"Clutter is not just the stuff on your floor - it's anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living." - Peter Walsh ( It's All Too Much)
Mindfulness experts all agree that a cluttered environment equates to a cluttered mind. I'm not sure about you, but I find this to be absolute TRUTH! When the surface area of my desk is cluttered, and disorganized, my thoughts are all over the place, my focus is lacking, and my motivation tanked the second that clear surface on the hutch gained an un-filed treatment report. Here's what the research says about that!
In a recent University of New Mexico study, it was concluded that cluttered home environments are directly correlated to lower subjective well-being, unhealthier eating, poor mental health, less effective visual processing, and less efficient thinking.
So, why do we collect, things in such an unorganized fashion when it causes all this physical, mental, and emotional chaos?
Clutter is sneaky! It happens unintentionally. It happens when we are focused in a million directions at once!
We hang onto things. We cling to stuff because we are fearful of not having it.
Clutter is an subconscious intent to fill a void
Okay. So, our junk is about what we aren't addressing emotionally? YES! Clutter in our environment - home, office, car - is a symbolic representation of what we are trying to fill within ourselves. We need to evaluate the intended purpose of our things, versus the purpose they are serving. This includes our thoughts and feelings.
Give these steps a go:
1. Organize - create piles (trash/shred, file/put away, keep/store)
2. Ask what was the original intended purpose of keeps?
3. What purpose is currently being served?
4. Establish a daily "tidy process"
Tidy process is a daily routine. Just like yoga, meditation, workout, or eating habits, organization requires a daily practice. Are you living Mindful or Mind-full, as evidenced by your environment?