Reducing Mental Clutter- Tip#1

Do you know the feeling you get when you walk into a clean and tidy room, where everything is in its place and the space is fresh and open? Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a space like that, not just in your home, but in your mind, as well?

I am not an organized person by nature. Despite my best intentions and my occasional creation of elaborate plans and schedules, I’ve always been the girl with the messy bedroom and the dishes on the counter. Still, I love the feeling you get when you walk into a clean and clutter-free room. It’s refreshing to the soul, and you feel like you could do anything there.

I think our minds can be like a messy room. It doesn’t feel good to be surrounded by clutter that you don’t know what to do with. Somehow it takes mental energy to ignore all the things that are out of place and focus on whatever you came in there to do. I’m no expert on organization, but I do know of two things that help me to reduce the overwhelm.

Strategy #1: Do a Brain Dump

With all the miscellaneous thoughts that come into our minds throughout the day, it is so easy to get distracted by the next one that comes along and neglect to deal with or even remember the one before it. This can leave us with a feeling that there is a mile-high to-do list piled up in our heads, but the tasks themselves are unclear and likely to get lost in the jumble until they become so urgent that we find ourselves in a rush to meet deadlines.

And it’s not just tasks that can accumulate intangibly in our minds. Feelings, too, can arise but remain unprocessed in the busyness of our days. How often have you cried over spilled milk or snapped at someone in anger that was out of proportion to the situation, because there were other things that transpired beforehand that had been accumulating, and this latest occurrence was just the straw that broke the camel’s back?

When thoughts and feelings are swirling and we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed, a brain dump can help us get them out, get them organized, and give us a clearer path forward. Pull out a paper and pen, or a blank word processing document if you prefer, and jot down everything you can think of that has been weighing on you, things you need to get done, frustrations, goals, ideas, or whatever else needs to come out. Once you’ve unloaded everything you can think of, breathe your first sigh of relief, because it’s all there in front of you, no longer in danger of being forgotten.

Now you simply need to organize. Go through and sort your list into categories. Most of my brain dump items tend to be tasks, and my favorite way to proceed is to quickly pick out the most pressing to-dos and write next to the item which day this week I will tackle it. I can plug them into my calendar. Everything else on the brain dump list gets moved under my “Next Week” category, or even further onto my “Future Projects” list. Then I can focus on tackling this week’s tasks, and I’ve got a ready-made list for the following week, as well. If I have extra time, I can get started on an item from one of the later lists, but I don’t have the sense of worry that I’m neglecting something urgent.

If it happens to be feelings and concerns on your mind more than to-do’s, a time spent journaling can be an effective way to get it all out. Whether it’s relational issues, worries about current events, or a jumble of things you haven’t put a name to yet, putting your thoughts and feelings into words and coherent sentences can bring clarity and be an effective means of processing. You can approach it as a venting session, or a time of prayer, or a way to brainstorm possible solutions to try. In any case, you’ll likely feel lighter afterwards and you may find you have a better perspective on the things that were troubling you.

Why not try a brain dump this week and see if it helps kick the feeling of chaos to the curb?

Stay tuned for the next tip on reducing mental clutter coming in the next post!