Decluttering Yourself To Boost Your Happiness

Last year I worked with a coach (Lora Banks) because I was feeling pretty down on just about…well, everything. Fast forward 9 months later and I’ve done a complete 180 on my life experience and outlook.

What brought me to this new place was decluttering myself just like I declutter spaces. The reason I love to organize surroundings is because a clean, well-organized space helps set people up for success. If you feel organized, you’re not bothered with the worry and anxiety that a cluttered environment offers. And, if you create a routine around it, you know and trust that you can quickly declutter when things get out of whack.

The same goes for your insides. Organizing, or resetting, your energy, helps set you up for success. If your energy feels right, you feel more calm, clear-headed and minimize the worry and overwhelm we all feel in life. And if you create a system for assuring your energy is well maintained – exercise regularly, get enough sleep, meditate, reflect, write in your gratitude journal, etc. (whatever works for you) – you live with more trust and knowing.

Courtesy of Wonderland on Flickr

You begin to see all experiences – “good” and “bad” – as opportunities for learning. You feel more grateful and content with your life. You have more clarity around what you want. You feel more present, living with a lot less fear and worry about the past or the future. You are aware of the conditions, or "arrival fallacy," you assign to your happiness. Ultimately, you just feel a lot better a lot more of the time. And when you don’t, you know there is something to learn and are open and willing to grow.

Here’s how you too can scratch the surface to boosting your own happiness:

1. Your Happiness Is Your Priority

Write down your top five goals. What do you crave more of that would up your happiness level? What is most important in your life right now? Then, prioritize your goals. This can be tough to do if you need help really listening to your inner voice, so ask yourself what the essence is of what you want – freedom, security, inspiration, connection? You may find that many of your goals lead to the same underlying needs.

During our first coaching call, Lora helped me prioritize my top five goals. Eventually, what received top priority was “appreciate and leverage my strengths.” The essence of what I really wanted was to feel better, appreciate myself more and live with more purpose. Assuring my energy (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) was in the right place was most important because when this is in order, I’d feel better. Nothing else I wanted would be appreciated if I didn't feel good in general. And everything I wanted was to ultimately feel good anyway.

2. Your Happiness Is Your Job

Treat your happiness like you would any other job – with persistence and dedication. In Add More ~ing To Your Life, Gabrielle Bernstein mentions that we tend to loosen up on our rituals once we begin to feel better. Once we’ve shed the few extra pounds, we think, “Maybe I don’t have to work out everyday anymore.” The ego will find ways to hijack your wellbeing just as things are getting good.

So when things get good, she suggests we work harder. Just like you need to exercise regularly to build your physical muscles, she notes that you need to build your mental and emotional muscles. Treat your happiness like your job, as you would any other aspect of your life that is top priority. 

Courtesy of moriza on Flickr

3. Your Happiness Requires A Routine

To treat your happiness like a job, create a daily routine around your goals. This was the second thing Lora helped me establish. I created 10 daily habits that align with and help further my goals, which have evolved along with my goals.

For example, I meditate each morning, give thanks, journal and read. This helps me cement my intentions for the day – to focus on the wonderful things in my life, use my current emotions to help guide me, live more in the present and do what I love and what fills me up (to read and write). I also do my Most Important / Inspired Tasks first each day to assure my top work priorities have been completed, helping me grow my career, another important aspect in my life.

Look at your prioritized list of goals, hopefully with "Happiness" at the top. What are actions you can take each day that match your goals? Some things may be quick and easy, others may take more time. The more you do them, the more you'll experience the positive impact and the more non-negotiable your daily routine becomes.

4. Your Happiness Loves Tools

What helps establish routines and rituals that you’ll continue are tools that help you enjoy the process or actual act of the routine. If you love doing it, you’ll stick to it. So, make it easy on yourself by getting the help of loves ones and loved tools.

For me, it’s reading and writing. These tools help me feel like me, so I do them each day, each morning and throughout the day whenever I can. I also tap into friends and family for genuine connection. What and whom do you love that would help make your routines stick?

Final Take

Your Happiness is most important to you and to everyone and everything around you. It effects how you view your life, your work and your loved ones. The happier you are, the more content you feel. And no one and no thing in your life can sustain the added pressure of filling up your cup.

Treat it like your job, just as you would your hobbies or your career. If it’s important, do a little bit each day to feed and nurture it.

And, continue to evaluate your goals. The more you feel connected to wanting happiness or anything else in life that you crave, the more you’ll establish an inspired routine, carry it out and feel committed to your goals, and to your happiness.