The Areas of Life Everyone Forgets To Declutter

When you’re venturing into minimalism and how to declutter, there are a few common aspects everyone jumps toward first. They clean out their closets, the dresser drawers, maybe their daily bag. They may expand it even to whole rooms, tossing clutter to create picturesque living spaces and offices. Part of it could also include finding ways to live a more eco-friendly life.

The physical spaces are easy to tackle; it’s a simple concept to look around and toss out items collecting on your desk or kitchen counters. Minimalism runs so much deeper, though, than clearing out our physical spaces. It touches the non physical spaces as well, specifically our:

• Minds
• Bodies
• Spirits

We can throw out all of our worldly possessions, but unless we’re stretching our minimalist philosophies into all aspects of our lives, we’re still going to feel cluttered.

Declutter Your Mind

Our minds are possibly more full of clutter than our physical spaces. There’s often no room for self care and new inspirations. In a culture that constantly promotes the “hustle” mindset, we feel as though we should always be doing SOMETHING, leaving no space to just be. 

The ever racing media and entertainment industries are constantly competing for our attention, offering more overwhelm in the form of distractions. The latest news travels all over in a matter of minutes, we get ads popping up every ten seconds, and there are an unlimited supply of shows and movies to watch. And after emerging from a long binge-watching marathon, or hours of endless scrolling, we often feel really mentally-exhausted.

While these forms of media and entertainment can certainly add value to our lives, they can just as easily make us overwhelmed and stressed. There’s this state of FOMO we enter if we turn off our device for too long, and unfortunately, this can easily lead to us losing track of what’s truly important to our happiness.

Clearing out our mind space is a process all on its own, and it takes a while. Sometimes, what you really need is a detox from media and digital entertainment. Many influencers are also hopping on this boat, such as Youtuber Jess Conte who does a monthly detox, among many others. While their careers are based off social media, it shows that in the break you take to reconnect with yourself, your supporters won’t disappear.

Action Questions

• Can you find 5 minutes to meditate daily for introspection? 
  • Meditation is a great way to create space in your mind so that you can rediscover what deserves your attention and what doesn’t. It can also calm anxiety, lower stress, improve happiness and overall wellbeing. 
• What false and limiting beliefs come to mind that you have?
• Have you been forcing anything in your life?
• What would you really like to pursue? 
  • Think back to what you were into when you were a child. Those interests point you toward where you would find your Dharma (purpose) now. Look around your life and take note of what is really YOU and what has been imposed by others. Shed all of the excess and whatever is left, focus on it. What have you always wanted to do?
• What nonsense is cluttering your mind?

Declutter Your Body

While we gotta love hamburgers and chips, they only add “clutter” to our bodies. So overall, this refers to processed foods, junk food and anything that meets our calorie needs but not our nutritional needs. Our bodies collect clutter in the form of toxins from these nutritionally void foods and from irregular eating habits. You can see problems in your physical body or your mind with anxiety, depression or trouble focusing. Most of these common issues can be reversed with proper self care, and monitoring your food habits. 

Eating organic, whole foods and exercising regularly can help rid the body of toxins and ailments. Cleaning up our diets can stop the inward flow of clutter and detoxing through exercise can eliminate the accumulation. Sleep is super important too!

When we’re feeding our body well, allowing it to rest efficiently and routinely clearing out anything that may do us harm, we feel better and have more energy. This is going to allow us to get things done, stop drowning under workloads and make the necessary changes required to live a better life for both yourself and your loved ones. By decluttering these areas of our life, we’ll also be better prepared to care for others.

Action Questions

• Do you regularly eat nutritionally void food?
• How can you take a step in cleaning up your diet?
• Do you exercise regularly?
• Is there something in this area you need to be more mindful about? 
  • Nutrition?
  • Portion sizes?
  • How much time do you spend sitting?
  • Your sleep schedule?

Declutter Your Spirit

Most of us are disconnected to our spirits or higher selves, as we rarely think of this area much less truly understand it. While “spirit” might usually have religious connotations, it is only the tip of the iceberg and there’s actually so much more to it. To know your spirit is to know who you truly are, inside and out. It’s to know your place in this world and what you’re meant to do with your life. Pretty deep, hey?

Sometimes society’s materialistic tendencies, and the focus on “numbers” make us less connected to our spiritual selves. To declutter this area, start pulling back the layers of doubt and fear, and learn to trust your intuition and gut. 

Action Questions

• Are there any beliefs you have that stand in your way of exploring your spiritual self? 
  • If you believe the world is unmagical and unremarkable, that’s exactly what you’re going to find. If you believe there is beauty and wonder in this strange and magnificent world, that’s what you’re going to find. You can choose what to believe. What’s the harm in believing in something fun and mystical if it may make life better? 
• Where do you hold fear and doubt?
• Can you find 5 minutes a day to meditate on your spirituality?
• Is there anything you need to let go of here?
  • Resentment
  • Anger
  • Jealousy
  • Hate
  • Judgement

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As within, so without. When we clean up and declutter our insides, on all levels, we can really start to reflect that on the outside. Our environments, homes and lives are never going to truly reflect what we desire for them to be until we take care of us first. 

With contributions by: Savannah Shea Blake, Confidence Coach at EarthandWater.co