5 Steps to Clear Your Mind

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Do you ever feel like you are mentally drained? Have you ever used the phrase, "I have so much going on in my mind?" Do you feel like you have a million things going on and to do but it's overwhelming to keep up with it all? If so, then this post is for you.

People are often saying how busy they are and have so much running through their mind until it literally has them all over the place. I've affectionately named these people, the scatterbrainers because pieces of their mind are scattered everywhere.

I have a couple of tips that can help you to refocus and to collectively bring all of those pieces back together and give you some sense of peace. So instead of having 'pieces' of mind, you can have a 'peace' of mind.

1). Make a DAILY To-Do List.
You go to bed at night thinking about all of the things that you have to do the next day and you're constantly reminding yourself and praying that you wont forget anything. I know some people who are always telling other folks to remind them to do something, call somebody, go somewhere, etc. because they wont remember to do it.

My advise to these people is to make a list at night of ALL of the things that you can think of that you need to do the next day. Get a journal or day planner and list everything, even those things that you think are not that important such as make a call or send an email to someone. List everything (tasks, phone calls and emails to return, household chores, apointments, bills to pay and even schedule your meals) and check them off as you complete them. Be sure to list everything because chances are once you begin to operate from  that list on daily basis, you will forget about something that you have not listed. 

2) Get a Ledger for your bills.
 What do you do when you receive bills? How do you schedule to pay them? Do you hold on to hard copies of those bills until you pay them, clogging up your office space, your purse, your briefcase, etc.? This is the one thing that has definitely helped me over the years and it can help you too. I've had a ledger for years and each one can last me for 4-5 years and I still have each one.

Here's what you can do with this Ledger for Bills.
a) First TWO or THREE pages list the information for each Company that you have to pay on a regular basis such as Mortgage Company, Utility Companies, Credit Card Companies, etc. List the Company's Name, Your Account #, Addresses (for mailing checks), Phone #, Website, Your login information (for paying by internet). This makes everything accessible to you so you will never have to go searching for an old bill.

b) Then, for each month/year designate 2 pages (Left and Right sides facing each other for each month).

c) On the RIGHT page of the ledger, for each column, list the Due Date, Description of Bill (mortgage, phone, electric, credit cards, student loans, etc), Amount Due, Date Paid, Method of Payment (Credit Card, EFT, Check, etc.).

d) After listing all of your monthly bills on the RIGHT side, list all other expenses that you need to pay out that month, regardless of what they are (food, clothes, gas, entertainment, lunch, school fees, etc.) List everything that you can think of at that time. If something comes up later, add it to the list.

e) On the LEFT of the ledger (for same month/year), list Description of Bill, Confirmation # (very important) and Amount Paid (if different from amount that was due).

As your bills come in for that first month, record all of the information from them into the ledger on those first couple of pages. Then each month thereafter, you can just record information such as the Amount Due and the Due Date because some bills can change due dates each month especially if they are on a 28-30 day cycle.

When paying the bill, especially by phone or internet, be sure to record your Confirmation numbers. This is very important because if for some reason the company claims they never received the payment, you can always revert back to your ledger and give it to them. I've had to confirm payments on more than one occasion and it was a good thing that I had those confirmation numbers because they were able to locate my payment information based on those numbers.

Keeping your Bill information in a ledger can be useful for a couple of reasons: a) it unclogs your mind and allows you to think about other things, b) Makes budgeting easier. Just looking at what you have to pay out each month gives you a general idea of your expenses are vs. your income coming in, and c) It makes it easier to remember what needs to be paid and by when. I cant tell you how many folks have had something disconnected because they let due dates slip by and they forgot all about paying the bill.

3. Clean up your environment.
Yes, make your bed, clean off of your dresser and hang your clothes in the closet. These things may seem simple but they can definitely help to declutter your mind. Cluttered space equals a cluttered mind. Have you ever had a pile of clothes from the laundry that you did but you never made the time to fold, hang and put away? And that pile just seems to sit there, staring at you and you staring at it, saying to yourself, 'Ugghhhh!". That's just scattering more pieces of your mind all over the place.

Your office space or work environment just seems to have papers and stuff everywhere. And you dont even want to think about having to look for something. Well, get organized by filing the papers that need to be saved and shredding or dumping the ones that dont. Create folders to keep your documents so that they are easily accessible to you and anyone else who needs access to them.

I have this for my home and office space. Recently, I was out of town when my son needed to locate some of his documents for something. He knew exactly where to locate the file with his name on it and has all of his information. So, there was no need for us to have a long phone conversation with me directing him to look here or look there to try to find it. It should be that easy for you as well. Get some organization in your life by straightening up your environment.

4. Detaching from other people's drama
I've had countless conversations with ladies whose minds are clogged, not with their drama or problems, but those of other people. This makes no sense to me. Why stress yourself out and be so mentally involved with DRAMA? Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't listen to those folks who truly need your help. What I am saying is that those same folks who call you everyday because there is always a dramatic crisis (in their mind) and they need to tell you all about it, need to be the same folks that you hit the 'ignore' button on your phone.

Enough is enough! Let them work out their own issues, if they truly have issues. You cannot be everybody's shoulder to lean on, because the weight of them leaning on you will pull you down with them. Stand up and kindly remove their 'leaning' arm from your shoulder and tell them that you just can't do that anymore. Their drama is not your burden to bear because you are not their Savior. Tell them to take IT, whatever IT is, to Jesus. If it is a REAL issue that they're having, then they will have no problem doing that. But if it is NOT a REAL issue and they are just being dramatic, then chances are, they definitely do not want to involve Jesus in it.

5. Do a Complete Mind Dump
What is a mind dump? It is a process where you just begin to write or type EVERYTHING that is on your mind. You can read more about it in the previous post that I wrote by clicking here. That post will tell you exactly how to do it. This can definitely clear your mind as well because everything that was in there, is now out into the universe either on paper or on a computer. Then when you're done, burn the paper or delete it from your computer. You are not saving it because that defeats the purpose. You're letting it go.

So, there you have it; five steps that you can begin doing today, that will allow you to collect the pieces of your mind and gather them back into one place. You don't have to be so overwhelmed and forgetting about things, especially those things that are important and need to be handled properly for your peace of mind. Do this and relieve some of the stress. Get started with making that Daily To-Do list, Listing all of your monthly expenses in a Ledger, cleaning your environment and finally, detaching yourself from the dramatic shenanigans of other folks. You'll thank yourself, later.



Destined for Purpose: Empowered with Passion. Thanks for reading. Leave a comment and feel free to share this post.