Who loves cleaning?
I imagine there are some of you out there joyfully waving your arms around in the air, and others of you who are thinking what a stupid question to ask. “Of course I don’t like cleaning!”
Me personally? I LOVE a good session of cleaning.
The joy of seeing something transformed from messy to organized, or from dirty to clean. It is a rather satisfying sensation if I do say so myself.
Do you know who else loves cleanliness and orderliness and simplicity?
Your BRAIN.
Especially when the external environment (outside your house) is a bit of a train wreck.
Your brain is likely to be much calmer when things are neat and tidy and organised around it.
For those of you (generally) uninspired to ‘clean house’ let’s see if I can nudge you in a direction that will serve you well.
One of the keys to happiness and fulfillment
One of quickest ways to ‘feel good’ is to do an act of kindness for someone. When we contribute beyond ourselves, it makes us feel good. We also are likely to activate those feel-good hormones that not only cause us to feel good, but are actually good for our well-being. They keep us healthier.
Want to know how to feel good now? At a deeper and longer lasting level?
LITERALLY, CLEAN YOUR HOUSE.
Remove the things you no longer need or no longer use, and give them to people WHO have a greater need than you. There are plenty of people who would love that sweater of yours which you only wear 1-2 times a year. Or those extra kitchen appliances and pots that you never really use. Or those extra blankets gathering dust for years. Or those children’s tools stuffed in a box and taking up space in the back of a dank and dark cupboard.
This is a total WIN-WIN.
You create SPACE in your home, plus you fill a NEED in someone else’s life. And you are likely to be passing on a whole lot of JOY along the way. Which makes you feel joyful as well. So cool!
One of my own clean-out rules is if my stack of t-shirts becomes too wobbly on the shelf because I have too many t-shirts, it is time to give some away. Just yesterday I gave away three t-shirts to a maintenance man, doing some work on our house. He was happy and so was I. And the wobbles have subsided too. The world is back in balance. He he he.
Giving away the things you don’t need feels good and it does good.
I am a big fan of space. Space to move around in. Space to breathe in. Space to dream and create in. And space to feel free within.When I have space in my weekly schedule it feels good. When I have space around me when I am going for a walk it feels more refreshing. When I have lots of open (and uncluttered) spaces in my home I feel more calm and relaxed.
For me the opposite of contraction and constriction is EXPANSION (aka: space). When I have too much clutter in my home, it feels like it is encroaching on my space, my freedom and my ease.
And at a brain level, when we are in a space that has more clutter, mess and ‘hidden’ things, the primitive parts of our brain needs to stay more activated and alert, in case there is a snake, spider, scorpion, etc. hidden under one of the things cluttering our space. It is very hard for the brain to fully relax in a cluttered or messy space.
You may have become adapted to being ‘okay’ in a cluttered space, but it is not until you experiment with how you feel in a clean and uncluttered space, that you will know the true difference. Just because we have adapted to something, does not mean it is good for us.
When we clean house, we are removing clutter. We are creating more space. We are organising our mess. And at a deeper psychological level we are likely to experience this effect:
– We feel like we are letting go of that which we no longer need.
– We feel like we are performing an act of self-love by taking care of our self and our personal space.
– We feel like we are creating space for something new to enter our lives.
– We feel like we are unburdening ourselves so we can step into something new.
– We feel like we are taking weight off our shoulders.
It really is a powerful transformational practice. And something that we can do on a regular basis, and definitely at a time like now, when things outside the house are so uncertain and confusing plus in a constant state of change.
Before I get any further I want to make it clear that I am not a financial planner or the dude you come to if you want to make a few million bucks. There are others that are much more capable than me. I recommend: Tony Robbins (Money), Robert Kyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad), Napolean Hill (Think & Grow Rich), etc.The singular point I want to make in relation to our ‘cleaning house’ topic and how it relates to money is I am a big fan of the philosophy of buying what you NEED ninety percent (90%) of the time and buying what you WANT about ten percent (10%) of the time or less.
More simply put. I don’t buy sh#t I don’t need.
The outcome is that I don’t waste my money on stuff that is going to clutter up my house a month after my purchase because I am now bored with the less shiny less new thing, which I didn’t really need in the first place.
Once you clean house, you get a much better sense about what you actually NEED and what you don’t. You will be able to clearly see what you need in your house.
If you spend less money on sh#t you don’t need, you tend to have more money in your bank account to support you through times when unforeseen things happen, like the world shutting down business for a bunch of months (and counting).
Remember as a kid, when you didn’t have the money to buy that new toy advertised on TV? What did you do? You GOT CREATIVE. You got resourceful. You figured out the result you wanted and then figured out how you could do it with a budget of $0.
I am not telling you to be a total tight-arse with your money. Just be more thoughtful, discerning, creative and deliberate; so you have the monetary reserves to weather external events more effectively.
And my final word…when cleaning house spend some time understanding and maybe changing your relationship with how you use your credit cards.
Some personal thoughts sort-of off topic but not really
I think the whole corona thingy has been a great wake-up call to how we are living our lives. Are we over consuming? Are we over-spending? Are we getting ourselves into unnecessary debt? Have we been letting our health slide? Are we eating good quality food or are we being a bit lazy and just buying convenient but nutrient poor food? What is our connection with nature? What is our connection with others? Are we paying attention to the consequences of our choices and actions on the planet?
So I think this period is not only great to physically clean your house, but metaphorically do some inner house keeping, so you come out the end of the experience being (much) better than when you went in.
You become more conscious.
You become more self aware.
You become more discerning.
You become more intentional.
You make more meaningful choices.
You become more connected to yourself and others.
My final words
I am 100% ‘serious’ when I (strongly) encourage you to schedule and participate in a CLEANING HOUSE activity. Enlist the whole family. Make a game of it.
Share the stuff you don’t need with others who are in great need (especially at this point in time).
Journal before and after the activity to see what it brings up for you. How does it make you feel? Do you notice the difference? (I am pretty damn sure you will feel more chipper after the event)
And now as we would say in the military…House Cleaning…Go On!
Have a wonderful day, happy cleaning, and all the very best!
Much love,
Carl
PS: Check out my LIFE MASTERCLASS Podcast videos on YouTube.
Want help with getting clear about you path, priorities and a sustainable plan? Then get in contact. Just reply to this email or head to my website or connect with me on Facebook. Also check out Process Your Limiting Beliefs (online) workshop if you want help with overcoming obstacles and getting clear of the stories and beliefs that are holding you back (and then processing them).