Clearing your Mind from Useless Clutter

I write a lot about mindfulness, gratitude and manifesting, you may have noticed that all three of these things work in tandem. You can’t practice mindfulness without being grateful, and the same goes for manifesting. To manifest anything, you must be able to practice mindfulness. The three go hand in hand in hand. But none of them will come easy if your mind is filled with the clutter that we tend to hoard.

As we go into the fall and winter months, the holidays – when things tend to get pretty hectic – it’s a good time to step back and do a little decluttering. According to researchers, we have at least 60,000 thoughts each day. That’s a lot of thoughts, and most of them aren’t relevant to what we are doing in the moment. Most of our thoughts tend to be worrying about the past and worrying about the future – How will I pay all my bills? I shouldn’t have said that thing to my sister. I really need to lose weight. I wish I had more money. We spend a lot of time ruminating, but that isn’t productive, and can actually be harmful.

By decluttering your mind, you can reduce the amount of time you spend thinking about things that you can’t control – which is pretty much everything if you think about it. Let go of the worry and rumination by following these insanely simple tips. Of course they aren’t that easy, decluttering and thinking differently take effort, but with practice you can kick those old habits to the curb and spend your thoughts on the here and now – where they belong. You’ll find it much easier to practice gratitude, mindfulness and manifesting with a decluttered mind.

Clearing your Mind from Useless Clutter

Breathe

It seems so simple, and yet most of us forget that by taking a few deep breaths we can reduce our anxiety and think more clearly. When you are stressed out, or in the middle of being completely overwhelmed take a break and breathe. If you have a smartwatch there are many apps that will guide you in simple breathing exercises. If not simply inhale through your nose to the count of 4, hold your breath for a count of seven and then exhale completely through your mouth to the count of 8. Repeat three times and you’ll feel surprisingly better. Go ahead, give it a try.

Stop Feeling Sorry for Yourself

There’s nothing like a pity party on the couch with Ben and Jerry, but after the first pint is gone it’s time to get up, and face life head on. We tend to feel sorry for ourselves when we feel trapped, we can’t do anything to change the diagnosis, the breakup, the lost loved one. It is heartbreaking, and spending time in your anguish isn’t a bad thing. When you decide to live in it, it becomes a bad thing, a really bad thing. You’re not a victim, you got this. Even if you can’t do anything to change what is going on, you can take steps to feel more empowered. That could be reading a book, donating your time, talking to a friend, or any number of things you can do to lift yourself out of your slump. Want to feel better? Go to the local humane society and volunteer to walk a dog or sit with the cats who need a new home.

Get Rid of Doubt

We spend way too much time doubting ourselves. What a waste of energy that is! If you’ve done the thing to the best of your ability, then let it go and move on. If you really aren’t sure of yourself, then ask for help. When you start falling into the self doubt rut, challenge yourself. Try something new and master it. Nothing gives us confidence like learning something new. The problem is as adults we don’t seek new things to learn. Get off the couch and learn how to throw clay, or take a kickboxing class, learn a new language – whatever excites you, whatever it is you’ve always wanted to try but didn’t because you were scared to fail – get out and do it.

Talk it Out

If you’ve been spending too much time worrying about a thing – real or imagined – talk it out with a friend or professional. We tend to ruminate about things that frighten us — How am I going to pay all my bills when I just lost my job? What if the worst possible thing happens? We worry about things that often never materialize. Sometimes talking about our fears (or writing them down) is enough to kick them out of autoplay in our heads. Getting a fresh perspective can also be helpful.

Decluttering your mind shouldn’t be too difficult a task, you just need to do it every now and again. Think of it as taking out the trash when the container gets full. Once you’ve taken it out, you don’t think about it again – the same goes for thoughts that are preventing you from living in the now.