We have all seen cluttered spaces. Sometimes maybe our own spaces. A cluttered room, a cluttered office, a cluttered garage, a cluttered desk. Cluttered spaces don’t necessarily inspire a sense of calm and peace.
What’s it like when our mind is cluttered? When our mind is cluttered with thoughts, fears, and anxieties?
How do we declutter? We declutter by creating space.
Marie Kondo was very popular for helping people declutter. In her TV show, she taught people to throw or give away things that don’t “spark joy,” thus creating space in their homes.
In mindfulness, we are also creating space to help us declutter our minds. But the mindfulness method is a little different than the Kondo method.
We create space in mindfulness practice simply by observing. We declutter our mind by simply observing our mind. Space is defined as the distance between two points. When we observe our thoughts, we are no longer identified with it and wrapped up in it. When we observe our thoughts, we immediately have some distance from it. In other words, we have some space.
We don’t pick and choose any thoughts or emotions. We’re not saying, “This is a good thought, I want to keep it. This is a bad thought, I want to throw it away.” Or maybe the vice versa—sometimes we’re in a mood where we want to hold on to a negative thought and reject positive thoughts.
We’re not doing any picking or choosing in mindfulness practice. We’re simply observing. We observe and pay attention to our breath. When thoughts come up, we observe those thoughts and let them go. Then we return to observing our breath. And by just observing, observing, observing, we can create some space.
Mindfulness FAQ 