My Recipe of Reducing Emotional Clutter

We have all experienced that when our work area is filled with a lot of unwanted clutter, it reduces our efficiency, and we work best when we keep our desk clean so that we can focus better on the work at hand. I remember the time when my email inbox got filled with hundreds of emails waiting for my attention. The huge backlog of emails gave me a feeling of being overwhelmed and out of control. I simply could not get anything done due to the nagging feeling. Only after I took two days to sort out all the pending emails to clear my inbox, I could regain my effectiveness.

This experience got me thinking. There are times when we find ourselves overwhelmed with the challenges in front of us, completely unable to handle them; while the real reason behind it could be that our problem solving ability is reduced by the emotional clutter filled in our mind. What to do if faced with such a situation? Simple, just as I worked on clearing my inbox, we should take time to get rid of the emotional clutter and then work at the problem. Here is how I go about doing it: 

Relax Yourself with Deep Breathing
First of all, relax yourself. Practice deep breathing for relaxation with the following steps:

• Close your eyes
• Slowly count to three as you inhale
• Hold your breath for a count of two
• Now exhale slowly as you count to five.
• After this, wait for a count of two before you inhale the next breath.

Observe the feeling of relaxation in your body as you exhale and after it. After doing it a few times consciously, you will get a knack of it and can use this deep breathing technique in any situation to relax yourself.  

Observe your Thoughts

While in relaxed state observe your thoughts and let go of negative emotions of guilt, worry, and hatred.

Guilt
If you get any thoughts of guilt, pay close attention to it. You may feel the body tense up when this thought passes your mind.  Note the exact reason behind your guilt and how you feel about it carefully. Whatever be the reason for it, you will find that your guilt is keeping you focused on the past and preventing you to take action in the present. You cannot go back and change the past. Once you recognize this fact, gently let the guilt flow out of your mind. As you get rid of your guilt, you will experience that your mind feels lighter and the body feels more relaxed.

Worry
It is very likely that you may have not one but multiple worries in your mind, that may be keeping you occupied all the time. Take a closer look at your biggest worry. You will find that you are worrying because you think about problems in the future on which you have no control at the moment.  Use a simple method to get rid of this worry. Think of the worst that may happen, and mentally accept the worst. This will immediately release your mind from the worry and will prepare you to take action in the present. As you drop your worry, you will feel a positive sensation in your mind and body. Repeat these steps to get rid of all your worries one by one from your mind.

Hatred
Are you holding a grudge against anyone for too long? Try this simple test. Think for a few moments about the person you hate the most. Does it results in some tightness in your jaws or elsewhere in your body? If yes, you need to get rid of this emotions of hate as well. Choose to forgive the person as all of us make mistakes. The moment you forgive, the emotion of hate will flow out of you  and you will feel a lightness in your heart.

Similar look for other negative emotions such as fear, anger, anxiety, frustration, envy, etc and get rid of them from your mind. After getting rid of the clutter of negative emotions, take time to be aware of the present, and be in touch with who you really are. Continue observing your thoughts. If some negative emotions re-appear, let go of them in the same way.

Now in this relaxed state, think of the most important problem you are trying to solve. You will find that a clutter-free mind works much more efficiently to come up with many possible approaches to attack the problem, and suddenly the issue no longer appears to be as formidable as it was when you tried to solve it with a cluttered mind.

So, this is my secret recipe of getting rid of the emotional clutter from my mind and helping myself deal with the challenges. It always works like a magic for me. Try it.. it may work for you equally well.