Snow melts, winter jackets are packed away, and the urge to clean closets and cleanse wardrobes suddenly appears: spring cleaning.
For the first time in many years, I have some downtime without work or school responsibilities. I meditated on how to best spend my time and decided I should attend to this necessary spring cleaning.
I hesitated before starting, ensuring I’m using my time wisely. I stopped, thought for a minute, and then started to write this post.
I need to introduce a similar notion of “spring cleaning” for my mind. I need to carve out intentional time to declutter my mind. I can do this by reviewing my experiences, exploring buried feelings, and liberating suppressed emotions.
I tend to submerge experiences, and drown the thoughts and feelings associated with them, to instead carry on in the routine of life. Obviously, this strategy sucks. At some point, those repressed experiences which desperately require examination overflow and result in an anxious, confused Paarth.
I believe it’s important to allocate time periodically to solve exactly that problem.
Well, the goal is similar in both cases.
The space we occupy is best when it’s free of waste, primed for utility, and available for advancement—three closely related ideas.
If our space is clean, when we go to use it, we’ll use it more efficiently. There’s less friction. As such, the space is also available for iteration and advancement. With new space, you can put new things.
I believe our mind can benefit from a similar decluttering process. With a cluttered mind, it’s hard to build new relationships, appreciate new experiences and advance your ideas—there’s no space.
Tangentially, I believe I have the responsibility to declutter my mind. As I embark in new endeavours and build new relationships, I want to make sure I fulfill my social obligation of presenting my best self. That means spending intentional time decluttering in hopes of being available in all senses in the future.