5 top tips to de-clutter your mind

Having recently uprooted my life and my business from the sunny seaside town of Brighton to the jewel of Scotland, Edinburgh, I took the opportunity as part of the relocation to de-clutter and throw away all the things I no longer needed.

My flat mate stood by and watched with amusement as I piled together clothes, books, shoes and furniture. DVD’s which I had watched once, yet had now taken up residence on my bookshelf, were all added to the pile and given to charity. University lecture notes and assignments which I had been holding onto for over twelve years, just incase I needed them, all went. 

Out with the old and in with the new. This was my time to start afresh on so many levels and it felt fantastic. I felt lighter, I felt liberated!  

Throwing away old belongings that no longer serve a purpose or don’t look good on us anymore can feel wonderfully invigorating. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder, why is it that we can happily throw away our worldly goods yet we hold doggedly onto beliefs, thoughts and memories which don’t make us feel good?  

Old resentments, words exchanged in the heat of a moment which are still festering away inside, memories of old relationships which didn’t end well, guilt over decisions made twenty years ago that are still playing on the mind. All this internal clutter weighing us down and yet we carry it around with us everywhere!  

Every time we try to move forward we have this assault course of junk to climb over in our mind. Preventing any gifts from the Universe that are being offered to us from flowing into our lives.

Before you can create change in your life, you have to lay the right foundation in your subconscious mind, which includes getting rid of the clutter. Just as I needed help to move to Scotland, these are five top tips to help you on the road to a clean and clear mind.

5 top tips to de-clutter your mind

1.  Become conscious of your thoughts

Have you heard of the term sleep walking?  That’s what most people do through life. Unaware of the 70,000, give or take a few, thoughts that go through their mind every day. You can only change something when you become aware of it. Of course there is a part of you that’s always observing your thoughts and that’s your higher self. Yet most people live from the ego. The ego is made up of thoughts, beliefs, past experiences, learnt behaviour and conditioning. It does not have your best interests at heart in the same way your higher self does. Start to take note of the thoughts you are thinking. When you think a negative thought, don’t judge it, simply acknowledge it and replace it with a more positive one. The more you do this, the more neural pathways you will build up in the brain to re programme yourself to think more positively.

2.  Forgive 

Holding onto grudges and bad feelings is a bit like drinking poison and expecting someone else to drop down! It will also start to create dis – ease in your body, stopping it from functioning well.  We create our own reality and past experiences have shown up in your life for a reason. There may have been a lesson for you to learn from the situation. Or you needed to go through the experience in order to grow as a person. Which ever way, that experience now lies in the past. In order to clear your mind you need to find peace with that time in your life or that person. Choosing to forgive in your heart is simply about you letting go. Think of the people or memory you are still holding bad feelings about. Place your hand over your heart and in your mind say to yourself ‘I choose to let go of these feelings and forgive’. As you do so send out positive energy to the person or the memory. Do this for a few minutes and then check in with yourself and notice how you feel. If there are still a few negative feelings remaining, repeat the process.

3.  Out with the old and in with the new

You look inside your wardrobe everyday and select items which are fit for purpose and which look and feel good. Now its time to look at the contents of your mind. What’s hanging up in there that no longer fits, drains you, makes you feel unattractive, or prevents you from going after what you want? Ditching some of these items may not be as easy as de-cluttering your wardrobe. For the heavy duty items, invest in the help of a professional practitioner who can help you to let go of them quickly and effectively for good.

4.  What are you giving your attention to?

The subconscious mind unfortunately has no filtering system. It’s absorbing 40 million bits of information per second. Unless you are consciously aware of every bit of information, which is impossible, there is no way of identifying which bits of information are useful to you and which are adding more junk to the mind. What you watch on TV and read in the newspaper is all getting absorbed by your mind, so get choosy about where you are giving your focus of attention to.

5.  Letting go of old attachments 

Just as I had held onto my university files for years because I had a sentimental attachment to them, there are other forms of attachment we make which don’t serve to make us feel happy or fulfilled. Attachments to money, material goods, a need for power or status are some examples. Even when we have some of those, we find we are still searching for the holy grail that is happiness. People in the world who have nothing are often said to be the happiest. In parts of Africa depression doesn’t even exist. Look at what are you attached to that isn’t fulfilling you and consider why you are holding on to it. We are hardwired to make ourselves feel better and it may be that you believed those old attachments were making you feel good. If they aren’t, look at what you can start doing to make yourself feel good such as forming new attachments to gratitude thinking, seeing where you can serve the Universe or living in your higher self each day. 

 Let go of your old baggage and travel light, for you will go further.

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Sara Maude

Sara Maude is an Edinburgh Hypnotherapist, Solution-Focused Psychotherapist, EFT Practitioner, Transformational Coach and International Wellbeing Trainer providing in-person and online sessions. Sara provides problem-free therapy which goes deep into the heart of the unconscious mind to create powerful lasting change.