Declutter your mind

If you’re like me then you always have thoughts, plans and ideas running through your mind 24/7.

I think a lot! Even when school was still on, I’d be in class listening to a lecturer but still have a thousand other things on my mind. This happened almost all the time, except the lecturer was captivating enough to capture my mind.
I was working on this before the lockdown but that’s a story for another day.

Now that I don’t have to sit in class to listen to boring lectures anymore, the activity on my mind has just spiked times 100.

Daily, thoughts and plans cloud my head. It starts off with a thought then it moves to two, then three then four and by midday, my head is a highway with crazy traffic of ideas.

If this happens to you, please keep reading.

Having lots of thoughts and ideas can be a blessing and a curse. As a creative and a child of a creative God, I’d be worried if my mind wasn’t fruitful but when it gets too extreme, it is bad.
When too much goes on up there (your mind), little or nothing will be actualized. So, you end up having a truckload of ideas and doing nothing with them.

Also sometimes, the things that cloud our minds may not really be ideas. They may just be thoughts about different things; life, our world, our current situation, our fears and so on. Just like our houses and closets need to be cleaned once in a while, our minds need the declutter too.

Mental health is really important hence I’d plead with you to never ignore the signs that tell you that there’s chaos in your mind.
Pay attention to yourself and when you feel like your mind is working too hard, do the following.

1. Draw your attention to the issue on ground
   Many times, your conscious mind does not participate in all of the overdrive. Your subconscious is in full control so you must bring the issue on the ground to your conscious, telling yourself that something needs to be fixed.
2. Journal
   Write down the thoughts that flow through your mind. If they are ideas and inspiration, document them in your notepad for easy reference. As you write, see it like you’re getting the load off your mind and transferring it to the paper.
3. Do something neutral.
   You need to take your mind away from the numerous cares, so try doing something neutral like seeing a funny video, a soothing movie, taking a walk while paying more attention to your surroundings, working out, dancing or talking with someone.
4. Sleep.
   You know how your phone or tab begins to act up sometimes and you contemplate taking it for repairs only for you to restart it or power it off and when it’s back on, everything is back to normal?
   Sometimes, that’s all we need; a period of reduced consciousness. Sleep for a few hours.
5. Declutter your surroundings.
   A cluttered environment can affect your mind. Take out some time to put everything in its place.
6. Keep your phone away for a while.
   We all can not deny the fact that we have been consuming unhealthy doses of social media in the last few weeks. We can’t even help it but guess what?
   It takes a terrible toll on our minds. All of that surfing through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter and so on is dropping heavy bags of trash in your mind so do yourself the favor of being responsible enough to keep your phone away for a minute. Well, not a minute literally. I mean like a few hours.
7. Go back to your journal and pick out one of the ideas and focus on it. Let every thought and activity be directed towards it.
   Try to avoid multitasking when it’s not necessary.
   For a day, you can decide to focus on your work project. Let every video you watch, book you read and activity you engage in be tailored towards the project.
   You need to work on something because one of the reasons your mind goes into overdrive in the first place is procrastination. Stop thinking too much and act.
8. Take a break.

What other way do you declutter your mind? Let’s talk in the comments below.