5 Ways to Declutter your Mind

We always have something to decide every day. What to have for lunch? Where to go for the holidays? What do I need for the presentation? Should I take the bus or the MRT? What should I wear today?

All these thoughts run behind one another cluttering our mind and rendering us inefficient. When you walk into a room and forget why, when you go to sleep but stay awake, when you start forgetting appointments and occasions, that is a sign that you’ve exhausted your mind.

Since our minds are not dinner tables, how do we clear our mind? Below are some tips to help you in the process.

1. Organize your Work-space

A cluttered work-space reflects your cluttered mind.
Try rooting through all those papers in your desk, to find the single sheet due today—it will drive you crazy. A cluttered space will not only mentally wear you down, it will distract your focus and you will end up spending more time finding what you need than doing what you have to do. Allocate a place for every item in your space. For example, pens and pencils go into a cup, papers due immediate to your right, papers that can wait in to your drawers, old papers filed away, work you have completed to your left and trash into the bin. See, you’ll be able to tell which item is where in your sleep.

2. Organize your Wardrobe

We all have that crisis at some point in our life, don’t we? We wake up to go to work, stand in front of our closet and wonder what to wear. After almost 15 minutes of contemplation, we decide on a shirt only to realize it doesn’t fit. So, we spend another 15 minutes only to realize we’re running late. The solution to this dilemma is simple—organization. Set aside a day to try on all your clothes, donate the clothes that you no longer wear and that no longer fit. Then, compartmentalize your work clothes, casual clothes and evening wear. This way, you only have to look at one section when picking your clothes and not the entire wardrobe.
Another tip is to choose your work wear the night before. It makes life that much simpler.

3. Organize your Mind

You’re wondering how. Let me tell you, all you need is a paper and pen. You’ve probably guessed it by now—the way to organize your mind is a list. First, write down all your thoughts and all the things you have to do on a paper. Next, strike off all the unnecessary thoughts (why didn’t they have beige cushions on sale? It’s okay, we can live without beige cushions). Then arrange your tasks in order of importance, in descending order. Every time, you finish a task, strike through it and kick the thought of it out of your mind. You’re bound to feel the weight of it lift off of you.

4. Commit to Yoga

The practice of yoga teaches you to clear your mind and focus on the one thing you’re engaged in. Continuous practice helps reduce the strain we put on our mind, leading to sharpened focus and improved concentration.

You’re bound to be skeptical of the benefits of yoga if you’ve never tried it before. Yoga practices open love, anyone can join a class. If you’re not sure, a lot of studios offer trial classes, take them up on the offer and experience the joy of yoga. You’ll be hooked.

5. Let go

We carry our regrets, past mistakes and future worries around like a second skin. Each additional day you lug it around, it gains more weight. Let it go. Let all the should haves, would haves, what ifs go.

The past has no hold over you, you are the only one who has a hold on the past. Let it go, live for now and great things await you.