Decluttering Your Mind and Home
As a kid, I remember watching in horror from the backseat of my grandma's car as she pulled over to "rescue" another piece of furniture from the side of the road.
Her house was full of mismatched items that had been salvaged and repurposed. Bookshelves and drawers overflowed with mementos, books, and relics from the past.
Some might call it "clutter."
My grandma would call them "treasures."
There is something to be admired about those who waste not, want not. There is something to be celebrated about having what you need… and then some.
But the thing I want my family — and really, everyone — to know is: empty space is a treasure in and of itself.
“Empty space” is both internal (ie: moments of quiet and stillness) and external (ie: the places in your home that are un-filled with things).
Empty space can be unscheduled moments on your calendar, the time between tasks, a desk with nothing on it, a blank wall, a clear inbox.
Creating space — mentally, physically — is a spiritual practice. It awakens our awareness of new possibilities. It expands our capacity for full presence and fulfillment. It makes us available for creative problem solving, visionary ideas, and spiritual messages.
Having a decluttered inner and outer world helps you:
Manage thoughts and regulate emotions
Get clarity on what is essential to and missing from your life
Feel calm, centered, and balanced
Have a refuge from stressful environments and experiences
Focus your attention on the things that bring you delight
Letting go is essential to expansion.
The early days of my spiritual journey involved me constantly asking myself: What needs to go? What is holding me back from having what I want, and being who I am?"
In order to live well, we have to know what opens the door to joy, pleasure, delight, and fulfillment. And we have to know what's in the way of it.
Release is a core pillar of the Lifestyle Design methodology because, in order for us to grow into our fullest selves and create lives that light us up, we have to be willing to create room for that growth to happen.
photo by Kaci Moran
Here are five things you can do to create space in your mind and home:
Mindfulness practices. Mindfulness practices are any that help you focus your awareness on yourself and your experience. Mindfulness helps us zoom out and witness our experience as a conscious, neutral observer. Daily practices like meditation, journaling, and talk therapy help us sort through the mental clutter and release emotional stress.
Take breaks. Building moments of rest, ease, and idleness into your day is essential to your overall wellbeing. Incorporate pauses into your schedule. If you know you have a particularly stressful or energetically draining experience coming up, have an action plan for recovery. Plan for rest after doing anything that requires effort. Let there be a breath between tasks, conversations, and meetings.
Go to nature. Taking a break from the noise of daily life gives us a chance to come home to ourselves. Nature supports us in centering our minds and feeling connected to something bigger than ourselves. Being near water, trees, mountains, flowers — anywhere that the natural world exists in abundance — brings about a sense of inner balance, expansion, and wellbeing.
Establish a daily routine. Routines help us feel safer because we know what to expect. Creating predictable scenarios through habits allows your mind to adjust, understand what to expect, and alleviate anxiety over the unknown. Routines allow your brain to take a break.
Consume less media. See if you can reduce the amount of time you spend scrolling, watching, reading, and engaging. Everything you consume digitally takes up space in your mind. Experiment with how you feel when you delete the app for a week (or longer). See what shifts if you don’t check that one site before work. Give yourself permission to take some things off your mental plate
Remember that ease is your birthright and you don't have to "earn" it. I hope that today you find ways to give yourself a little more space, whatever that looks like for you.
Thanks for being here,
Jamila
Enrollment is officially open for the Spring 2022 Cohort of the Lifestyle Design program. It's a 6-week journey into the skills, mindset shifts, and practices that help you embody your role as the Artist of your life.
In the course, you'll learn techniques and frameworks to help you guide yourself through life’s big shifts, chosen and circumstantial.
Lifestyle Design is a methodology that anyone can use to create a masterpiece out of their lived experience.
This program will help you awaken the artist within, unblock your unlimited potential, and create a life that lights you up.
The course includes:
6 video modules that guide you through the core pillars of Lifestyle Design
Accessible exercises and reflection questions to help you integrate and embody the course material
Live Orientation & Welcome call
Two live community meetings with guided meditation, guided journaling practice, and Q&A
You'll leave with:
Skills and tools you can use to coach yourself through transitions and transformation
An energetic vision board for the life you are calling in
Training in techniques that help you embody your truest self and create new realities in your life
If you are ready to release the old and bring in the new, join me inside.