Reducing mental clutter is necessary for bringing calm to your life. It may not happen overnight, but there are simple ways to eliminate the clutter to achieve a peaceful quiet.
Your boss wants that report as soon as possible. Your dog has a vet appointment today. Your furnace isn’t working properly. Your daughter wants you to drop off her sneakers for gym class. It may feel like constant stress overwhelming your thoughts, but I assure you it is possible to find serenity in all the madness.
This blog post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.
What Is Mental Clutter?
When we think of clutter, the first thing that comes to mind is an unorganized mess – in physical form. But, clutter comes in all shapes and sizes. Mental clutter is a chaotic, unorganized mind. Simply put, it is when the mind has too many thoughts running through it, making it difficult to process all of them.
Think of decluttering your thoughts much the same way as decluttering your home. Maybe you declutter every spring, or maybe it’s when you’ve accumulated too much “stuff” and you are feeling overpowered by it. When you realize your home needs to be decluttered, you work on tidying it up. Now, take that same idea but instead of cleaning out your home, you tidy up your mind.
“Mental clutter is the stuff that keeps us stuck in self-sabotage, suffering, struggle, stress and separation. It is the stuff that makes life hard and complicated.”
Yvette Bowlin from Declutterist.com
In order to become the absolute best version of yourself and find your inner peace, you have to declutter your mind. Much like a dirty, disorganized office space can be counterproductive, a mind that’s constantly riddled with random thoughts, fears, and ideas can leave you unfocused and incapable of any real accomplishments. Worrying thoughts about what lies ahead and reliving past regrets is not conducive to reaching your life goals.
“Clutter isn’t just in your home, attic, garage or office. Clutter is also in your mind, and it distracts you from the amazing things you are meant to be.”
Katrina Mayer
How to Begin Decluttering Your Mind
A great place to start is always cleaning up your home and work environment. If you have piles and piles of random projects lying around, your brain will get the idea that there’s always something pressing that needs to be done. Creating a serene, peaceful, and organized space will make you more mindful.
You’ll be far more effective in all life areas once you’ve made a concerted effort to get rid of mental clutter. Keep in mind that brain clutter, much like physical clutter, can be quite addictive, especially if you’ve become conditioned to living with it. Despite the temporary discomfort that mental decluttering might cause, ongoing efforts to remain clear and focused thinking will definitely pay off.
Don’t miss this new post if you are looking for the steps to a full spring mind and body reset.
Emotions take up essential space in our minds. They make it difficult for you to bring new things into your life that actually add value. A large majority of mental clutter is usually tied to things in the past. You might feel regret about how past friendships ended, or you may be holding onto pain from your childhood. Although these emotions are likely buried quite deeply, they’re guaranteed to have an impact on your day-to-day decisions and actions.
Use a journal to list the different forms of baggage that you’ve been carrying around with you. Then, try to make peace with each of these things, one by one. You’ll feel infinitely lighter once you do.
If you want to get all that clutter and overwhelm and stress out of your mind, you need to start thinking more positively, and more importantly, stop feeling sorry for yourself. What has already happened can’t be undone, so all you can do now is accept it and move forward. Instead of telling yourself, you can’t do something, think of a way you can. A way to do this is to change your perspective and goals. Learning to have confidence in yourself and your own abilities, will help to sweep that clutter from your mind.
Mental clutter accumulates because you don’t allow yourself the courage or motivation to get things done. Don’t allow your own self-doubt to take up space in your mind. When you think more positively, gain confidence, and understand your own abilities, you will be able to tackle things you have been dreaming about.
“You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are filled with yesterday’s junk.”
Louise Smith
Simple Ways To Remove Mental Clutter
Take Inventory
If you want to declutter your mind, you need to get all of those thoughts, worries, stresses, and feelings out of your head. Start writing everything down, any time you are trying to work through something.
Break Bad Habits
Bad habits add up over time. Even things that started out small can escalate into bad habits that are hard to break from and can cost you in the long run.
Say Goodbye
Are there any toxic relationships in your life? It may be time to part ways with those that do not lift you up or enrich your life.
Clean Up Your Diet
Sorting your diet is a wonderful way to add some mental clarity into your life. It’s no secret what we eat can affect our mind and body, so think about adding more natural whole foods into your diet and cutting back on sugar and processed foods.
Turn Off the Screens
Don’t be afraid to unplug from technology and enjoy living in the moment more. Spending less time attached to your devices will go a long way in helping declutter your mind.
Set Priorities
Start setting priorities with what you deal with on your own, and what you delegate, or choose to skip entirely. Keep a list of things you have going on, then put them in order of highest to lowest priority.
Adjust Your Goals
Are your goals working out? You should be adjusting them every so often. Figure out what is working and what isn’t and adjust accordingly.
“Out of clutter, find simplicity.”
Albert Einstein
Clearing away the mental clutter will lead you to a happier, and calmed inner peace.
Tools to Reduce Mental Clutter
For additional help on getting more inspiration on calming your mind and finding clarity and focus in your life:
Calm Your Mind
This printable workbook will help you create habits and routines that quiet the mind and turn off stress and anxiety.
Declutter Your Mind
Learn to live more in the moment with less overwhelming thoughts causing stress and anxiety in your already cluttered mind.
Positive Mindset Toolkit
A collection of printable tools that will help to improve a negative mindset with exercises focused on positive thoughts, a growth mindset, and eliminating limiting beliefs.
