This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
If I asked you to go to your closet right now and count how many items are in it that you don’t ever use, what do you think the number would be? I’m not going to say that absolutely everyone is guilty of having way more clothes than they really need and/or like, but the majority of us (at least in the US) certainly fall into this category.
I’m guilty of having a huge amount of clothes I don’t use. For some reason, I get new clothes and never let go of my old stuff. The situation was really bad until few days ago. Then, this past weekend as I was folding clothes (I obviously wasn’t happy about it because I don’t like that chore), when I went to put the hangers back in the closet, I almost lost my mind. My closet was so cluttered that I couldn’t even organize the clean clothes. I was in a bad mood for the rest of the day, and I finally figured out it was because of my closet situation. I mean, I’ve never liked folding clothes that much, but at some point it became my nightmare.
I didn’t want to organize what I had because it was simply too much. What I really wanted was to finally be honest with myself, decide which clothes were my favorites, and only keep those. I read somewhere that we only use 20% of the clothes we have, and that statistic shocked me at first. I thought it was an exaggeration, but in my case it wasn’t. So last weekend, I decided to end that craziness. I grabbed some big garbage bags, and I started to empty my closet and all my drawers. I kept only the items I like and always use. When I finished selecting only what I liked, I had six big garbage bags completely full of clothes that went directly to a donation box.
You may not believe this, but I feel my life is easier now. I completely eliminated a very heavy energy that put me in a bad mood every single time I looked for something in my closet. Isn’t that crazy? Please believe me, I’m not a minimalist by any means. I kept a good amount of clothes and shoes, but I only kept what I truly like. I’m not sure how I ended up with so many things I didn’t like or use, but the heavy energy that surplus created is gone now.
This process of decluttering my closet gave me a valuable chance to reflect, and I realized I used to do the same thing with my thoughts as I did with my clothes. Before I started my meditation practice few years ago, my mind was completely cluttered. I used to hold onto negative thoughts and memories so much that I wasn’t able to make space for more useful ones. Even when I wanted to be in a better mood, sometimes I simply couldn’t because my mind was completely full of thoughts that no longer served me in a good way.
Meditation has helped me to slowly declutter my mind. Of course, clearing out your mind is a slower process, and it takes a lot more energy. If anyone tries to tell you that decluttering the mind is as easy as decluttering a closet, they’re lying. Unfortunately, you can’t grab a big garbage bag and throw all your useless and negative thoughts in it and voilà! Mission accomplished! Your thoughts are more like localized body fat. You need a process that involves many different things in order to be able to attack them and let them go. Please don’t worry! I’m not saying it’s impossible; I’m just clarifying that it takes more effort.
Because meditation is and always should be a beautiful daily practice, it will only work if you commit to it full force. You won’t be able to let go of those useless, negative thoughts by practicing meditation here and there, or even once a week. The only way to really declutter your mind is to practice every single day. Otherwise, it will become cluttered again and again, until you’ve saturated your soul.
Yes, I am trying to sell you all meditation today because it’s the only effective way I know to declutter our busy minds. Meditation doesn’t cost a cent. You can literally do it anywhere, anytime. You don’t need to dedicate a special space at home to do it (although you can if you want to). You can just take five minutes of your day (which is less than 0.5% of it) to pay attention to your breathing, for instance. You really don’t need a master’s degree to meditate. It’s not an easy practice, for sure, because the mind is an extremely busy entity, but practice will take you to good places. I don’t know what else you need to convince you that meditation will only help and be beneficial for you.
Meditation is the cheapest practice out there to help you declutter your mind, my friends. You don’t need special clothes or shoes. You don’t need a specific location. You don’t need someone else. You don’t need money. You literally only need you and your attention. Decluttering your closet and home feels awesome, and I totally recommend you try it, but decluttering your mind is another level of freedom that I can’t explain well with words. So, give meditation a try! I promise you it’s worth it!
Love,
Irene
