Clearing Clutter

Are you doing any New Year’s clearing of clutter? If so, have you checked… the inside of your head lately?  Not what you were expecting me to say? Take a minute to think about your mind in the form of your house.  Do you keep your mind clean and straightened up like your house?  Or do you keep old memories and mistakes and rude comments tucked in the back of your mind?  It’s an interesting way to think about it, right?

One of my all time favorite songs is Inside of My Head by David Wilcox.  (See lyrics below).  He walks through the metaphor of the mind as a house.  He shines a light into the dark corners of our minds – where it’s so easy to be our own worst enemy.

“I got such a mess between my ears
like dishes in the sink
Stuff I don’t believe just tumbles in
until I don’t have room to think”

Why do we do this to ourselves?  Many of us think that holding on to our mistakes will motivate us to do better next time.  We think we will accomplish more if we talk to ourselves like a drill sergeant. Some of us really cling to this idea or it has become such a habit that we don’t even consider that there is another way.

There is another way–a kinder, more gentle way that motivates and inspired us even more than negativity.  You may have heard the term neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.  It’s possible for us to not only clear out the clutter in our mind, we can actually renovate and redecorate it by bringing in beautiful and positive thoughts and placing them on display.

“I’d like to turn this place into my home
instead of someplace that I dread
It’s the only place that’s mine alone,
and I’ll live here ’til I’m dead
I’ll sort through what I have found,
the stuff that works I’ll keep around
But I can’t live weighted down
with every cruel word they said
I’ve got to empty out the inside of my head”

One way to do this is to “savor the good.”  This exercise has helped me TREMENDOUSLY through times in my life when I absolutely had to focus on the few, small good things that were happening amidst many challenges that otherwise seemed overwhelming.  I have found that it really is possible to let the good things grow and take a more prominent place in my mind.

Try it out and see what happens:

1.Think about something good that has happened or that you have accomplished in the last day or two, no matter how big or how small.

2. Savor the experience by feeling the positive emotions grow and expand.

3. Allow the experience to sink deep into you. The longer you hold onto the thoughts and feelings of the event, the more likely that you will create a new neural pathway in your brain.  This new pathway will allow your mind to steer clear of clutter and to focus on positive experiences and keep moving in the right direction.

For more information about this exercise, here is a great article with some short videos by Rick Hanson, Ph.D., psychologist and New York Times best-selling author of Hardwiring Happiness.

Inside of My Head – by David Wilcox

I got such a mess between my ears
like dishes in the sink
Stuff I don’t believe just tumbles in
until I don’t have room to think
These dark clouds I’ve stowed away
just in case of a sunny day
So I can stand in the pouring rain
of every tear I’ve ever shed
I’ve got to empty out the inside of my head

This could be a room with such a view,
but its covered up with junk
Blocking off the place the light gets through

So it keeps me in this funk
All my failures are on display,
the broken dreams of yesterday
Stuff I should have thrown away,
but I’ve kept it here instead
I’ve got to empty out the inside of my head
I’ve got to empty out the inside of my head

I’d like to turn this place into my home
instead of someplace that I dread
It’s the only place that’s mine alone,
and I’ll live here ’til I’m dead
I’ll sort through what I have found,
the stuff that works I’ll keep around
But I can’t live weighted down
with every cruel word they said
I’ve got to empty out the inside of my head
I’ve got to empty out the inside of my head
I’ve got to empty out the inside of my head
etc

For more information, visit:  www.davidwilcox.com

To purchase the song click here.

Lyrics reprinted by kind permission of Soroka Music Ltd., all rights reserved
2000 published by Midnight Ocean Bonfire Music (ASCAP)/Cindy Lou My Dear (ASCAP), a division of Soroka Music Ltd.  Read more: David Wilcox – Inside Of My Head Lyrics | MetroLyrics