Are you struggling to think positively? Are you inundated with unnecessary thoughts that distract you on a daily basis? I certainly was, and it made me miserable.
All I wanted to do was clock in and achieve my goals every single day. But resistance made the walk to my desk unbearable.
Upon reflection, it dawned on me that my mind was cluttered with depressing thoughts from the past and anxiety-inducing thoughts about the future. But I needed to think clearly about the present, which is why I set out to solve this issue.
In today’s article, I want to share my thoughts on how to declutter your mind.
Step 1: Eliminate
Your brain consumes stimuli like your stomach consumes food. What you eat dictates the way your body looks and feels.
Unless you are consuming content or information that is useful and positive, you will suffer from negative thoughts.
So the first thing I did was to eliminate all content that was cluttering my mind with negative or useless thoughts.
I deleted most social media apps from my phone, unsubscribed from gossip channels on Youtube, and stopped watching the news because it was filled with tragedy and stressful events.
But that wasn’t enough.
I noticed a correlation between how I felt and thoughts about my past love life.
So I searched for triggers and removed them from my life. This meant that I had to stop talking to certain people, pack away mementoes or reminders, and avoid music that made me nostalgic and sad.
When you learn to reject activities, things, and people who prevent you from being positive and growing, that’s when things begin to change and you gain control over your life.
It’s the hardest thing to do, but practice saying “no” to everything that ruins your life.
I felt lighter and liberated afterwards.
Honestly speaking, cathartic is how I’d describe feeling after decluttering like this.
Related article: How I let go of emotional clutter with mindfulness
Step 2: Consume
What are your goals?
Think carefully about the type of life you want to live and the type of person you want to be.
I believe that personal growth or change is best achieved through an identity shift.
For example, someone who wants to write a book should think of himself/herself as an author. By adopting the identity of an author, they can craft a reality for themselves that consists of writing books regularly.
When I decided to become a minimalist, I sought out content, books, and communities pertaining to minimalism.
It became easy for me to embody the principles of minimalism because they resonated with my new identity.
After some time, my actions provided proof that I am a minimalist, and since then, it has been easy and enjoyable to live life with less stuff.
Now I even write content about minimalism, case-in-point, on this blog.
Like a hungry beast, seek out and consume everything you can about the type of person you want to be, and watch how the content of your thoughts changes.
Related article: Minimalist habits for longevity and anti-aging
Step 3: Create And Act
I was watching a short by Alex Hormozi, and I loved what he said about anxiety and depression. I’m paraphrasing, but he explained that anxiety stems from not knowing which option to choose, whereas depression stems from a lack of perceived options.
One feeling makes you feel overwhelmed, while the other makes you feel hopeless.
In both cases, taking action and creating results helps most.
The results of repeated actions create answers to your questions or a path for you to walk on.
This eases anxious or depressive thoughts.
But if we break it down one step further, wouldn’t you agree that anxiety and depression inhibit movement?
These thoughts wrap themselves around your body until you can’t do anything but freak out or feel weak.
If you move your body and create results with action, wouldn’t you gain greater control over your mind and body?
You should also try meditation and mindfulness, but what’s even better than that is prayer.
I pray every single day without fail, and nothing keeps me more grounded than this.
There’s comfort in knowing that the strength of the problems in my mind and in my life is nothing compared to the strength of God.
Just set aside 10 minutes a day to pray and make it a habit to count your blessings.
It will rewire the way you think, like it did for me.
I’ll leave you with a personal quote before you go.
“The remedy for a busy mind is a busy life.” – Zak Khan
That brings us to the end of this article on how to declutter your mind. Please apply the suggestions in this guide and observe how your thoughts begin to change over the weeks to come. As long as you stick with it for more than 21 days, you’ll notice results.