Declutter Your Mind: Twelve Secret Steps to Clear Mental Clutter for A Lifetime of Peace and Bliss

Declutter Your Mind:  Twelve Secret Steps to Clear Mental
Clutter for a Lifetime Of Peace and Bliss.

MICHELLE EVANS

Text Copyright © Michelle Evans

All rights
reserved. No part of this guide may be reproduced in any form without
permission in writing from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Legal & Disclaimer

The information contained in this book is not designed
to replace or take the place of any form of medicine or professional medical
advice. The information in this book has been provided for educational and
entertainment purposes only.

The information contained in this book has been
compiled from sources deemed reliable, and it is accurate to the best of the
Author's knowledge; however, the Author cannot guarantee its accuracy and
validity and cannot be held liable for any errors or omissions. Changes are
periodically made to this book. You must consult your doctor or get
professional medical advice before using any of the suggested remedies,
techniques, or information in this book.

Upon using the information contained in this book, you
agree to hold harmless the Author from and against any damages, costs, and
expenses, including any legal fees potentially resulting from the application
of any of the information provided by this guide. This disclaimer applies to
any damages or injury caused by the use and application, whether directly or
indirectly, of any advice or information presented, whether for breach of
contract, tort, negligence, personal injury, criminal intent, or under any
other cause of action.

You agree to accept all risks of using the information
presented inside this book. You need to consult a professional medical
practitioner in order to ensure you are both able and healthy enough to
participate in this program.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Part 1:  
Habits

• Secret #1:
  Be Smart
  
• Secret #2:
  The 21
  ^st
  Century Diet
  
• Secret #3:
  Break Off Your Engagement
  
• Secret #4:
  The Fallacy
  

Part 2:  
Heart
Matters

• Secret #5:
   Honest is the Best Policy
  
• Secret #6:
   Recognize FoMo
  
• Secret #7:
   Tame Yourself
  

Part 3:  
Lifestyle

• Secret #8:
   The New Most Powerful Word (in the world!)
  

• Secret #9:
   Fear Not
  

• Secret #10:
   The Only Friend You Will Ever Have
  

• Secret #11:
   The Most Important Three Numbers to Remember  
  

• Secret
  #12:  Fresh Aroma
  

Conclusion

Tame
your mind, understand your thoughts, assert control over them, and declutter
your mind to make friends with the only person that really matters — You!

FOCUS. CLARITY. BALANCE.

I want to thank you and congratulate you for
downloading the book,
“
Declutter Your Mind: Twelve Secret
Steps to Clear Mental Clutter for a Lifetime of Bliss and Peace.”

The aim of
this book is to provide you with an actionable and distinct step-by step guide
on clearing mental clutter to achieve a peaceful mind. I discovered these 12
amazing tricks after continuous research and personal trial and error seeking
relief from the muddled-headed life I hated that was filled with the following
problems:

• Forgetting
  important dates.
  
• Leaving
  the water running or the stove on.
  
• Stumbling
  over words, unable to make a point.
  
• Worrying
  about cancer that has not been diagnosed yet.
  

My mental
clutter was a result of years of unnecessary worry, guilt and rumination over
past mistakes and emotional baggage from broken relationships.

Also, my
thoughts were constantly crippled by the barrage of advertisements, social
media input and hyper-connectivity brought upon by smartphones and portable
devices.

I was distracted,
mentally exhausted, overwhelmed and stressed out.

What I am
going to share with you here are some steps that worked well for me in my quest
to achieve a calmer and more peaceful mind, and I am confident they will be
beneficial to you as well.

The list below is what you can expect in “
Declutter
Your Mind:  Twelve Secret Steps to Clear Mental Clutter for a Lifetime of Bliss
and Peace.
”

• Useful
  and easy tips to declutter your mind that go beyond just keeping your
  physical space neat and clean.
  
• Unlock
  the secrets of 3 important aspects of your life (Habits/Heart/Lifestyle)
  that are keys to a calmer mind.
  
• Discover
  how this guide will help to change your everyday life and help you become
  more effective at work and home.
  
• Learn
  simple solutions that can even help you to save money and time.
  

Keep
reading to find out how I am living a calmer and more serene life!

Your mind
is the most powerful asset you have.
You can be at rock bottom with absolutely
nothing, and still be in possession of an asset with unlimited monetary value.

By controlling
your mind, you own your thoughts and ultimately you own your life.

I have
been told over and over, “Michelle, these are amazing tricks and you are indeed
happier and calmer than before. Why don’t you share what you have learned?”

Well, I
listened and I have.

Here it
is—the 12 amazing steps that will change your life!

Everything that you are and ever will be
is determined by your habits. Habits become routines, and routines get you
through life on autopilot. Test this theory by thinking about your commute to
work this morning.

What do you remember about that
journey?

Can you name the color of the vehicle
that stopped in front of you at the traffic lights?

Probably not, because your mind likely
wandered off to think about something else.

Thus, as the first step to successfully decluttering
our minds, we need to look deep into our habits and see how we can change them
to achieve a clearer and saner mind.

Be a
smarter shopper at shopping malls. Buy less.

The reason
behind this is simple. Every problem you have with clutter is not based in the
things you have, but in the thinking and energy consumed behind the things you
have.

Let me
illustrate. Imagine walking into your house and catching a glimpse of
everything inside. In seconds, you will be thinking:

• The new
  refrigerator needs to be repaired.
  
• There is a
  blouse that needs to be washed and mended
  
• The
  children’s toys need to be rearranged.
  
• And the
  list goes on.
  

The more
physical items you have, the more work and attention is diverted, as each item silently
drains your energy. You form a relationship like this with so many objects that
you cannot create an empty space for clear thinking. Your mind becomes jammed
with thoughts associated with every item.

