447-Using Minimalism to Improve Happiness

Everyone has a different idea of organization, minimalism, and clutter, but what matters is how you perceive it and how it affects your happiness. Tune in to learn more!    

 

Transcript:

 

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2 about minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and I just returned from a week on a cruise ship and it got me thinking again about happiness and minimalism.  We tried to pack light, but four people were in a tiny stateroom and it felt like there was stuff everywhere. 

 

When I returned home, all I wanted to do was purge and declutter.  And for me, it was this exercise of really looking at what I had in terms of material possessions and what I needed.

 

I’m in this phase where I want to purge everything in my house.  I can’t stand to look at anything.  I have a little boy that leaves a trail of things wherever he goes.  And I know, I am going to miss those little trails of knowing exactly where he has been all day when he’s all grown up and out of the house, but man, does it make my brain feel messy.  

 

What I realized for me, is that the “clutter” I was seeing was totally affecting how I was feeling.  If I was seeing clutter, I was feeling overwhelmed and disorganized. 

 

When my space feels cluttered, to me, everyone is different, it feels hard to focus.  If you walk into my house, you are not going to think it looks cluttered, I get that, but I know it’s there.  I see the little things that are not in their place and it literally drives me crazy.  

 

And to put a cherry on top of this conundrum, my family wants no part in the decluttering.  

 

I’m so curious if I am a lone wolf on this, how does clutter make you feel?  How much does your feeling of happiness have to do with your physical surroundings? Ya know?  For me, the calm comes from the act of decluttering and the experience of living (for about 5 hot seconds) in the decluttered tidy space.   

 

Until next time, remember, Kindness is Contagious.  

 

 

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