Resolving My Clutter
February 16, 2010I am struggling with clutter in my life right now. My current list of to-dos includes 1) clean out the trunk of my car, 2) organize my office, 3) organize my home office, 4) clean up my email – I could go on but I’m really tired of thinking about it and talking about it, which tells me it’s past time to take action! So, I have been reflecting on what is causing my clutter and how to get it under control. After journaling and searching the internet for answers, I have decided the following issues are most likely contributing to my clutter issue: unrealistic workload (I try to get too much done in a day’s time), being in career transition, feeling overwhelmed, and mental exhaustion. I considered lack of time as a reason, but decided I wanted to dig deeper to see what was causing my lack of time, plus we all have the same amount of time every day so I think lack of time can just be an excuse.
As I wrote my list of reasons in the paragraph before, I saw that they are all related. I also know that getting uncluttered will help me resolve some of those issues and get my energy flowing in areas that it is getting stuck, so what the heck is keeping me from making the time to just do it? That is what I have been the most preplexed by recently. But I am to the point of realizing that waiting to anwser that question is not serving me well and taking action is the right next step. So, I will do just that right now with part of my home office, and then work on my other office tomorrow.
In addition to tackling my clutter directly, I will take some other actions that I know will help me resolve the issue. First, writing an affirmation focused on what I would like to create in place of the clutter is a good exercise to get in touch with the solution and how that makes me feel. Affirmations are most powerful when they are personal, present tense, focused on the positive (like being organized rather than being cluttered), and include feelings. My current affirmation for clutter is “Opportunities and abundance flow effortlessly into my life when my car, office, and home are organized and I can find anything I need in a moment’s notice. Staying organized keeps me feeling calm and relaxed as I go about my work and my life.”
Another practice that can enhance affirmations is visualizing them with all the senses. What will my office look like when it is organized? What do people say when they are in that space? How does hearing their feedback make me feel? How will my life be different? Affirmations and visualization are most effective when done many times throughout the day, and the most effective times to do them are first thing upon waking and right before going to sleep – at these times new thoughts can get more deeply rooted into the subconscious mind. As Louise Hay says in The Power is Within You, “The thoughts we choose to think are the tools we use to paint the canvas of our lives.” So shifting my thoughts to align with organized spaces that keep me calm and relaxed will energize the process of cleaning up my clutter.
Writing is another exercise that can be used to help resolve clutter. Journaling about an issue and what it represents can help get in touch with what area or areas of life are feeling blocked or out of control. Writing can also be used to come up with a plan to resolve the clutter. A technique that I recently learned to use to tackle a task that seems impossible to accomplish in a short time period is to break it up into 100 steps, then progress can be made every day on a few of the steps. Often we need to see what steps it will take to resolve the situation, and when a task that seems large is broken up into small steps it becomes more manageable and progress can be seen more easily.
I know external clutter is often a reflection of internal clutter, so the steps I take to get organized in my mind will help resolve the clutter. I look forward to posting about all the opportunities and abundance that flow into my life as I get more organized!
Carolee
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Hi Carolee,
I really enjoyed reading your account of decluttering your life. You are so right about searching within to find the solutions. I love it when things are neat, clean and organized but often find myself looking at a disasterous home. Why? Well, my reasons are 1) I don’t have enough appropriate storage for various items like toys and paper stuff. 2) I’m not the only one who lives in my house; the kids, especially the toddler, are horrible at putting things away. As far as my own piles, I can say that I go through cycles of organization and chaos. When I’m in the middle of a writing project or am planning something, I tend to have a lot of stuff out. It keeps me focused on my endeavors until I finish.
Anyway, good luck with your decluttering and visualization. I hope you manifest every thing you desire.
Kellie
Thanks for sharing, Kellie. I like your perspective that keeping stuff out helps you keep your focus – I think that might be part of my motivation – if I put up my stuff, it will be out of sight/out of mind.
Carolee
Hi Carolee,
To keep my mind in order I maintain an almost spartan-like environment. I despise clutter so I don’t allow things to get cluttered. I feel so much better when viewing orderly surroundings.
As for the mental clutter, visualization and meditation. Visualization orders the mind and meditation allows you to observe the chatter which seems like a traffic jam when you’re upset.
A very helpful post.
Thanks for you comment, Ryan. I wish I had your resolve to not accept clutter! I like your perspectives on visualization and meditation – thanks for sharing those.
Carolee
Kellie, like you, I go through cycles of clutter and organization. My motivation is usually about not inconveniencing others. Or about efficiency when I get frustrated with not finding something easily. Then I get focused on organizing and keep it up for awhile. But you are so right about having the tools for organizing: storage space, cabinets, bins and boxes, etc…
-Rebecca
Hi Carolee,
You’ve listed some great ideas for uncluttering. Another idea is to enlist a friend to join you when you tackle organizing your space. Having someone with you to (a) question if you really need all of that stuff, and (b) stand there and motivate you to plow through it faster than you would by yourself. Just an idea that has worked for me!
Laura
Thanks for your comment, Laura. I didn’t mention that I have enlisted a friend to come help me with my office if I don’t have completed by a certain date – this motivates me because I would rather do it myself, but I know she will support me if I can’t make that happen in a reasonable timeframe. I like your perspective that they can question whether you really need something – that’s a benefit I didn’t think about.
Carolee
I am ADD and I find that because my mind is somtimes caotic that I crave an Organized world around me. Often I have to stop, and clean it up. I also find that I have to make my self list of things to do and when to do them otherwise I will just be idle and do nothing. I have learned that because of my ADD, I crave being busy. I like to multitask a lot. Listing to a book on tape will get my house very clean. Focusing on the task at hand can be a challenge for me somtimes. I either am completely focused on the one thing and nothing else matters, or I am doing multiple things.
Good luck with cleaning you clutter wheter it be in the mental world or the physical world.