One of the best ways “to open” on the physical plane is to declutter and cleanse your physical environment. On top of your workaholic pace, disorganized and cluttered living spaces make your life even more chaotic and stressful. Clutter is a roadblock to finding thing you need. It cuts into valuable time and adds another level of frustration when you’re already in a hurry. As clutter piles up, your stress level can go sky-high. You might find your productivity wanes, too, as you bounce from one task to another, paralyzed by where to begin. 

After a long day, the last thing you want is a stressful visual reminder of what needs doing staring you in the face. You can create visual rest by decluttering — deciding what you need and what you don’t. Then organize the keepers and toss, recycle, or donate anything you haven’t used in more than a year. You might also consider digitizing paperwork to declutter your paper trail. Signing up for online billing and payments eliminates excess mail, checks, and paper clutter.

Sometimes when you hang on to junk on the physical plane, you harbor something inside that clogs your productivity or blocks creative flow. Once you declutter and organize your physical environment, you often notice a parallel process on the psychological level. You start to notice an unclogging of old ideas, toxic relationships, and bad habits, along with more room for inspiration, clarity, and creativity.

Excerpt from #Chill: Turn Off Your Job and Turn On Your Life with permission from the author and publisher.

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Author(s)

  • Bryan Robinson, Ph.D.

    Psychotherapist in Private Practice and Author of 40 books.

    Bryan Robinson, Ph.D. is a professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, psychotherapist in private practice, and award-winning author of two novels and 40 nonfiction books that have been translated into 15 languages. His latest book is THE LIZARD BRAIN SURVIVAL GUIDE: HOW TO KEEP YOUR COOL WHEN THINGS DON’T GO YOUR WAY. Previous books include #CHILL: TURN OFF YOUR JOB AND TURN ON YOUR LIFE (William Morrow), DAILY WRITING RESILIENCE: 365 MEDITATIONS & INSPIRATIONS FOR WRITERS (Llewellyn Worldwide)and CHAINED TO THE DESK: A GUIDEBOOK FOR WORKAHOLICS, THEIR PARTNERS AND CHILDREN, AND THE CLINICIANS WHO TREAT THEM (New York University Press)He is a regular contributor to Forbes.com, Psychology Today, and Thrive Global. He has appeared on 20/20, Good Morning America, The CBS Early Show, ABC's World News Tonight, NPR’s Marketplace, NBC Nightly News and he hosted the PBS documentary "Overdoing It: How To Slow Down And Take Care Of Yourself." www.bryanrobinsonbooks.com.