Here's how I do a Marie Kondo on my life: clear my physical space, life, and mind.
- Give up or cut down sugar / highly processed grains***
- Eat moderate amounts regularly, mostly vegetables
- Go to sleep and get up at the same time every day
- Schedule half an hour more sleep than I think I need
- Exercise daily; walking counts
- No enervating on-screen materials before bed
- Boundary work and similar: have a daily cut-off time
- Have two days a week with zero work at all
- Never think about work when not at work unless a specific decision needs to be made
- Cut out polemical news and other media*
- Cut out social media or schedule very short slots (10 minutes) no more than once a day
- Unfollow anyone who posts cynical, upsetting, or provocative material
- Deal with incoming communications all at once then leave the device in another room on silent
- Incoming telephone calls: have a daily cut-off time
- Tell incoming callers how much time you have at the start of the call (say, 10 minutes)
- Boundary or quietly avoid people who are negative, annoying, or intrusive**
- Plan the day at the beginning of the day then forget everything except the plan
- Write everything that has to be done down and organise by category and deadline
- That way, my head can remain empty: it's like having an empty desk
- Quarantine that thought: make a list of topics I ban myself from contemplating
- When I have a decision to make: set aside a time slot to process it with pen and paper
- Otherwise: quarantine that too
- Don't have an in-tray: deal with everything straight away so it does not build up
- Create physical space where I live and work with the three Cs: clutter-free, cleared, clean
And some programme actions:
- At the first sign of anger or resentment, pray (page 67):
- 'This is a sick [person]. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be
done.'
- Maybe replace 'sick' with 'spiritually disconnected person'
- No one is 100% spiritually connected, so this is always true
- Don't 'process' the resentment: there's nothing to process: I'm wrong
- At the first sign of fear, reject the fear and ask God how to be (page 68)
- Don't 'process' the fear, either: there's nothing to process: I'm wrong
- At the first sign of guilt and shame: apologise (page 84) then ask God what to do instead (page 69)
- At the first sign of any other disturbance or uncertainty (page 88):
- Ask God what to think or do next
- Remind myself I'm no longer running the show
- Say 'Thy will be done'
- Have a line of the day from spiritual reading to memorise and repeat constantly, e.g. 'We avoid retaliation or argument' (page 67) or 'We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves' (page 68)
All of this gives me more space for Step 11, Step 12, physical activity, interaction, matters of genuine interest, and the underrated doing nothing at all.
*Use this website to narrow down news sources that are factual, reliable, and free of persuasion, propaganda, and fabrication.
** Although when I find everyone falls within these categories, I'm the problem.
*** Some people give up or cut down caffeine and nicotine, too.