Beautiful Spring is here and as it’s commonly known as a time of year for clearing, cleansing and renewal, so I thought it apt to zero in to the idea of ‘letting things go’.
Without a doubt, all of us could benefit from the notion of shedding the excess and clearing the clutter. Be it excess weight, excess stuff, excess demands on our time, excess doing-ness, and certainly excess mental clutter. As I invite you this month to become more of a clutter-buster, know that’s it’s with the intent of creating less of a few things: less busyness, less harried-ness, less rumination and anxiety, and just less stress in the system all round.
It’s also with the intent of creating the space for more of a few things too: more clarity, more balance, more well-being, more joy, more ease and relaxedness, and just more white space. What I mean by white space here is very literal. It means looking at your calendar and seeing just that – white space! Meaning no obligation, no have to’s or ‘scheduled somethings’. Just beautiful white space that means you get to do as you like😊
It’s incredibly powerful to mind and body to see it - I promise!
The notion of clutter-busting doesn’t end in any 1 place for most of us. Without conscious intent, we all manage to accumulate and stock-pile too much of too many things that really just end up serving as de-energisers. Sometimes, less choice is actually a relief.
Have you ever stood in the milk or bread at the supermarket marvelling at the oh-so-many combinations and offerings that leaves you feeling a little fatigued by the time a choice is made. Even when you’re looking for your favourite ‘same-old’, you have to wade through all the many other options to find it. It can be exhausting. Even that’s a kind of clutter!
As Spring unfolds, so too might our commitment to a bit more of a conscious effort to clear out or clear away, some of the excess – both physical stuff as well as emotional weigh-downs and recoup that energy to channel into more inspiring and uplifting avenues.
Here are some quick tips to keep your physical (outer-world) environment in check:
Start small – when you first begin your clearing or declutter it can easily move to feeling overwhelming as you’re now up close and personal to what you have and how much you have. So start with just 1 small area and move out from there. You’ll gather momentum more readily in bite sized efforts. You can even set a timer to ensure you keep it manageable.
Disposal using the 4-box method – labelling 4 boxes as ‘keep, donate, sell, rubbish’ helps you to sort items and make decisions about them more effectively
Focus on functionality – this means keeping only what adds value to your life. Value may be the actual function of the item or that it brings you joy, peace, happiness and the like. If you find something you didn’t realise you owned, or you haven’t used it for at least 6 months, you probably won’t miss it – so let it go!
Aim for clear flat surfaces – a sense of space or congestion is largely influenced by visible benchtop or tabletop clutter, so tidy these often.
Consider digitising where possible – photos, documents, receipts and other sentimentals can these days be digitised which immediately reduces the ‘stuff’ filling our space. There are even professional services that will do it for you!
Be bold with the sentimental items – select just a few that hold the strongest memories and emotional connection for you. For the others, perhaps take a photo of them and then let the actual item go.
Cultivate a ‘tidy as you go’ philosophy – cleaning and clearing as move through your day minimises the potential for accumulation that later becomes the potentially overwhelming.
Consider setting de-cluttering goals – establishing a daily or weekly target will help you keep on top of it and track your progress.
By maintaining these simple habits, decluttering becomes more manageable and less stressful over time.
Here are quick tips to keep your emotional (inner-world) environment in check:
Practice mindfulness – even a few minutes a day of focussed breathing and presence goes a long way to shedding inner world clutter and noise, helping you to recalibrate and refresh. A clearer perspective puts you back in the driver’s seat of life/work.
Acknowledge your feelings – ignoring or suppressing emotions is like accumulating baggage. Allow yourself to feel your feelings, acknowledge them without guilt, then let them go.
Be bold with healthy boundaries – not saying no when necessary just adds to your plate in terms of actual time consumption and/or emotional baggage. It’ll take some practise, but it can be done.
Consider journalling – this is a great way to clear the inner world by downloading thoughts, feelings and concerns onto paper. It gets them out, creating space and often, also objectivity, which is helpful towards sorting through and solving things.
Start practising gratitude – a funny one to think about in a conversation about clutter-busting, but by taking the time to zero in on what really matters, and has real meaning in your life, you simplify the mental landscape and load. A focus on the positive is a focus away from stress and negativity which is of itself a kind of clutter we carry about.
Move your body more – even light activity daily helps to reduce emotional tension and that’s a win in the argument against inner-clutter.
Make sleeping well a priority – having enough good rest is vital to resilience and overall effectiveness. The positive perspective that enough rest enables is of itself a reduction in mental load, even before you do anything else.
Practise being gentle on you – self compassion, especially when you make mistakes means you’re not adding to the ‘stuff’ you’re carrying about emotionally or mentally. By being kind with you, you allow yourself to ‘let it go’ and move through what might have otherwise been a stuckness you hold onto.
Limit negativity – this means all negative consumption – news, media, social media, people etc. Negativity is burdensome and we’re looking at trying to unload not add to.
Stay connected and open to support – trusted people in your world can be helpful in lightening a load when things seem too much. Talking things out, sharing different perspectives and generally supporting each other is an effective emotional clutter-buster.
Remember to breathe – when you’re feeling at threshold and a little too cluttered-up, breathing is a quick real-time sure-fire fix. Try inhaling slowly for 4s, hold for 4s, then exhale for 4s and repeat. This calm your nervous system and resets the inner landscape.
Set small, achievable goals – breaking things down into bite-sized chunks minimises overwhelm and the feeling of ‘too much - too big’. Ticking off boxes on smaller subsets of goals invokes a sense of control, can-do-ness and accomplishment. A little momentum promotes more. As energy moves, sticky-ness recedes. It’s a win-win.
OK, so neither is an exhausted list of course, but hopefully there are some good starters for a revised daily/weekly routine that sees you creating more balance and space in both your inner and outer worlds. Happy clutter-busting!