40 Bags in 40 Days™ How To Create Peace in Your Brain

How To Create More Peace In Your Brain With Careful Discernment-Get Rid of Brain Clutter!

We are bombarded with information these days.  Images, ads, stories, news, opinions, ideas, recipes, debates, and conversations never seem to stop from the minute we get up until the minute we go to bed. Outside stimulation can be non-stop if we let it.  

I know I’ve had times where I just feel my brain is scrambled with way too much information, and going a million miles an hour.  This can make us tired, but unable to sleep, inattentive, frazzled, distracted, late, and affects our mental, emotional and physical health.

We won’t be using bags to get rid of brain clutter but we can make a decisions of what we want to bring into our minds, and what we want to get rid of. It’s about making intentional choices of how we really want our lives to look like.  At some point we need to realize that the way we are living is not healthy, and is not promoting a peaceful way of life, while our days tick away.

Here are ten tips to create more peace in your brain:

1. Clean out your email inbox. Trash, spam, or file all the emails until you end up with an empty or almost empty email box.
2. Make a decision to spend the year unsubscribing to as much as possible in your email inbox.  For example, I follow three long time friend’s blogs, and if I order something, I make sure I unsubscribe from the non-stop emails I get from the company.
3. Listen to relaxing music or no music in the car. Try going for walks in silence without podcasts, books or music.
4. Pay close attention to what television shows you allow in your home, and what you watch also. I’ve noticed when I am in doctor’s offices there are often talk shows on with arguing, negativity and way too much emotional angst. I hate that we are forced to listen to these things, and I can’t imagine having that stress from a dumb old screen in my home.
5. And that goes for the news also. I know this is controversial but I rarely if ever watch or read the news anymore because of that same reason. And it’s not about burying my head in the sand, but more about how it is delivered and what is delivered.
6. Get very organized with finances and simplify as much as possible. I can’t stress this enough. Avoidance or disorganization adds stress to something that should flow easily in our brains and is easy to manage once we simplify and find an easy system of budgeting, accounting and record keeping.
7. Delete as many apps from your phone or Ipad as you can, and leave only the necessary ones.
8. Always have a good book on hand so screen team is limited.
9. Avoid social media, or quit altogether. I can tell you that everyone I’ve talked to has said the less time they spend on social media, or quitting altogether, has freed up time and brain space and felt wonderful after the initial withdrawal.
10. Do not allow notifications on your phones from apps. (I currently only get banking notifications.)

Once the decision is made to live more quietly, and create more peace, it might feel a little strange. I do feel these habits of constant noise and screens are difficult to break and require time to get used to. I often think of pre-computer screen days and how much less tension and stress there was from a constant need to be available and the endless opportunity to see more images and look things up. It has slowly and surely crept into our culture until we feel like we can’t live without constant outside stimulation and distraction. It is something we CAN control though, we just have to be aware of it and be brave to turn away from it.

All 40 Bags in 40 Days posts here.