usage or reduce their usage to a minimum. Try replacing them with more expressive words or phrases. In this way, you will develop a skill of impressive speech and thus make yourself more assertive.

Another skill could be photography. We all like to click photographs of different events, activities, occasions and festivals. One likes to click, click and click a lot. With friends, while traveling, visiting people or places or even when sipping a daily cup of coffee/tea, we like to capture those precious moments. Our smart devices have made this activity fuss-free and quite fascinating.

Improve your photography skills by learning how to click better photographs in different environments. You may even train yourself to display photographs around you in an innovative manner. It captures the heart of your family members and friends. Getting the hang of varied photography software stir up your mind too.

If you want to learn a new skill through some structured training process, then the world wide web will go a long way in lending you a helping hand. You will be spoiled for choice in selecting a new one among the available myriad online courses and webinars.

By learning something new that you enjoy, the creative side of the mind paves way for decluttering confusing thoughts. You even find solutions to the challenges that have been bothering you for a long time.

Skills are skills. Everyone likes to do something that they enjoy. Start upgrading yourself in this field. It could be anything that soothes your mind and helps in triggering new ideas.

While your brain is busy in processing any new function, it uplifts both your performance and mood. You get out of that messy situation of your mind, thus achieving a win-win situation.