Byron Hoffman
Sometimes your mind gets a little cluttered. You might find yourself sitting down and having a million and one thoughts running through it at the same time. This isn’t good for your mental health and is something that you need to address.
Often when you get to this stage it isn’t enough just to take half an hour to settle your thoughts, it going to take a lot more time and effort to declutter your mind.
If you are feeling a little stuck, and don’t want to get stuck read on to learn some ways you can clear your mental clutter and start seeing more clearly again.
What Are The Signs Of A Cluttered Mind?
Before we take a look at some of the tips that will help to declutter your mind let’s have a look at some of the signs it is time for a mental detox:
- You have a lack of focus
- Your to-do list keeps growing instead of getting ticked off
- You get distracted easily
- You find that time is either going too slow or too fast
- You watch TV instead of doing your todo list
- You have a sense of being stuck
Don’t worry if you do feel like this, you’re not alone. Let’s now have a look at some of the ways you can declutter your mind.
Ways To Declutter Your Mind
Remove Distractions And Clean
A study completed by the University of San Diego showed that when you have distractions you enable a fight or flight response in your brain. When you get a new email, piece of paper on your desk, or think of something that needs to be done you may find yourself getting lost in thought. If you remove distractions from your environment you should be able to keep your focus. Take some time to clean the environment you are in such as clearing your desk, deep cleaning your kitchen, or turning off notifications until you have completed tasks you need ot get done.
Declutter Your Environment
If you spend some time removing the physical clutter from your environment you will be able to give your mind a chance to see things more clearly. If you are feeling a little stuck in a cluttered and messy home it can make you feel down and keep your mind on things you don’t want it to be on. Think about going around room by room to declutter your living space. You might be surprised by how much of a big tidy-up can make a difference to how your mind feels. A cluttered, messy, unclean environment can your head feel the same way.
Start A Diary
The Harvard Medical School did some research that suggests that expressive writing could potentially help to clear your mind, help you to organize your thoughts, and understand your emotions. Every day we learn new things, experience a variety of different things, and process information. Many of these can lead to an emotional reaction and sometimes lead ot your feeling overwhelmed. Many people have a bad habit of keeping their emotions on the back burner so, keeping a diary could help to keep a mind clear and being able to focus. If you have never spent time writing a diary, you might be surprised to learn how much you keep a hold of. Once you get those feelings out, you can either put them to one side or read them at a later date. Don’t worry about it making much sense or having an order, it is more about getting out of your head and decluttering your mind.
Get Yourself Outdoors
When you are feeling mentally tired, head into nature and see how much you start to get some clarity and see things more clearly. Think about an outdoor activity that you enjoy, perhaps a hike, walk, or cycle. You will soon notice the beauty of the world and how calming it can be. Any mental fatigue should be soon gone. If you are having a hard time, you should try to get yourself out a couple of times a week. If you don’t have much time, could you consider walking or cycling to work rather than driving or getting the train? Even a quick 10-minute walk around the block before you settle in for the night could do the trick, especially if you have a load on your mind.
Have A Look At Your Goals
Most people have goals which is a really good thing to do, however, it can sometimes be really easy to lose sight of the end game. It can particularly be difficult if you start to add more to your list of things to do or you start adding more goals to your list. It could be small goals or big goals that you are working towards, but try to write them down. This way when you feel yourself getting distracted or start to add more to your list of things to do, you can reassess your goals and work towards the important stuff before you move on to something new. If you give yourself a little bit of structure to your goals, no matter how small, you will get much more done and have a clearer mind for it. If you want to get your mind decluttered, you need to write down all your goals. A great way to practice this is to start writing down your daily and weekly goals.
While we are talking about goals, you need to realize that it is OK to let go of some goals at times. If they no longer fit in with your life or resonate with you anymore it’s ok to let go of them or alter them. Once you have removed the clutter that no longer aligns with your goals you will find that your detox is feeling more manageable and you are already feeling a lot clearer plus focused.
Finally
Once you have followed these steps, you will start to feel like your mind is decluttered and it’s a brand new start. Many people need to declutter their minds once in a while, it’s completely normal. Next time you feel like you are in a rut, you should look to rebooting your mind with a day of mental decluttering. As you can see it’s not that complicated to detox your mind, hopefully, this will help you in the future.
