There are psychological effects according to science!
Nobody has to sell you on how clutter makes you feel, right? You just FEEL it. We can all empathize with feeling defeated by mounds of clutter.
On the other hand, we can all get a sense of peace from just letting things go. When you release painful or stressful things from your environment. It makes you feel better. It optimizes your space and your mood at the same time. Let’s face it, when there’s clutter in your home, there will be clutter in you in some form.
There is scientific evidence to support the negative feelings that we get when we are surrounded by clutter and the positive feelings that we get when we are decluttering or making space. Our environment is always a reflection of our minds.
As a matter of fact, our environments have big mouths — they say a lot about us. If most of your clutter belongs to somebody else, it can be an indication that you have issues setting boundaries. If your clutter consists of things you’re holding on to for the future, it could indicate you have distrust in the future. You may feel like you need to hoard — as a squirrel does for the winter, like a buffer of security for the future.
If you’re holding on to stuff you don’t use anymore like your kid’s old clothes or your old things from high school, it could mean you have trouble letting things go, that there’s a part of your life you haven’t worked through or that you feel your best years are behind you.
A study done by UCLA revealed that clutter contributes to stress and increased cortisol levels. Excess cortisol can actually alter the structure of your brain, making you more sensitive to stress and giving you chronic stress as a result.
Clutter influences how you think and feel about yourself. Having your living space all together usually correlates to you having it all together — especially for women. Cluttered environments can result in feelings of low self-worth and can even result in depression. Your environment is influencing your thoughts because you’re surrounded by it every single day. It indicates what you’re willing to tolerate in your own life.
Clutter distracts you from focus. It tricks your brain into switching into a “multitasking” mode — jumping back and forth from thought to thought — greatly distracting you from what you’re trying to focus on. In today’s day and age, multitasking and juggling a million things and thoughts seem impressive but, in reality, it’s decreasing your efficiency and the effectiveness of anything you’re trying to do.
Clutter impacts our behaviors and our kid’s behaviors too. We derive our energy from our environment. Would you feel rejuvenated and rested in a haunted house? You can walk into a day spa and immediately feel calm, relaxed, a release of anxiety.
Our environment is the feedback loop. If you’re looking to create something or up-level your life in any way, the first place that you should start should be your home space or your habitat. Make sure that your environment is supporting the energies that you’re trying to make.
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