Spring Cleanse Your Brain: 5 Ways To Reclaim Your Mental Energy
How can you extend your spring cleaning to your mental space? A decluttering talk on brain dumps, worry time, batch tasks and more.
As spring knocks on the door (in my case, the spring heat - shoutout to global warming - almost kills me), I put the fluffy sweaters away and search for the almost-forgotten bathing suits and light clothes.
Saturday, April 7th:
I am overpowered by the sudden rush to get all the things that do not serve me out: starting from clothes.
I make a ‘donation pile’.
The winter clothes that never saw the light of day (hello, minimalism) make it to the pile first.
The winter clothes that make me question my body shape are thrown onto the pile.
The winter clothes I have kept for years to find the right time for them, follow.
The winter clothes make me think “I should lose some weight’ are rightfully put there.
As for the summer clothes, they undergo the exact same categorisation as they are folded away into my wardrobe of confidence.
Create your own road map for cleaning.
At the age of 27, I refuse to be a woman who looks at sizes that she tries to fit in, a woman who attributes her worth to a number, and a woman who lacks confidence because of her choices. I let my road map reflect this.
It wasn’t foreign to me how weird it sounds to be influenced by a couple of fuzzy sweaters but…
Your home is an extension of your energy field.
This is why practices like cleaning your home, rearranging furniture, organizing your closet and getting rid of objects that are cluttering your space can have a profound impact on your mind, body and spirit.
-Maryam Hasnaa-
So, a question to reflect on popped:
How much influence do you think your environment has over your life?
(and if you want to know what a bag of Doritos has to do with it, check this video out:)
On my floor, a ‘get rid of’ pile appears:
Stress: Clutter equals chaos, chaos equals stress.
Shabby focus: A clutter-free desk, a clear mind and a laser-like focus on whatever I am working on. Sounds delicious to me, so I keep decluttering.
Questionable productivity: Let’s face it, trying to get something done in a cluttered space is like running a marathon in flip-flops: slow, frustrating and just not gonna happen.
Decaying creativity: Obviously, when nothing is hindering my vision - literally - I can explore new cool ideas without feeling weighed down by the external mess. (It makes sense that our best ideas come to us in the shower right? Our brains like to roam free!)
Depleted energy be gone!: Clutter is draining - both physically and mentally. Full stop.
Moodiness bye-bye: Decluttering is self-care and after every act of self-care, I am much more self-attuned.
Unintentional choices: Seriously, grab a bag, make a pile and declutter your way to a more mindful life.
‘Decluttering’ is not only about getting rid of possessions.
It is about reclaiming your sanity, focus and life.
Now, picture your mind as a messy room filled with junk you don’t need.
Worries, doubts, fears, anxieties - the usual fun stuff.
Decluttering your mind is about tidying up that mess and creating some freaking space for clarity and peace.
It is about letting go of the mental junk that weights you down and asking the question:
What serves a purpose here?
We all have those days where our brains feel like they're buzzing with a million and one thoughts, right? It’s like we have twenty browser tabs open and each one is playing a different YouTube video.
Step 1: The Brain Dump
When you have a head full of thoughts bouncing around like a pinball machine, a good brain dump session hits reset on this chaotic mess.
A little side note here is that I am not a fully dedicated journaler. Although it feels great occasionally, journaling has never been my thing 100%.
And if you are like me, you might be getting frustrated when every single Instagram post advertises journaling.
Taking your phone, opening the voice recorder applications and recording yourself does the same thing.
The point is to communicate - verbally or by hand - every thought, worry and idea that has been clogging up your brain.
The point is to exit with a clearer head and a lighter heart.
Step 2: The Worry Time
We all know what it’s like to lie awake at night, staring at the ceiling, worrying about every little thing under the sun. (I once had a full-blown pile of thoughts about soup: also known as just food floating in water.)
When you schedule ‘worry time’, you permit yourself to worry.
But on your terms.
You pick the time. You pick the place. You pick the duration. You let these worries run wild.
You get them out of the system (a voice recorder or a notebook could be of help, again).
WORRY TIME IS UP.
Time to move the focus to what matters.
Step 2½: The Gratitude
Saying that I hate the transition out of worry time is an understatement, so I have found solace in putting on a pair of gratitude goggles and trying to see the world in a new light.
Instead of - no, After - looking at what worries me, I shift my attention (intentionally!) to what fills my heart.
I list off in my head without pause: my family when they not driving me nuts, the pricey roof over my head, the killer sunset from last night, the epic cup of coffee I made today, the acts of kindness of my ‘chosen family’.
I soak it in.
Gratitude is more than feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside.
Gratitude is shifting your perspective from scarcity to abundance.
Step 3: The Batch Tasks
You do a load of laundry instead of washing one sock at a time. But in your mind.
A bunch of similar tasks hang over your head - emails to reply to, errands to run, reports to write.
Now, individually - they don’t seem like much, but together - they are the foe to your productivity.
This is where batch tasks swoop in to save the day.
Instead of tackling each task as it pops, group them and tackle them all at once.
It is such a simple approach but:
you don’t shift gears between different types of tasks,
you save time and energy as it takes a lot less mental effort to crank through a bunch of similar tasks.
once you get into the rhythm of batching, you will see patterns and shortcuts that make the whole process smoother,
and you will feel like you are the superhero who crosses off the big pile of to-dos in one fell swoop.
Step 3½: The Mindful Task Transitions
You finish one task and you dive headfirst into the next.
Then the next. And the next.
Now, imagine that instead of diving headfirst, you close your eyes and heck, even let out a big, dramatic sigh.
You let this loud sigh, let your chest rest and let go of whatever you were just doing and the pressure it put on you.
You wipe the slate clean and give yourself a fresh start.
Although it may sound simple (again!), here is the thing about mindful task transitions: they are all about intentionality.
Instead of mindlessly jumping from one tasks to the next, you are taking a moment to consciously shift gears.
You give yourself a mental high-five and say, “alright, let’s do this”.
Get rid of the clutter and you may just find that it was blocking the door you have been looking for.
- Katrina Mayer-
When you clear out the mental junk, you open the windows and let a breath of fresh air in the cluttered attic of your mind.
Imagine what it would feel like to wake up in the morning with a clear head and a sense of purpose. To tackle your day with confidence and clarity, knowing that you're not weighed down by unnecessary mental baggage.
That, dearest reader, is the power of decluttering your mind.
So if you're tired of feeling overwhelmed, scattered, and stuck in a mental rut, it's time to roll up your sleeves and start decluttering.
Rolling my own sleeves as we speak,
Katrin