Banish Clutter Forever

The tendency to clutter with objects is usually a deferred decision about what is useful, that is made in a wish to keep all your options open. If you’re someone who has this tendency, then there’s another trap which it’s easy to fall into. That is, the trap of saying yes to every task, project, goal, dream, invitation or form of social networking, again because you want to keep your options open, and feel that you’re not missing out on anything; that you’re not missing out on happiness. In short it’s easy to behave as if you have several lifetimes and to clutter your time. And if your time commitments are cluttered, and you have a tendency to hoard, then these two things can be a disastrous combination!

Human beings are finite. What makes that so difficult to see and accept is that our speed of thought is so much faster than what we’re physically capable of. If you try to ignore that fact and push yourself all the time, you get too tired to do anything well, and even things that you might have enjoyed if you were well rested, lose their shine…

What is absolutely central to solving your clutter problem is discovering that less really is more. And if you ‘never have time’ to sort out your clutter, because you have a commitment clutter problem, then your commitments are the first place you have to learn that fact. This is really difficult if you believe that you are defined, directed or made visible by that ‘bouncing’ that you do, off other human beings and their ideas. I’m not asking you to give that up entirely, but to understand that in order to make your experiences with other human beings or other ideas richer, you need to be honouring yourself and your interests as the centre of your own universe. You have to have faith that some inner you knows what is important and knows your true path. And you can’t be grounded in that knowledge, if you never give yourself time to experience it.

Less is more. Less clutter equals more space, to luxuriate, to stretch out in, and to make unified and beautiful. Less commitment clutter means something even more precious. It means having the time to discover and nurture and ‘grow’ your self, and to make sure that the ideas and people you interact with are truly important and precious to you. It’s a way of honouring your internal compass and keeping yourself on track, and it’s the key to simple, everyday happiness.

Filed under: Time by Sheila Chandra