Spring Cleaning for Your Soul, Day 8: Organize Your Mental Clutter

Welcome to Day 8 of our Spring Cleaning for Your Soul challenge. Thank you for continuing to follow along!

Nature does a cyclical purge each winter. This clearing is necessary to make way for new life in spring time. Whatever dies returns again in a new and nourishing form.

Think of a pine tree, shedding its needles to form an insulating carpet for the forest floor. The spent needles decompose along with other dead plant matter, into the most rich, fertile and life giving soil. Death brings life in a new form.

So now we see how nature’s built-in cleaning process is really a readying for new growth. Our planet knows how to recycle what is no longer useful. The growth happens once the purge is complete.

When spring comes, most people get a strong urge to clear away what is no longer needed to make room for something fresh and new in their lives.

This is just as important a process for your mental health as it is if you like to maintain clean and clutter-free surroundings in your home.

Get Rid of Mental Clutter

How can you get rid of mental clutter?

The thoughts that occupy your mind arrive there from various sources.

You may be talking to people who fill your head with doubt and confusion. One way to stop other people from taking over your thoughts is by limiting the amount of time you spend with such people each day.

Start becoming more direct. Directness has to do with knowing which path will get you to your desired outcome in the quickest and most effective way.

To do this, you must actively ignore any messages that you receive from other people which don’t further your goal. This doesn’t mean being rude. It just means knowing when to move on to the next thing.

You must also recognize patterns and repetition in your daily life. Be more aware of what’s happening and what works. If something works for you, remember what you did and then do it the same way the next time.

Give your mind a daily rest. This could take the form of some brief yoga stretches, a short walk in nature, or a 15-minute power nap. Or maybe your mental clearing could come in the form of some alone time to relax and meditate –without other people and without the constant interruption of your smart phone.

Once you make the above tasks into habit, you’ll find that you’re a lot less stressed and confused in general.

Journal Exercise: Clear Your Mind

To clear your mind, address the deeper issues. We tend to become stressed when we play avoidance games in our own heads. Let’s say that you’re really bothered by something that a loved one said to you today. Their words hurt you, and you aren’t quite sure what they meant.

As you go about your day, you find yourself tensing up, taking everything to seriously, and stressing out. The small things that you’re having to deal with are really getting to you, and your thoughts are racing. You find yourself taking your anxiety out on others, picking on how they’re doing things and becoming short on patience and understanding.

For today’s mind-clearing journal entry, we’ll be isolating That Thing that’s really bothering you.

Write down what happened. Go into details. Even if you think this is silly, and something you would never actually talk about, you’re spending today alone with your own mind. So feel free to express what’s bothering you in whatever words you like.

Once you’ve written down all the details, read through it and see if there is anything you could have done differently.

Do you want to take up the problem again and try to influence what happens?

Or would you rather let it go?

Once you’ve thoroughly examined whatever is causing you frustration, choose to set aside your difficulty. You are now cleansed of the thoughts that were cluttering your mind. Take a well deserved break from thinking and feeling!

Now you’re ready to grow from what you’ve learned.

Set Your Intention:

What are your favorite ways to de-clutter yourself mentally? It could be journaling, choosing to spend time with people who support your goals, taking an afternoon nap, or something else.

Commit to doing one each day.

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Loving Life — The Reboot!

Dominique