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When we hear about minimalism, we often associate it with living small, reducing external clutter and Marie Kondo. But today I want to talk about a different type of minimalism – inner minimalism.
Decluttering our homes is a fairly straight forward project. There are all sorts of tips and tricks to help you get started. While having a clean external environment feels nice, it’s not how you’re going to find inner peace.
Making a trip to the Goodwill to donate your unwanted stuff makes your house look cleaner, but does it really get rid of all your inner clutter? What about all the deeper things you’re holding onto inside? Resentment, shame, guilt, anger, frustration, sadness, fear…. the things that REALLY weigh you down and clutter your world. Unfortunately inner decluttering isn’t as straight forward as cleaning out your bedroom closet.
Inner clutter sits inside our bodies and over time causes stress and dis-ease. In fact, many auto-immune diseases stem from carrying too much stress in the body. Most of us have been carrying past traumas, stresses and fears for a long, long time – even generationally. We don’t always know when they started, we just know we’ve been carrying them privately for years…even decades. We tend to distract ourselves from dealing with our inner clutter by buying things that end up cluttering our homes. To stop the external clutter, we need to address our inner world first.
If you want to start decluttering your inner world, start by meditating. Meditation is the simplest way to release old stresses that we hold in our bodies. Give yourself permission to sit quietly. You may think “it’s a waste of time or that you’re not accomplishing anything. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Meditation allows your brain to decompress and detach all the thoughts that run endlessly through your minds. From the outside it may look like you aren’t doing anything, but on the inside the magic is happening!
Ways You’ll Know Your Inner Decluttering Is Working:
- You’ll sleep better.
- You’ll be able to make decisions easier.
- You’ll find you aren’t freaking out in stressful situations as much as before.
- You’ll find you’re more creative.
- You’ll recognize when you’re trying to distract yourself with shopping, eating, scrolling, or (insert your own distraction go-to here).
If you need help decluttering your inner world, I can help get you started.