Chapter 1 – The Different Kinds of Mental Clutter and What Can Trigger It

Before you can learn how to fix your mental clutter and gain mental clarity, you have to know the different types of mental clutter and the various ways that it can manifest.

There are five kinds of mental clutter that can end up causing you to lose focus and keep you from greater success. The information presented in this chapter will help you determine what type of mental clutter consumes your mind.

Negative Self-Talk

The majority of us have a voice in our heads that dictates information to us. It could be a voice that prompts you to say something during a conversation, or the voice that tells you what it is that you truly want in a given situation. It is the voice that speaks to you about how you look when you look in the mirror or the voice that talks to you in terms of your self-esteem. It can be both positive and negative.

This type of self-talk, when it is negative, can create a significant amount of mental clutter in our heads. When you tell yourself that a specific goal that you’re trying to accomplish is impossible, it can end up actualizing a situation where you end up failing.

On the other hand, if you can cultivate positive self-talk, the results are much more likely to end up being the opposite. Instead of failing, you succeed. Negative self-talk ends up creating a negative mental environment that impacts every aspect of our lives.

Some common signs of this kind of negative mental environment include feelings of inadequacy, feelings of self-doubt, and feelings of ugliness. If you can relate to these feelings, you’re not alone. This is a common type of mental clutter that many people deal with, and many don’t even realize that it is occurring until they stop and think about it.

Worrying

Another kind of mental clutter that many people deal with involves worrying. For some people, this worrying can be chronic. While it is fine to worry about certain things every once in a while when the worry starts to take over your life it becomes chronic and can even become addictive or compulsive.

For example, those who worry excessively it might be challenging for them to recognize that certain situations are out of their control.

Not everything in life is predictable, but for some people, this
fact can sometimes prove to be unbearable for them.

This results in a cluttered, worried mind.

Another reason why worrying can take up a lot of valuable mental space is that unpredictability means the future is uncertain. Worrying is a prime example of the fact that mental clutter is often caused by anxieties that are beyond your control.

By shifting the focus of your mind onto more positive aspects of life, it is possible to evade and eliminate a large portion of mental clutter that has built up.

Fear

Fear can also clutter your mind and prevent it from effectively processing information. If you have ever experienced the feeling of dread in regard to a situation that you’ve never dealt with before, then you’re aware of the fact that fear can stop you in your tracks. Fear can prevent you from being able to accomplish what
should or needs to be performed while also being able to manipulate your brain in the process.

If you allow fear to penetrate your mind to the point that it’s preventing you from doing something to move you closer to your goals, then it should be clear that fear is an important kind of mental clutter that you need to eliminate from your life.

Guilt

Guilt or shame typically manifests in the mind when we’re not happy with the decisions that we’ve made that we aren’t excited about. This becomes twofold when the choices that we’ve made in the past end up hurting people we care about or people who have trusted us in some way. Guilt can end up taking a lot of
mental space up in your mind when you aren’t able to let go of your poor choices.

Instead of letting these poor decisions go and allowing them to become a learning experience, people can sometimes cling to their feelings out of guilt, or even shame. This kind of clinging fuels a situation where the individual allows their self-worth to become tarnished and allows low self-esteem to develop.

Additionally, guilt and shame can end up opening up your mind and letting negative self-talk through. For example, if you feel guilt or shame about a situation from your past, you can start to become resentful or angry toward yourself. Once you become angry and resentful, negative thoughts can start to form and take hold of your mind.

Being able to acknowledge feelings of guilt and shame is the first step toward relinquishing your mind from the grasp of guilt. Once you can recognize these kinds of emotions in yourself, you can then start to work on forgiving yourself and forming a more positive relationship with your mind.

Regret

The final kind of mental clutter is regret. It is essential to realize that every single, self-defined, happy person in this world has more than likely done something that they regret. Making a bad decision is just one of the unfortunate realities of being human. It is not about the decision itself, but rather it is more about how you deal with the decision when the outcome isn’t what you expected.

It’s common for people to focus more on the result of a situation and less on what was learned from a single experience. Being human involves being able to objectively look at what went wrong and where you can improve, however, it is entirely possible to become caught up in the past, rather than being optimistic about your future.

There is a common thread that runs through these five types of mental clutter and can be best described as an inability to let go. If you identify with any of these kinds of mental clutter, the chances are high that you are sometimes too hard on yourself, which can block your ability to gain mental clarity. The ability to
release yourself from the burden of knowing that you could have done something differently is essential if you want to find mental clarity.

Now that you know some of the most significant kinds of mental clutter that could be causing you to lose focus, it is vital that you understand some of the specific triggers that can lead to a more cluttered mind.

The News

For many people, the daily news can be a trigger point that ends up causing unnecessary worry, guilt, and stress. These days, it can sometimes seem as if everything on the news focuses on violence, controversy, or negativity. If you are used to watching the nightly news, you can determine if it is a trigger point for you by keeping track of how you feel afterward.

Either write down how you feel, or you can use your phone to record your feelings. It’s essential to take note of the emotions that might arise that are associated with the types of mental clutter discussed previously.

Once you’ve recorded your feelings after watching the nightly news, take a few nights off from watching it. Take a step back from the chaos and see how you feel. You may find that your mind is a bit clearer when you refrain from watching it.

While this doesn’t mean that you should completely hide from current events around the world, by recognizing that the news can sometimes clutter your mind in unexpected ways, you might be able to protect it better when necessary.

Money

Another trigger point that may cause you mental clutter is the subject of money. It doesn’t matter where you are in regards to your career; money is something that causes everyone a lot of fear, worry, and even regret. If you continuously think about money and how to get more of it, there are a few things that you can do to help you think about it less. Start by altering your mindset.

Rather than being anxious and worried about the lack of money you have, try being grateful for the money that you do have. Then you need to be upfront with yourself about where the money you do make is going. After you determine where you spend your money, you can start to cut costs wherever possible.

The Past

Another trigger that leads to mental clutter for many of us in the past. Sometimes the past is simply a reference point as we move through life. However, this doesn’t mean that we should allow the past to define our future.

When you focus on the past, it can seem like your inner demons shine brighter than they should. We’ve all made mistakes, taken others for granted, and have done things that we are not proud of.

When you focus on these negative aspects of your past, rather than the positive ones, you are more likely to be overly hard on yourself.

If you can start to think of the past as being less defining to
who you are today, it can lead to a less cluttered mind when
you are making important decisions.

Your Current Habits

It is entirely natural to get stuck in your current ways, even if the circumstances don’t make you particularly happy. If you feel as if you have an attitude that you can’t change things because it’s just the way it is, then this is a great place to start decluttering your mind and gaining mental clarity.

If you think that your current circumstances are causing a significant level of mental clutter, in your life, then you should look at your associates, your material possessions, and your job to see if any of them need altering. Then make a plan to address these things so you can get rid of the mental clutter and gain more
mental clarity and achieve greater success.