Spring Cleaning To Declutter Your Mind
Spring cleaning is like this quarter's New Years Resolutions, it’s great that we make a whole big event around it but why did we let it get to this point in the first place?
Whether you embrace the springtime for decluttering your surroundings or you keep it up year-round, we all can benefit from doing some more mindful decluttering not only of our environment but also our mental and emotional framework.
Decluttering may leave you with the feeling of a great sigh of relief - not only because your physical space is in more harmony but also your mental state has been granted a reprieve.
We all know the basic principles of decluttering - gather up the junk you don’t use anymore and donate, sell, or throw it out. Today I want to share with you a few brief techniques that may help in your spring cleaning efforts but I also want to emphasize how your physical reality translates to your emotional state and vice versa and if you’re spring cleaning, you might as well clean up the attic too.
The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up
Marie Kondo has become the patron saint for tidying up and admired by minimalists around the globe because of her book and the inspiration she provides as a professional organizer. It’s become so popular that Netflix has made a series out of it. If you want a fresh take on tidying up that will have you actually enjoying the process, The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up is a short, but complete, reference to how you can declutter your physical space to create joy in your life.
The basic rule of the “KonMari” method is that you organize by category not location and gather every item into one pile before discarding anything. A massive pile of stuff that you barely use will leave quite the impression on you during this process. You are to take each and every single item and ask yourself if it sparks joy. This may seem like a strange practice with inanimate objects but is the core principle of the KonMari method and seems to be the reason this practice works so well to tidy and maintain that tidy sanctuary once you’ve done it.
Sort in this order clothes -> books -> papers -> miscellany -> mementos
Treating your objects with such reverence shouldn’t be hard to do if they are actually that meaningful to you. If you can’t bring yourself to think of the joy you get from a particular item, it’s time to discard it.
Emotional Baggage Impedes Focus
Spring cleaning can be a great time to discard your emotional baggage as well. The physical act of decluttering lends itself well to improving your mood and this is the perfect time to declutter your headspace.
Consider Jim Rohn’s statement that “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
During your spring cleaning efforts, ponder your emotional state and who is contributing positively or negatively to your life.
If you don’t get rid of the wrong friends you will never meet the right friends.
Is it time to fire your friends? Maybe even a family member?
Emotional decluttering is much harder than cleaning up your living space but will lead to greater breakthroughs in your life.
This doesn’t happen overnight, although I suppose it could if you wanted to be really aggressive with your action plan. Don’t just point the finger and throw out blame in this process though.
If you’re going to blame someone for all the bad that has happened in your life, be sure that you are also ready to thank them for everything good that has led you to where you are as well.
You must lead with grace to truly exit a relationship with peace of mind and a clean slate.
A Clean Slate Leads To More Flow
Physical clutter is distracting when you are trying to do deep work but emotional turmoil can be catastrophic. Whatever you do in your life can benefit from being in a flow state. It’s what leads to finding meaning in our lives.
You can’t find flow when in a bad mood.
In this week’s FlowCast, Telsi makes the analogy of your mind is like a river flowing smoothly versus the rapids where all the jagged rocks are.
We all face those rapids but the more that you can smooth out your mental landscape the more productive and creative you will become.
If you want to learn more about strategies you can use to do your spring cleaning more effectively this year, check out this week’s episode of the FlowCast where we dive even deeper into this topic and subscribe on Apple Podcast to get notified when a new episode comes out.