When I first moved to San Francisco I only took what I truly needed. And when I say “took” I mean, everything was packed into my car and I still had room to boot. Why? I had no idea whether I’d still want to live in San Francisco in a year and did not want to deal with moving anything to my next destination.
What I didn’t realize by doing this is how much peace I would have in my life.
Once I had unpacked the boxes, all within 1-2 hours, I looked around the space and just smiled. I felt a lightness within myself and particularly within my mind!
What I felt coming home everyday, and knowing exactly where everything was and why, cleared any clutter I had in my head. If you can imagine your brain as a physical space it’s as if 80% of it was now released from unnecessary items and available for your own inner peace.
I had no idea the release of physical items could have a mental release. WHOOSH. Space. Quietness. Mindfulness.
Unknowingly this started an intenion of living simply.
I started to only buy items I knew I would consume (food, beverage, shampoo, toilet paper, etc.) and if I bought something I needed I made sure it was of high quality and that I would use it long enough that I would take it with me to my next destination. Another key point is if I was ever tempted to buy something I always asked myself the following questions:
- Do I really need this?
- Why do I want this?
- Where would this go?
- Will you take it with you when you move?
Asking these questions truly allowed me to investigate the desire behind wanting a particular item. If I had a true and honest answer to at least 3 of the 4 questions I could discern whether or not the item was worthy of a purchase.
This lasted for the entire first year of living in SF. All I had in the living room was a yoga mat and a coffee table and it served me well. 🙂 Of course when I was ready I eventually bought a sofa and rug to go ino the living room but even then I asked myself the 4 questions above.
What started as a simple move sparked a new way of living. To this day I continue the practice of only buying things if it brings great meaning into my life and I can’t tell you enough how much peace this has brought.
Love & Peace.
Since I can only speak from my own personal experience of how decluttering helped improve my inner peace here are a few resources to help get started!
