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SELF-MASTERY
Decluttering — Evil and Pickles
"If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful" - William Morris, The Beauty of Life, 1880
Decluttering is a genuinely terrific process. Getting rid of what isn’t needed and ordering what’s left, clears space and frees the mind. But for me decluttering has both physical and mental aspects.
Physically it is about ensuring that what you use frequently is most accessible and nothing is truly 'hidden’. We don’t work well with 'hidden' even if we think of it and 'stored away safely’. That’s why there is a pasta maker in your kitchen cupboard you’ve never used. An object can be 'buried' or 'filed' and the only difference between them is a system. The former is just about finding a place for something, the latter is about creating a connection; perhaps logical, perhaps utilitarian, to day-to-day existence. This is true in any aspect of your life.
Mentally, many people think of meditation as the primary way of decluttering. Clearing the mind of thoughts, albeit for a short time, is for many an essential part of their mental housekeeping. This is something I can admire greatly and adhere to infrequently. I only notice the deterioration in my mental state after weeks of neglect. But I certainly…
