Making Space for More by Clearing Clutter

This article provides excellent food for thought on both physical and mental clutter. I always think of the physical clutter - and worry that I haven’t done enough to clear it, especially as I write this post at a desk full of old notes I haven’t made time to look through for months. I often don’t consider mental clutter in the same way but am realizing I should.

We have been working on remodeling a number of rooms in our house during this time at home, which has forced a reckoning with physical clutter. Each time we begin work in a room we have to clear out and when the work is done we put back. In the putting back, we realize what we need in the space and, more importantly, what we don’t. It is refreshing to walk into the cleaned out, pared down, freshly painted, decluttered room. It feels like possibility and excitement. The same is true when you clean out the mental clutter. There is more space to breathe, think, do, and create.

In reading this article, I realized the two types of clutter are often linked - i.e., clearing one type of clutter helps clear the other. For example, these painting projects have been on my mind for years, and, in doing them, I have much more mental space for new ideas and projects.

These lines from the article reminded me of the importance of continual clutter clearing: “Stagnant things in our lives keep us in a kind of a prison. But if you can make room in your environment, head, and heart, you can consciously make choices to invite new and amazing possibilities into your life.”

How are you working to make space for new possibilities?