Tip #97: Clear the Ground, Mentally and Physically— Strong Moms
By Jodi Milner
If you want a garden, you must clear the ground first so the seeds and small plants have room to grow without being choked out by weeds. The same idea works for our minds and indoor spaces. If you want room in your life for something new or something you’d like to spend more time on, you need to clear some ground first so there is mental and physical space available.
In a garden, it’s pretty obvious when weeds take over. However, in our homes and minds, it’s a little more subtle. Are the surfaces of your home slowly filling with items that don’t have homes? Is your mind busy and full of thoughts that aren’t serving you very well?
Science has shown that clutter brings stress and can actually lead to depression. It’s as if each item you spot that needs to be put away drains you of energy by simply seeing it. If everywhere you look has things that need to be dealt with, the situation can quickly become overwhelming and we’ll do anything to avoid it, including retreating to social media, leaving the house, or binging Netflix.
Brain clutter is harder to spot. It shows up when we find ourselves repeating our to-do list over and over, or replaying an uncomfortable conversation or experience trying to justify something that we said or did, or criticizing each and every little thing that crosses our path. Clearing away brain clutter is just as important as cleaning up a space.
Try this:
Pick a surface that needs clearing off. Choose something small, an end table or perhaps that one chair that seems to attract clutter. Take five minutes and put everything away — usually, it doesn’t take as long as you think it will. Wipe the table down if it needs it. Every time you see that surface clear and clean, allow yourself a spark of joy and peace.
For unwanted brain chatter, start with identifying the thought process you happen to be stuck on. If it’s that unending to-do list, take a few minutes to write down everything you’re trying to hold in your head. Chances are, there aren’t as many items as you thought and now they are on paper, you can have the satisfaction of crossing things off.
If you’re stuck in a cycle of reliving a negative experience or being critical, take 5–10 minutes to either journal about why you’re stuck on those thoughts, or listen to a guided meditation to adjust your focus back to something productive.
Storytime:
When it comes to house cleaning, it’s me vs my entire family. Keeping everything tidy all the time is a massive unreasonable stress. When it seems that all the surfaces in the house are cluttered with everyone else’s stuff, I find that I get impatient and angry far easier than when they are cleared off. My solution is to schedule specific days to tidy each common area — the goal is not perfection, it’s to put anything away that doesn’t belong in that room and clear off surfaces.
As for brain chatter, I’ve taken up journaling in the past few years as a way to work through stress and anxiety. At first I was skeptical of the practice, but after a few weeks, I found I started to look forward to that time. It was as if by giving myself a dedicated time to be analytical about my worries, my mind was freed up for the rest of the day to tackle whatever challenge presented itself. If a critical thought pattern cropped up, I could tell myself to wait and that I would explore what might be going on in my head during my next journaling session.
Originally published at https://strongmomsblog.com on April 23, 2021.
