Have you ever walked into a neat bright room and felt an instant sense of calmness and lightness? Or felt more focused when you have only one task planned for the day? Why is that so?

Let me break it down for you. Each and every one of us have about 100 billion neurons in our brain, and these neurons are constantly processing information and our thoughts. Most of these activities happen subconsciously without us actually realizing. When our brains are presented with too much information to process and analyze, this is when brain overload occurs. Likewise, when we are made to make a choice or decision too frequently, our brains fall into decision fatigue; For example, when you are trying to multitask between replying emails, shopping online, and trying to complete an assignment.

Why is this a problem? Quite simply, our brains become overwhelmingly distracted and is unable to prioritize what is truly important and what aren’t and is also likely unable to make good decisions. Such over stimulated circumstances also release stress hormones, which have well-known long-term health effects.
The solution – simple – Simplify your life.

Declutter your life

By decluttering, I mean decluttering your space and belongings, decluttering your electronic information, as well as decluttering your thoughts. While the idea of decluttering your space and belongings should be well understood by most, what is less understood are the why and the how.

Decluttering effectively removes distractions for the mind, keeping our mind focused on what is truly important and making the best decisions. Having less allows us to live more and be free from the stress of thinking about things that are not important.

Most people have the misconception that a decluttered space should be bare and empty, devoid of character and soul. A decluttered space can in fact be filled with plenty of objects, as long as every object is intentionally brought into that space. This is where the concept of a simplified life gets meshed with the intents of intentional living and the principles of living in the present.

Stuff that serves a purpose in your life now (not in the past nor the future) as well as stuff that are intentionally brought in for a reason, should have its place in your space and be kept. Where it gets dicey is when we have stuff that no longer serve any purpose and are kept for a rainy day in the future; or sentimental stuff that do not serve any purpose but are kept because ditching them could be emotionally difficult. Remember that holding on to stuff for a rainy day is effectively living in the future and forgetting that it’s the present that we live in. This is the bedrock of minimalism/ minimalist living. While letting go of stuff is never easy, the reward of calmness and freedom definitely makes it all worthwhile.

Tidying is not decluttering

Tidying and organizing your stuff into hundreds of neat boxes without evaluating whether each item has a purpose in your life is not decluttering at all. It’s simply a form of hoarding and hiding. When deciding what items to let go becomes difficult, people often have a tendency to simply keep everything (to save the emotional insecurity), and store it neatly and pretend that they have decluttered!

For those who have watched Marie Kondo on Netflix, you’d remember that part of her tidying routine is to have her clients evaluate if an item indeed “sparked joy” in their lives, and it did, then keep it. I’d encourage those taking this decluttering journey (or should I say marathon) to learn to be brave and have faith in the benefits of leading a decluttered life.

Don’t let matters that don’t matter matter

Most things that we think matter in our lives really in fact do not. As a result, most people spend a large part of their time thinking and worrying over matters that have little to no consequence in their lives. When faced with a decision of insignificant consequence, just decide and move on fast; or when faced with a bad outcome that has little bearings, just accept the outcome and move on. Remember that life is too short to waste on unimportant matters, and that we should channel our attention only to truly important matters.

Let principles guide your decisions

Dilemmas, Dilemmas, Dilemmas!
Many people often find themselves struggling and stressed up over making difficult choices. There’s in fact a very logical approach to simplify these difficult decisions, that is to be guided by our principles. Making principled decisions first requires us to be honest with ourselves and to know our own guiding principles. These are principles that are everlasting through our lives, based on our morals and spiritual bearings. Whenever you are faced with a decision, difficult or not, you can always rely and be guided by your principles and be assured that your decisions are the best in the long run. Using this principled approach, decisions can be simplified, and they will always be consistent with all your other decisions in your life.

This principled approach can also be used when you are bringing new objects into your living space. For instance, if we subscribe to the principle that objects in our space should only be those that add value to our life, then deciding whether to purchase yet another piece of clothing becomes a breeze.