Top 7 Ways To De-Clutter Your Mind And Reduce Stress

Every day we are bombarded with many thoughts and to do lists running through our minds. While some are important, some aren’t. However, the challenge comes when we stress ourselves out with how we prioritize our plans and actions. These habits then turn into distractions from what we really ought to focus on. Such a situation can eventually take your mind away from what is important even before you realize it. When you act off track, you really need to take a step back and think carefully about prioritizing your tasks. There is a lot of talk out there now about de-cluttering our minds to make our lives simpler. It is true that once you start de-cluttering you begin to feel more in control of your life. When we have so much in our minds, we can never really focus on more important things. As a result, we feel we have lost precious time. It is important to understand that we need to take action and reclaim some of that time to declutter our minds.

So, let’s see how we can do that.

1. Maintain A Personal Diary

Many of us find it difficult to do this because don’t have time to write or other reasons. But if you do have lots of thoughts, fears, or worries, then writing them down in your personal diary can help you put everything into some kind of perspective. It helps clear up the space in your mind so you can then use it for more satisfying things. Try to make sometime each day to write a few bits down. You will definitely feel better when you look back at certain things that you did on time and realize you had more time for important things.

2. Make Peace With Your Past And Future

Many of us spend a lot of time pondering over the past mistakes or bad decisions, regrets, thinking about people we have hurt, and hanging on to anger over past grievances. We also use up our mental energy and headspace worrying about the future, things that might or probably won’t happen, and ‘what if?’ scenarios. So this is all waste of mental energy and remember that worry does not make anything better. It rather puts us in a stressed situation and makes us feel worse. Ask yourself, if you can change the situation, and then do the things in your power to change it. If you can’t then let it go.

3. Don’t Flood Yourself With Too Much Information

We are exposed to a lot of information such as news stories, social media, blogs, text messages, emails, surfing the internet which is often mind-boggling or mind numbing. Follow some simple ways of reducing this source of mental clutter. Restrict your social media usage and do not follow everything you see out there. Unsubscribe to unnecessary email marketing accounts that you think are unnecessary to read. Be disciplined about how much time you spend reading or watching the news, watching TV, or aimlessly browsing the internet. Being exposed to these sources of information regularly can have a negative impact on your mental health, so act judiciously while gathering information from any sources. Turn off alerts on your phone, turn off your phone or leave it in a different room, stop looking at news or social media once in a while.

4. Stop Multi-Tasking And Prioritize Your Tasks

For most of us, to-do lists are never-ending. So, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by various tasks that you feel under obligation to do. All of this adds to mental clutter and leads to anxiety. When your mind is cluttered so you can’t think clearly about any one task. To avoid multitasking, be ruthless with your to-do list. Each day pick out the task that you must accomplish for that day. Focus on a shortlist of your very important tasks and try to focus only on these things and not anything new. Commit to doing only one task at the time, and only that task until is completed.

5. Lighten Up Your Physical Space Too

A cluttered physical environment such as home or workspace can lead to a cluttered mind. When your surroundings are cluttered, it will make your brain think more about the stuff to be done such as organizing, cleaning, and tidying. Your brain feels more bombarded by these stimuli that can eventually cause stress and anxiety. Whereas an uncluttered and organized living space can have a calming psychological effect on your brain. So make sure your surroundings are neat and well organized. Tackle one small area at a time.

6. Discover Your Inner Self:

Sometimes it’s OK to just focus on yourself for a while. Think about what moves you or what inspires you. Look out for things that make you most comfortable, creative, and productive. Focus on these things. Meditate on them and start small by just dedicating ten minutes a day to really put your mind and energy towards the things you want.

7. Avoid Procrastination & Interruptions

Sometimes we feel like we are not able to do what we are supposed to do due to some unavoidable interruptions. But most of the time we often tend to procrastinate due to unnecessary distractions. These days every one of us has smartphones and so we are accessible 24 hours a day. When we are distracted, we run short on time and we end up pooling all the tasks to be accomplished in a shorter time span or when we are already tired. This can definitely effect our mental peace and increase stress. So limit the distractions and procrastination.

By following these simple tips your mind will no longer be full of clutter and too much information. By planning your work and activities in a thought out way and by taking action as soon as you can, you decrease clutter in your mind. You will have more opportunities to think about more productive and enjoyable things. If you or your loved ones are having issues coping up with stress or anxiety disorders, having a consultation with a psychotherapist can definitely help you. Psychotherapy Partners is one of the best places to get the skillful solutions from the leading team of therapists. Book an appointment today.