15 Ways to Declutter Your Mind

“I fear I am not in my perfect mind.” – King Lear

The mind, a powerful mechanism we humans have that separate us from other mammals. So powerful, it can control us when we don’t have control over it. In a fast paced world, full of stress, things to do, bills to pay, responsibilities to fulfill and just plain noise, we can easily end up with jumbled thoughts creating chaos in our minds. The problem here is finding a way to ease our minds and sort out our thoughts every now and then.

 We are usually very good and de-cluttering physical space you know. Well, some of us at least, tend to keep our workspace or home pretty much neat and keep our personal documents or work files in order. This seems pretty simple to accomplish. Now conquering the clutter in your mind might be a challenge up on a whole other level.

According to  zenhabits,” the brain is a complex and confusing organ, the core of us as human beings The mind is often covered in the scar tissue of old hurts and traumas, and layered in so many levels of consciousness not even the best of psychoanalysts has ever sorted through it.”.

 De-cluttering pretty much implies the simplification of things, which doesn’t sound too difficult. Here’s a list of things that Zenhabits recommends to clear our minds. Use a few, all of them, or combine to suit what’s best for you and your brain activity!

1. Breathe. Take a few deep breaths, and then for a few minutes, just focus on your breathing. Concentrate on your breathing as it comes into your body, and then as it goes out. It has a calming effect, especially if you continue to return your focus to your breath when your mind strays. It also allows other thoughts to just float away.

2. Write it down. If you have a bunch of things on your mind, it helps to get them on paper and off your mind.

3. Identify the essential. Identify what is most important in your life, and what’s most important for you to focus on right now. Make a short list for each of these things.

4. Eliminate. Now that you’ve identified the essential, you can identify what’s not essential. By eliminating as many of these things as possible, you can get a bunch of junk off your mind.

5. Journal. Similar to “write it down” above, but with a little more depth. Journaling helps you explore different areas of your life that you don’t think about much. And just getting these thoughts into some kind of a journal is a way of getting them out of your mind as well.

6. Rethink your sleep. If you don’t give it some thought, you won’t realize how much your sleep (or lack thereof) is affecting you.

7. Take a walk. Spending some physical energy clears the mind.

8. Watch less TV. TV fills your head with noise, without the redeeming qualities of music or reading or good conversation. Watch less TV, and you’ll notice your mind begin to ease.

9. Get in touch with nature. Somehow this can be calming and focusing at the same time.

10. Do less. Take your to-do list and cross off half the things on it. Just pick a few things to get done today, and focus on those.

11. Go slower. If you’re in a rush for everything, your mind will be on a rush as well. Take things at your own pace and your mind will thank you.

12. Let go.  Get rid of unnecessary emotions and thoughts like worries, anger or grudges.

13. De-clutter your surroundings. Visual clutter occupies part of your mind, even if you don’t realize it.

14. Single-task. Just focus on one task at a time. Clear away everything else, until you’re done with that task. Then focus on the next task, and so on.

15. Get a load off. Sometimes it can make a huge difference to unload our troubles on another human being. Just a talk can make a huge difference to your mental sanity.