Spring Clean Your Head Space | Life Love and Hiccups: Spring Clean Your Head Space
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Monday 12 October 2015

Spring Clean Your Head Space

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In any given moment... how much of the stuff buzzing around in our head is actually important and how much of it is just white noise and clutter?

If for example I was to open my brain up to you guys and I was completely honest about what is going on in there, I would hazard a guess that the balance of good stuff versus white noise in my head space would look something kinda like this...



Like many of us, I have been busting my chops lately to get the house in order. You know, Spring cleaning, decluttering and all that jazz. 

I do it because it makes me feel good to live in a clear uncluttered space. 

I have also been busying preparing myself for Spring in the same way.. but sorta different... de fuzzing, detoxing and sorting out my wardrobe yada yada.

But then it struck me last night as I was trying to go to sleep and couldn't because there was a party going on in my brain... what about my head space? 

Surely that could do with a good Spring Clean too right?

Right.

Just imagine how much more room we could have for the good stuff in our head like plans, ideas, and learning, if we cleaned out and sorted through all the junk we have stored up there.

I know it's not tangible stuff we are storing and therefore I'm probably a bit of a looney for thinking you can actually do a Spring clean on your head... but why not?

Think of your head as the hard file on your computers. 

If we don't clean up our files at least every once in a while, the computer lags, we run out of memory to store things or worse yet - it blue screens on us or simply shuts down.

Our brain is kind of the same when you think about it.

When I had my full on fair dinkum breakdown a few years back, my brain literally shut down on me and as bizarre as it sounds I lost all unnecessary info. 

Pin numbers, phone numbers, names, details - my brain just dumped it all so that it could run in safety mode, processing on the bare minimum it needed to keep me functioning.

I for one don't ever want to be in that place again, and I promised myself I wouldn't, and yet over time I have allowed my head to fill up with a whole lotta stuff that doesn't need to be there. Stuff that does nothing but build up, gathering dust and stopping me from thinking with any sort of clarity.

Stuff that slows me down and makes me feel stressed.

So just as you would your home or your computer, maybe it's time to give your head space a grand old Spring Clean and start by hitting Control, Alt & Delete on the following things that are taking up valuable space and energy;

1. Self criticism and doubt. I'm talking about all the crappy things we tell ourselves all the time - not good enough, not smart enough, not skinny enough, not funny enough ... blah blah. 


If someone was saying all that negative stuff to your face, would you just stand there day in and day out and listen to it? Ahhh that would be a big fat NO! 

What if they stood next to your bed as you were going to sleep and whispered into your ear a constant stream of insulting crappola? Not only would you not allow it, you'd probably smack them in the head with an ugg boot as you call the cops. 

Get rid of it OKK?! NO MORE!

2. Next on the list of things to get rid of is all that space you take up thinking about bad experiences or any failures from your past. Let those things go, they are in the past for a damn good reason and the only room in your head for things from the past, is good memories... the ones that make you smile. The rest of it can go.

3. Fear. Ummm see point 1 and don't waste another second thinking about it - DELETE.

4. OK, now we are on a roll, it's time to look at all those worries we have stored up there. 

First of all - worrying about what hasn’t happened? Ahh hello! It hasn’t happened so why do we even give them head space? 

It is one thing to be cautious, but to dwell on a 'what if?' – well as far as I am concerned that is just a waste of a perfectly good worry. Let’s save them for something that is real and tangible and we are actually facing and not give our fears of 'what if?' any energy to feed on.

5. Shouldas, Couldas & Wouldas. Meh, who’s got time for that?! If it didn’t, you didn’t or it hasn’t – they serve no purpose, so get rid of those thoughts and move on.

6. A big chunk of head space gets chewed up by all the constant commentary on what we should be doing instead of what we are doing. 

I kind of liken that annoying voice to the really painful person in the cinema, who despite there being a zillion seats to choose from, picks the one right in front of you and blocks your view. 

That running commentary in your head blocks your view and gets in the way of you enjoying the moment you are in ... which is ridiculous when you think about it. 

So many of us are talking about being more mindful and in the moment and yet it is generally ourselves and that commentary in our head that stands in our own way of achieving that peaceful mindfulness we so desire.

7. Over analysing other people – and by that I mean thinking about what they are doing, comparing ourselves to them or pondering on how they feel about us

What they are dong or what they think about us is their business not ours, so I reckon we leave that to them and stop wasting valuable head space on something we don't own.

8. Bearing grudges. This was a biggy for me to let go off. 

I didn’t realise just how much time and head space I gave to people who had done the wrong thing by me. Far too much is how much... in case you were wondering.

I’m not suggesting you need to ever forget what has been done... heck I am not even telling you to forgive if you don't feel the need to – but what I am saying is give it a couple of minutes of your time to feel the pain of what they did, acknowledge the anger or frustration they made you feel and then DELETE, let it go. 

It’s just taking up space in your head and making far too much noise to serve you any purpose so on the count of three, hit Control-Alt-Delete and be done with it. 

That space in your head can be better put to use.

I am not suggesting you tackle all of these things in one go... but I mean if you can - hey that's awesome, do it! 

But for the rest of us, tackling it one thing at the time is probably more the go, just as cleaning one room at a time in your house, or sorting through one file of photos on your computer is much easier and far less daunting than trying to do it all at once. 

I reckon, if we can do this - before we know it we will be living with fresh uncluttered head space with no one and nothing, not even ourselves, blocking our view or stopping us from feeling far less stressed and truly being in the moment.

When was the last time you gave your head space a good clean out?
Is your head a noisy place to be in too?