We should know by now that clutter slows us down, make us late, makes us lose things and makes us harassed. But did you know that clutter can even be toxic to your emotional health?
Toxic Clutter
The sort of clutter that can harm us emotionally is the type which revives bad memories and negative emotions. Unfortunately it’s much easier to be negative than positive; you only need to watch the news to be reminded of that. We need to work hard to stay positive, because it’s only in an optimistic frame of mind that we can achieve happiness and fulfil our potential.
We don’t want to be surrounded, then, by objects that make us feel sad, angry or ashamed. The type of clutter which is toxic to our emotions can include wedding photos if we’re divorced, materials from the course we failed, or a promotional pen from the job we hated.
How Does it Make You Feel?
When you look at a possession think about how it makes you feel. It it makes you feel happy, calm or indifferent then it’s doing you good, or at least not harming you. But if any object makes you feel sad, bitter, disappointed or demeaned in some way, then you should get rid of it as fast as possible.
Unpleasant Reminders
Everyone makes mistakes and has failures, but we don’t want to be constantly reminded of them. We’ve learnt a lesson from our mistakes, but constant reminders will knock our confidence, and impede our ability to move on to better things. Zig Ziglar [UK Link] [US Link] stressed the importance of positive thinking when he said “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.”
The Importance of Positive Thinking
In order to fulfil our unique potential as an individual, we need to feel positive, uplifted and confident, and surrounding yourself with possessions that make you feel good will help you to feel like this.
Have a ceremonial burning of your toxic clutter, and by doing so you’ll release the negative emotions associated with it and free yourself to move on to the future you really want.
