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Highly Sensitive People/Introverts: Do You Have Brain Clutter?

Life can be full of worries, stresses, and endless things to do. Every day we are bombarded with thoughts of circumstances, plans, commitments, hardships or even ideas. As a result, the mind becomes cluttered with thoughts. Unfortunately, very little gets done when your brain is moving in many different directions all at once. If you long for some semblance of calm and clarity, then teach yourself how to free up mental space. With that in mind, here are some tips that help me unclutter my mind. 

  • Write It Down. Write down appointments, things you want to look up, ideas for future projects, phone numbers, reminders or anything that comes to mind but does not need your immediate attention. Doing so is a great way to release pent-up thoughts. This will also help you to stay focused on issues that are more important without having to fill your head with everything you need to do and remember. Use a notebook to take notes.
  • Keep Your Priorities Straight. Is your daily to-do-list filled with tasks or activities that aren’t necessary important but you commit to them anyway? If so, it is about time that you decided what is essential. Taking this step will remind you to stop spending time on matters that are taking up a huge chunk of your mental focus. You need to accept that you can’t do it all.
  • Focus On One Task At A Time. Nothing creates as much brain clutter as trying to multi-task while going about your daily activities. When you are multi-tasking, your mind will be racing as it tries to quickly shift focus from one task to another. Working on several tasks at once makes it difficult to pay close attention to detail. When trying to process too much information at the same time, you are more likely to forget things, make mistakes and feel under pressure or stressed. You can avoid all of these negative effects by learning how to do one thing at a time. This in turn will not only ease your mind, but also boost productivity and the quality of your work.
  • Block Out Unnecessary Information. Social media, blogs, gossip tabloids on the Internet and cable TV makes it  easy to overload our minds with content. The problem with too much information is that it can clog up the brain and create a mental state where you are constantly wandering off in thought. Unclutter your mind by controlling your media intake. Focus on information that is relevant or important to you and block out the rest.
  • Schedule “Alone” And “Think” Time. It’s important for us highly sensitive people/Introverts to achieve mental quiet and a sense of calm by focusing on the here and now. For example, at the end of each day you can form a ritual of clearing the mind of all thoughts and simply focusing on your breathing. This will allow you to limit your mental energy on what you can do to make a difference rather than worry about things that are out of your control.

What do you do to rid yourself of mind clutter? I’m interested in any thoughts or comments that you have.

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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Sharon

    Lovely. Appreciate the suggestions. Especially the breathing, as I have published a book called: learning to breathe, learning to live: simple tools to alleviate stress and invigorate your life. It is available on Amazon. And it has simple breathing tools that can help us turn off external stimulation, and quiet mind chatter, in order to transform stress into joy and heal. Check it out!

    1. Cliff Harwin

      Hi Sharon,

      Thank you for your comments! Good luck with your book!

  2. Susan

    As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed I need to make lists to keep myself straight or i’m all over the place. Knowing that I’m HSP does explain a lot about my behaviors. I’m learning to live with it…some days good, others bad but i’m managing.

    1. Cliff Harwin

      Hi Susan,
      I definitely relate to what you said! Learning to “manage ourselves” is indeed a lifetime process!

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