6 Ways To Spring Clean Your Life
These are the days of anxiety. Be it climate, war, politics, so many of us are consumed by problems we feel unable to control. We need to detach. To declutter our minds. But how?
Clearing out and letting go of what is no longer serving you is a strong signal to your subconscious mind that you are upgrading. You are ready to welcome in the fresh new creative emergence and growth, and a good declutter doesn’t have to be limited to ditching whatever has been in boxes that have been in the loft, basement, garage or shed for years. Take a look at you: your mind, your body, and your work.
Belle spoke to Kat Byles, founder of the True Business School. Kat works with people to find, and align with, their purpose and creativity to build a happy, healthy, wealthy business and world. Here are her six tips towards achieving a clearer mind and gaining a fresher outlook.
CLEAR OUT YOUR MIND
Cut out the external noise in your environment causing irritation, overstimulation and stress to your mind.
Turn off social media, unfollow any people and groups you respond negatively to. Unsubscribe from expert newsletters letting you know daily the 5 mistakes you are making in your work. Petitions and campaign updates, turn them off. Turn off the news too.
Turn off phone notifications beeping, interrupting your focus and flow, pulling your attention away from what is truly important into time wasting apps. Delete all the apps and games from your phone that are distracting you; and remove yourself from any WhatsApp groups draining your creativity and lifeforce energy.
This doesn’t have to be forever. For now, turn down the volume (right down) on external stimuli so you can hear your own heart’s wisdom and inspiration leading and creating this fresh chapter.
Get out into nature. Go to the water—rivers, lakes, oceans and seas—and clear your mind.
CLEAR OUT YOUR BODY
Cut out stimulants, such as caffeine and sugar habits that may have crept in, that give you false energy bursts and can amplify and exacerbate unwanted thoughts on repeat on your mind. If you can’t cut them out completely, reduce them a little each day and notice the difference.
CLEAR OUT YOUR WORK
What about your work is no longer working for you? Which areas need a clear out, a reboot and refresh to welcome in new life and creative energy?
Perhaps staying hidden away in the background needs to go as you listen to a calling to step up and be the creative, vibrant leader and spokesperson for industry? If chasing financial goals or financial survival during the pandemic has left you burnt out, let it go and reconnect with your heart’s wisdom, purpose and reason for being. Be brave. Clear it out to make space to welcome in the fresh, new creative energy, lifeforce and success for you and your career to evolve and grow.
CLEAR OUT YOUR OFFICE
Take a look around your office. How does it make you feel? Are you inspired or irritated? Do you feel clear and expansive or hemmed in and cluttered? What needs to go and be recycled, thrown out or given away? What needs to be organised more beautifully?
Go through your entire office. Start with the desk draws and cupboards and clear them all out. Organise any piles of filing, old receipts, contracts and agreements. Recycle, throw away and give away anything that no longer serves your work.
Find some lovely storage boxes to tidy up, straighten out, organise and brighten up a space that you love being in, a space that inspires you when you walk into it, a space that says you are ready for the new.
I once spent the day helping my neighbour, a spa designer and yoga teacher, clear out her office. Over 20 bin bags later, she’d been reminded of her career success, skills and dedication, filling her with confidence. The following week she was offered a new position harnessing all these skills to design and develop a world-leading spa for a 5 star hotel in India. Clearing out the old, made space and invited in the new.
CLEAR OUT YOUR DIARY
Take a look at your diary for the coming week and month. What’s scheduled out of habit or obligation? Which meetings are time wasting? Are there meetings that can be delegated? What can be cancelled if you make and communicate a decision now?
Now schedule in your priority time in nature to listen to your heart’s wisdom and receive the inspiration that will guide the next evolution of your work. Make space for this fresh, new creative emergence.
CLEAR OUT YOUR EMAIL
Do you have 1000 unopened emails in your inbox? Take two minutes and scan for the one or two that are truly vital and important. Create an action mailbox folder and move these one or two into that. Delete the rest. Double delete by emptying the deleted or bin folder. How does that feel?
Just as you might spring clean your home; giving your life a good spring clean, saying a conscious and timely goodbye to the pandemic years and dead of winter, opens you up to the rebirth of your career. Decluttering your life can feel like bursting open the windows to breathe in the fresh air of a whole new creative chapter.
