It often feels like we are always busy. But if we stopped for a moment, we notice that first and foremost the feeling of ‘busy-ness’ comes from our mind that never stops. As soon as we think about one thing, another thought pops up and within a few minutes, we feel overwhelmed.
Mental clutter is the combination of all of your thoughts competing for your attention. It’s different to thinking (that is sharper, more focused and clear). Mental noise is linked to overthinking, and it makes you feel drained and exhausted.
Our minds can get very noisy and calming down that noise can help us with: focus, inner peace, productivity, and joy.
Let’s break down some of the core practises that can support you to deal with mental clutter and feel more mental clarity & peace.
Causes of Mental Clutter
Where does all this mental clutter and noise come from?
Have you noticed that on the holiday, by the sea, or walking in nature in the forest, it sometimes slows down. Or on the contrary, given that it finally has more space, the noise gets louder.
How about after scrolling social media? Do you find yourself lost in comparison to your friends and peers, and the mental clutter is louder?
Some of the main causes of mental clutter are:
Too much tech time: technology is too fast for our brains to process, and too many messages, social media… are a big cause of mental clutter
No breaks: we need breaks to process information and emotions. Without any breaks, the mind then becomes noisier
Comparison: one of the main causes of overthinking is comparing ourselves to others, that’s why social media in particular leads to high overthinking
Multitasking: doing several things at once instantly makes your mind feel full and noisy. On the other hand, single tasking calms and clears the mind and enables you to get into flow.
Open loops: Starting but not finishing something. Keeping in mind all the appointments, ideas, projects, tasks that you have. That’s why the first step of ‘Getting things done’ (D. Allen) is: Capture: write everything down somewhere!
Information overload: Absorbing too much information is a sure way to exhaust the mind. Being highly selective of both the quality and the quantity of information you take in, has huge benefits for mental clarity.
Perfectionism: If you are perfectionist, you will create mental clutter through overthinking every little detail of your life and work. Letting go of perfectionism tendencies works miracles when it comes to calming down the mind.
Inner Critic: Having an overly critical voice leads to even more mental clutter, and rumination. Instead, learning self compassion practises can support you to have a calmer mind.
Unclear priorities: If everything feels urgent, then the mind will repeat everything over & over again and create mental clutter. Sorting out and clarifying your priorities is extremely effective to reduce mental clutter.
Decluttering the Mind
To calm and declutter the mind, there are a few key practises that are helpful.
Health: Great health (sleep, nutrition, exercise) supports your brain. A healthy body leads to a healthy mind. By prioritising your health, you optimise the way the brain works and this leads to less mental clutter and overthinking. If we think about it, it seems obvious: Ever noticed how much noisier the mind is when you’ve had poor sleep? Or ever realised how much calmer the mind is after a good workout? Making your health a core priority will directly impact how calm your mind is.
Environment: In their article, the minimalists highlight how shifting the environment changed their inner world. Being mindful of the people they spent time with, the physical clutter in their home, some of their habits, all impacted their mental clarity.
Make decisions: Being stuck in analysis paralysis is one of the main causes of mental clutter. Think, rethink, reconsider, look at options, wonder what is best, reflect, feel stuck and lost… Instead, pause, process the options and actually make & commit to decisions. What a relief that is!
Organisation: Having a system to capture information, schedule appointments, braindump everything and have clear priorities, is a huge help for greater mental clarity.
Single tasking: Doing one thing at a time is both more productive and more calming. Though it can be challenging at first to switch from multi-tasking to single-tasking, it is a huge relief for the mind!
Slow down: Speed is a catalyst to mental clutter. Slowing down, being more mindful and grounded, will clear the mental clutter all while making your mind sharper.
Let go: Let go of the past, of traumas, of internal triggers, of clinging, of material possessions, of worry, of anxiety about the future… All of these weigh you down and create more mental clutter. Of course, it’s not a one step process to let go of these, but rather an on-going philosophy and choice that you let go of all the heaviness, worries, fears, past conditioning etc.
Create Inner Space
In contrast to mental clutter, there is inner space. That’s when you mind expands, and there is space. It’s equivalent of physical clutter vs physical space, but in the mind.
To create inner space, you don’t only reduce mental clutter but you actively create space through: practising meditation, being disconnected from technology, taking breaks, creating periods of no input, slowing down.
At first, if you’re a fast, busy person, inner space will feel really uncomfortable, like something is missing. You might feel frustrated, bored or even annoyed. That’s because your body is adjusting to a new rythmn.
When you have greater inner space, you realise that you don’t need to believe all of your thoughts, that you don’t have to follow all of your impulses, that you don’t need to pursue all of your ideas, that you can rest in silence and feel quite peaceful.
A practise that is particularly useful is to pause several times during the day and observe: How busy is your mind? How much mental clutter do you have? Or how calm are you feeling? How much inner space have you created? It’s through that awareness that you can re-calibrate, remove mental clutter and create more inner space & calm.
Thank you for reading,
Enjoy the journey,
Katie