Declutter Your Emotions To Achieve The Life You Want

Emotions are like the weather for your thoughts and actions. You could also think of them as the climate- just a part of the ecosystem. That’s why they influence your results and why it’s important to declutter your emotions of chaotic undercurrents.

But how do you declutter something like the weather? Well, luckily, we have more control over our emotions than we do the weather (although we like to forget that sometimes).

This article is a deeper dive into my previous article, ‘Declutter your life- 4 impactful areas‘. Check it out after this for a broader scope!

Emotions Are Physical

In many ways, emotions are physical experiences of our thoughts, so it’s imperative that you declutter your mind of junk regularly. The mind gathers and perceives information and releases chemicals in response to that information resulting in physical symptoms in our body.

Is it threatening? Pump up the heart rate and nervous response = anxious. This physical response is why people tend to give emotions so much power. When you’re sad, you may literally feel hollow, and physical tears might pour from your face. When you’re heartbroken, you may have actual pain in your chest.

Emotions like stress, anxiety, and depression are all linked to the stress hormone Cortisol. Increased amounts of this hormone from prolonged anxiety or stress can affect you physically. This could include high blood pressure and cholesterol, among other things. But the good news is that when you declutter your emotions, there is a stress release rather than an increase.

To declutter a hot-wire entanglement of emotions, you must focus on the power source- thoughts.

People give emotions too much power because physical symptoms demand immediate attention. Understanding this process is the first step to not being a slave to your emotions.

You can breathe through heart palpitations, shaky hands, sweaty palms, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, and tears. You can better withstand the pain of negative emotions by working on the source—your mind.

Emotions Don’t Equal Truth

Feelings don’t dictate the truth. Great news, right?

You may feel like your past has ruined you, but the truth is that the mind is capable of incredible things. In 10 years, you could have a totally unrecognizable life. Emotions don’t know the future- they embody our perception of the present.

You may feel like going grocery shopping now, which might change in a few hours. If you want to eat, you’ll have to operate with more logic and less emotion.

Of course, emotions aren’t bad; they’re here to protect us. We can thank them for doing their job because we would be missing a huge part of the human experience without them. They’re invited along for the ride, but it’s recommended that they take the backseat.

Emotional Impulse Control

Impulse is a particularly insidious emotion—a sudden urge that can be hard to resist. BAM, “I want chocolate, like, now.” BAM, “This thing’s on sale, and I feel like I need it!” These random thoughts clutter our minds and reign over our attention. They steal our focus, money, and resolve to do better.

Of course, as someone who works with people to create holistic, clutter-free home spaces, I know that the almighty impulse can also wreak havoc on our homes.

But, just like anything else, it loses its power if you don’t feed it. Intentionally focusing on something else every time you get an impulse attack will change your mind’s way of communicating with you (through less impulsive information feeds).

Your mind learns that the pain is not that severe when you don’t get what you want, so it stops responding with such urgency. The result? Better attention span, fewer ‘brain commercials,’ and a smaller waistline.

Breaking Through Emotional Discomfort

There’s discomfort associated with not giving your emotions what they want. It doesn’t feel good to say, “No, I’m not buying that,” “I’m not eating that,” “I’m not going to lay in bed all day,” or “I’m not going to obsess over what this person said to me.”

But you do have a choice. And that choice is to front-load the discomfort now and be done with it or suffer the chronic pain of living as a victim of your emotional weather.

Declutter Your Emotions

I recommend decluttering your physical environment first. It’s easier to focus on tangible objects, which greatly disturbs the topic of emotion. Also, our energy is directly drawn from our environment. Environments can immediately affect our moods and emotions.

In fact, multiple psychological effects of clutter are worth looking into. Having a healthy home environment to mirror while you’re doing the internal work will help.

When you stop feeding your impulses and emotions, they become weaker. They lose their power over you. This doesn’t mean that you become some boring robot or an empty shell of a human; that’s not what anybody wants. But your emotions stop being able to control your life.

Of course, change is a gradual thing that happens over a series of intentional moments. The first few times you redirect your emotions, prove to your mind that you CAN do this and that it won’t kill you. (Your mind’s main concern is your safety).

The Payoff Is When You Declutter Your Emotions

The payoff happens when a change becomes permanent. People who experience amazing life transformations stuck to their guns long enough to make those changes stick.

Someone who wants to exercise more will initially need to go through the pain of getting up, performing the activity, pushing through the discomfort, and repeating later in the week when they still feel sore from the first time.

They haven’t experienced the payoff yet when continuing is the most difficult. But over the course of months, their bodies will begin to show visible results. They’ll have more energy, and they'll feel better.

Reaching the payoff in anything we do starts with our emotions and minds. You can follow the same structure I explained in this article on destroying limiting beliefs. It’s a very similar process.

• Become mindful of your current thoughts and emotional patterns. (Think about what you think about).
• Infuse your negative thought patterns with the truth.
• Intentionally redirect your thoughts.
• And stick with it long enough to experience the payoff!