Life
experiences are what you should be filling your head with. Not the emotions
conjured up from owning and worrying about so many items. So, to counter the
clutter of physical items, we need to address the root cause—our shopping habits!

Consumers are spoiled for choices these
days, and advertisers use all kinds of gimmicks to encourage shopping sprees. If
the stores don’t get you with Black Friday, opportunity knocks on Cyber Monday.
You can’t wage an effective fight with the economy while you’re battling with yourself.
Smarten up to the mind-hacks that retailers are using to their advantage and
stop caving in to temptation.

4 Steps
for Smarter Shopping

Step One:
 Color awareness

Walk into any shopping mall and chances
are you will notice that many of the signage is in red. Red is the color of
choice because it triggers action. It makes you alert. You see a sale sign in
red and your brain tells you to take action, to buy. You have to grab it before
the price goes back up.

So, be conscious of colors when shopping.
Question yourself on whether you are being influenced by the color before
purchasing any items. Buying on impulse will frequently result in buyer’s
remorse.

Step Two: 
Be specific with your list

It is now
common knowledge for smart shoppers that you should make a list before you go
shopping. What is not common knowledge is how specific that list needs to be in
order to be most effective.

If you go to
the store even for milk, you are bombarded with options. Some vary in fat
percentages, are fat free, fortified with vitamins, contain no lactose, or are
completely different like rice milk.

Get specific
with your lists so you don’t have to make decisions on the spot at the store.
Then, with your detailed list, go into the store and go straight to the listed
items while you imagine they are the only items in the store. Ignore the rest
and avoid the temptation to browse.

Step Three:
 Look—don’t touch

The instant
something catches your eye, resist the urge to pick it up. When you do, your
mind takes ownership of it. Guess what happens at that stage? Impulse buy!

Retailers go
to great lengths to get a product into your hands because it hacks your mind to
want it even more. Apple stores understands the effect of touch on your
psychology and has cleverly designed their store to allow customers to touch as
many products and to tempt customers to purchase them. Zappos uses this
technique with their easy returns policy because they know the importance of
product
in hand
. Warby Parker uses the same technique with their Try On program for
spectacles. Five days, five pairs of glasses, free trial. They know when you
feel them in your hands and see their glasses on your face, you’re going to
keep at least one pair.

No touching
– no commitment!

Step Four:
 Plug your earphones in

The music
played in stores is always calm and soothing, and during the festive season, they
play the classics, because that is the music that recalls old memories. These
are triggers that instantly make you feel more comfortable so you let your
guard down, and even buy items to reinforce the nostalgia you feel. Plug your
earphones into your smart phone and influence your mind in the way that you
choose.  If and when you do buy something new, make a cardinal rule that you must
toss something out. Or two things. You know that junk drawer – turn it into a
compartment.

Limit
your intake of information, media and your use of social media.

I’ll be honest and say that
I’ve never had much interest in watching television. However, I used to be on
my laptop
far more
than anyone else.

With my laptop alone, I consume a lot
of
media. I would start my day by reading the online news. Granted, I didn’t read
every single post but it didn’t take me long for one eye-catching online
advertisement to lead me to Tweets, Flickr streams, RSS Feeds and Facebook status
updates.

Soon, a million subtle opinions, biases and
judgments would start creeping into my mind and embed themselves into my
thought structure. And later on—unbeknownst to me—my mind would start recalling
all these thoughts that were never originally mine, but were now, simply
because I’d seen it on Facebook.

This new
diet you need to be on is an information reduction plan. Consuming a colossal
amount of information is flooding your mind and interfering with your ability
to control your attention. Without that attention, you lack focus. When that
happens, you need to take action and refocus. Less information is the solution
to this Infomania!

3 Steps
for a Media Fast

Step One:
 Start small

You do not
need 1 week or 30 days to successfully implement a fast. Simply start by
unplugging for half a day. If you usually spend 3 hours watching TV or surfing
the internet, just limit your time to 1 hour. Notice how you feel and repeat
the process the next day. You can gradually cut down the time as you progress. If
you aren’t able to do this because you feel compelled to constantly check your
email, phone or social media, expand the interval gradually until you can go an
hour without checking, then work up to two hours, and so on.  

Step Two:
 Be goal orientated

Whatever
information you’re consuming, be it online, TV, radio, newspaper, etc., ask yourself
if each is really relevant to your goals. You may be in the habit of listening
to the radio on your drive home from work, but what would it mean if you
switched from the radio to a podcast by a motivational speaker instead? This would
energize your mind, inspiring you to get more done when you got home. If the
information you are consuming doesn’t benefit your life in a tangible way,
switch to something that does.

Unsubscribe
from any old blogs, social networks, websites and ads that are not directly contributing
to your quality of life and general well-being. What did you miss the least?

One day, try
using only one aspect of your media consumption, make an intentional choice
between social media, radio, internet, or print media. Try it another day, then
another, rotating your choices. Before long you won’t even miss it—so delete
your accounts, cancel the magazine subscriptions and cherish that extra time
you have gained.

Be sure to only pay attention to the opinions or
information from well-regarded sources with legitimate credentials and track
records. Decide what information is relevant to you and disregard everything
else.

Step
Three:  Be creative

Use the extra time gained from your “media fast” to do something
useful. Remember the phrase, “Idle hands are the devils tools?” The same goes
for the Internet and other media sources that have become an addiction. You
need to find something positive to fill the void with, otherwise you’ll go
right back to it. Give some thought to the following ideas or think up some of
your own.

• Go for a bike ride
  
• Watch a movie
  
• Spend time with your children