6 Strategies to Declutter Your Mind
Today, I wish to share 6 SIMPLE STRATEGIES that can help you Declutter Your Mind.
Before we even get into the strategies let us first understand the causes of mental clutter. I often give the analogy of a Chariot to my coachees. The chariot is our BODY, the Horses represent our MIND, and we are the Charioteer (SOUL). If we let the horses go wild, you can only imagine our state and that of our chariot.
The MIND in its natural state is calm and peaceful. But the chemical reaction caused by our recurring thoughts, fears, and other emotions, makes it unstable and pushes us into the Fight, Flight or Freeze mode. It is this processing of recurring thoughts and fears is what clutters the mind and we feel like life is getting out of control.
It is quite natural for us to go through this. When the MIND is cluttered, we lose control of our true being and we get stuck or take some impulsive decisions. It is essential to take a step back and realign ourselves.
Here are 6 Strategies to Declutter Your Mind.
1) Understand What’s Holding You Back – the most basic thing anyone would do is to diagnose what is happening inside their mind. Ask yourself, what is making you feel out of control. What are those recurring thoughts that are keeping you awake in the night, what fears are holding you back or what is making you feel lost or confused? Typically, when this happens, we tend to freeze, wish to run away or we create drama in our lives. Very rarely do we take a step back and introspect on what is happening. It is essential to connect to these recurring thoughts, fears and feeling of being lost. These are our thoughts and fears and if we do not connect to those then who will? You may feel anxious but believe me, this connection will help you move forward. You need to BECOME ONE with your Recurring thoughts and Fears.
2) Address Your Recurring Thoughts and Emotions – once you have established the connection and identified your recurring thoughts, fears and confusion, the next step would be to decode the message they are trying to give you. When I quit my job in 2019 to start my own firm, I was excited (well, of course I still am) at the start but as the days went by, my anxiety took over, I kept imagining the worst, had an extremely high fear of failure and fear of losing all my money. It took me a while to understand what was happening and I connected to my feelings and fears. All these thoughts and fears were asking me to TAKE CHARGE OF MY LIFE! It is extremely essential to decode every thought and emotion because they carry a deep message for us and help us unlock the next level of our life’s puzzle. So dear friends, please address your thoughts and emotions that may be holding you back – you will be able to unlock it and move forward.
3) Determine What Matters to You – now, you need to determine what matters to you. The ANSWER is SIMPLE – the only thing that matters is YOU. Worrying about the future or worrying about failure or judgements of people will not get us anywhere. We need to focus on understanding WHO WE ARE and focus on moving forward in life. In your life, you may be at a stage where you are either contemplating to either start your new venture or accept a new job. Millions of thoughts may be crossing your mind – remember that YOU MATTER, and YOU CAN Influence people regardless of what the people around you may be thinking. REMEMBER THAT YOU MATTER and YOUR VIEWS MATTER. When I TOOK CHARGE of MY LIFE the only thing that mattered to me was MY PURPOSE and MY ABILITY to FULFILL IT.
4) Declutter Your Environment – allow yourself a few days to declutter your mind completely. While your mind is busy decluttering itself – you may want to spend some time decluttering your surroundings. Declutter your room, wardrobe, and your desk. Clutter in your room also has a direct impact on further cluttering your mind – so get rid of things that are of no use to you and keep your room, desk, and wardrobe clean and lean.
5) Meditate – typically this is the first step people would take to declutter their mind. I often ask people to declutter first, identify what matters and then meditate. Also, my style of meditation is slightly different. When you meditate, do not focus on any object. Allow your thoughts to flow, allow yourself to drift away during your meditation. It is all right if you fall asleep. Be sure to meditate only for 15 mins (you could listen to some soft music and keep a timer for 15 mins). Once you are done meditating, spend the next 5 minutes jotting down the most important thoughts that may have crossed during your meditation. Practice this for 21 days and feel the difference. You will realize that allowing your thoughts to flow during the meditation has allowed your mind to get rid of unwanted thoughts. Some of my clients have practiced this and have found a change in their thinking patterns.
If you need steps for this meditation, please post in the comments section below saying, “I NEED TO DECLUTTER” and I will send you the steps to meditate.
6) Practice Being You – the final step in decluttering your mind is to start practicing the art of Being Your Authentic Self. Just Be Who You Are. Of course, you may want to first find out your true self You need to understand that you are fine just the way you are! Stop looking for external validation, you have the capability to validate your own thoughts, feelings, and actions. Allow yourself to make mistakes, be fine with failing and most importantly stop judging yourself.
I know it is not easy to remember all these steps. So let me summarize it for you – Identify what is troubling you, decode the message it is trying to offer, identify what matters to you and Just Be Who You Are! Most importantly STOP JUDGING YOURSELF!
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