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Health & Fitness

Free Space, Free Mind

A cluttered environment makes for a cluttered mind. What stuff in your life is taking up physical and mental space? Read the blog for some inspiration and ideas on decluttering your living space.

Is your garage so full that you can't park your car in it? Are there piles of papers in your office that prevent you from finding what you need? Do you have magazines from five years ago? Do you keep every gift, even if you hate it? Is your closet filled with clothes that haven't been worn in years? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then perhaps it's time for some spring cleaning. Creating space in your physical environment can improve your mental health. A cluttered environment makes for a cluttered mind.

Because our indoor surroundings are as important as our outdoor ones for our health, it is important to create an indoor environment that promotes health. When you have free space, you make way for a free mind. Think about where you feel most relaxed. Often, it is in an environment that is clean, tidy, and open. Why not create this type of environment where you spend so much of your time—at home.

Those who know me would say that I keep a pretty clean house. I have very little clutter. For the amount of new stuff that comes into my house, equal or more makes it way out of my house. I still laugh at my aunt's comment when she first visited my house, asking, "Where's all of your stuff?" Although I rate low on the clutter-meter scale, I, too, can fall prey to complacency. It is so easy to get used to how a room looks that we don't truly see it anymore.

Recently, I saw my family room with fresh eyes and realized there was a lot of clutter around the TV stand that really didn’t need to be there. We were in the market for a new TV stand and all of the ads showed just the TV on the stand with some candles. In my setup, candles were the last thing I would have thought of to put on the stand since it was cluttered with electrical components, a Wii gaming system, a Karaoke machine, and more. Much of the stuff displayed only got used a couple of times a year and did not need to be taking up prime, visible space.

I now have my new TV stand and it has only what needs to be there—and candles. Now when I'm in the family room, I feel a renewed sense of serenity. There is more space, both in my physical environment as well as in my mind. For me, the act of getting rid of clutter is very therapeutic.

One idea for managing your closet is to place all of your hangers the same way on a certain date. From that date forward, every time you take an item out, return it with the hanger facing the other way. At the end of the year, toss the items that are still facing the original way since it means you haven't worn the item for the entire year. For the garage, a good test is to mark the date you store a box. If you don't open it for a couple of years, ask yourself why you are keeping it.

This week, take a walk through your house and/or garage and see if there are items that you really don't need anymore. Try to see your living spaces with a fresh perspective. Although the task of decluttering may seem overwhelming, just do a little at a time. As you go, asking yourself the following four questions may help to shed some light on what should stay and what should go.

  1. Have I used it in the past year?
  2. What am I keeping this for?
  3. Do I need it?
  4. Can I live without it?

By decluttering your physical environment, you help to declutter your mind. What stuff in your life is taking up physical and mental space?

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Dina Colman is a health writer and consultant. She has her MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University and will graduate with a Master’s degree in Holistic Health Education in June 2011 from John F. Kennedy University. She founded FourQuadrantLiving.com, a website providing information on healthy living through nourishment of the four quadrants of our lives—mind, body, relationships, and environment. This blog is from the Environment quadrant. Contact Dina at dina@fourquadrantliving.com

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