I recently posted about the direct connection between clutter and your mental wellbeing in my Rising Leader newsletter on LinkedIn. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please click here to do so.
Clutter directly impacts your brain, in fact, according to Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), ‘What Does Clutter Do To Your Brain and Body,’ “Our brains like order, and constant visual reminders of disorganization drain our cognitive resources, reducing our ability to focus. The visual distraction of clutter increases cognitive overload and can reduce our working memory.” Kerry Thomas, Organizing and Productivity Consultant, suggests in the article written by Inc ‘The 5 Types of Clutter That Are Destroying Your Peace of Mind,’ “We don’t just feel overwhelmed because our closets, inboxes, or to-do lists are overflowing (though that’s certainly often a contributing factor). Our minds and our consciences are just as often messy and stress-inducing.” Thomas teaches her clients to address the five key types of clutter:
- Physical clutter – This is the typical stuff we think of — the closets that are overflowing, the garages that can’t hold cars, the storage units that have become a billion-dollar industry in the U.S. alone.
- Digital clutter – Have thousands of unread emails in your inbox? Then you have digital clutter. But it’s also all the files saved on your computer without naming conventions, so you don’t know what they are and you spend a lot of time looking for the ones you want.
- Mental clutter – This could be your fears, your to-do list, what’s going on in the news, or anything else that’s filling your head at night.
- Emotional clutter – This type of clutter consists of negative patterns and beliefs you don’t even realize that you’re carrying around and can include can’t statements like I can’t lose weight or I can’t quit my job and own my own business.
- Spiritual clutter – This is a lack of forgiveness or a lack of peace.
Clutter can present itself in many forms such as an old belief system, a toxic relationship, an old resentment, negative self-talk, too much time spent on social media, binge-eating, or an unwillingness to change. It can hold you back and keep you stuck in negative habits and patterns that no longer serve you both personally and professionally. Read on to learn some powerful tools that can help you DECLUTTER your life, and set you on the road to freedom and your higher self.