As recently seen on Living Healthy Chicago, we investigate how a cluttered home or office affects your mind or mood. Here is more information from Joyce Marter of Urban Balance.
Is a Cluttered Home Cluttering Your Mind?
By Joyce Marter, LCPC, Psychotherapist & Owner of Urban Balance, LLC
Our environment is a direct reflection of our internal mental health and vice versa. So, if our home is disorganized our minds may feel scattered as well. By purging unneeded items from our homes, it is like deleting files to create disk space on your computer. Suddenly, the whole operating system is more efficient. There is less stuff to manage, tasks take less time because you know where to find things, and this decreases stress and increases your effectiveness personally and professionally. Organization promotes serenity and wellness in your life.
It is important to note that major life transitions can cause changes in your identity, lifestyle and environment. Because life transitions are stressful (even if positive), we may need to pay extra to our homes and environment to create a healthy, restful environment. If we care about ourselves, then we take pride in our homes and take the time to keep them organized.
Organization is a lifestyle that takes discipline, much like practicing proper nutrition or a healthy exercise regimen. Nobody is perfect and there is healthy balance strive towards that is somewhere between messy and compulsively clean. .
Remember, nobody is perfect. We all have some areas of our life that are disorganized, whether it is at home, the office or even our car (for me, it is my purse which is always overflowing with receipts and papers and everything but the kitchen sink). We are all works in progress and are doing the best we can do. It is about creating a lifestyle of discipline. It is a good idea to check in with yourself periodically and give your environment and your mind a good cleaning out. You may want to start small or start with one area of your house (many organization experts suggest starting with your bedroom and closet because that is where you start each day). Also, consider getting the support of a personal organizer or a therapist can help you achieve and maintain good organization, balance and wellness in your life.
