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W W W . S E R E N I T Y C O V E T E M E C U L A . C O ML E N A S E R V I N B S N , R N , R Y T , R M T

"Healing blossoms inthe presence of anempathetic witness—someone who not onlysees and understandsthe pain but alsoreflects theunyielding strengthand resilience withinus. It's in this sacredexchange thatwounds begin tomend, and werediscover the powerto heal ourselves."ABOUTLENA SERVINLena Servin , owner of Serenity Cove Temecula, isa Registered Nurse with 20+ years of experience inEmergency Medicine,Critical Care and Trauma .She is a Yoga Instructor and a Somatic ReleaseBreathwork Facilitator. She is trained in“Compassionate Inquiry” under the supervision ofDr. Gabor Mate and uses her diverse skills for oneon one transformational coaching. Lena believeswholeheartedly in the mind body connection andleading others back on to the path of wellnessthrough awareness.

DISCLAIMER This eBook has been written for informationpurposes only. Every effort has been made to makethis eBook as complete and accurate as possible.However, there may be mistakes in typography orcontent. Also, this eBook provides information onlyup to the publishing date. Therefore, this eBookshould be used as a guide - not as the ultimatesource. The purpose of this eBook is to educate. The authorand the publisher do not warrant that theinformation contained in this eBook is fully completeand shall not be responsible for any errors oromissions. The author and publisher shall haveneither liability nor responsibility to any person orentity with respect to any loss or damage caused oralleged to be caused directly or indirectly by thisebook. This eBook offers information and is designed foreducational purposes only. You should not rely onthis information as a substitute, nor does it replaceprofessional medical advice, diagnosis, ortreatment.

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35H O W T O P R A C T I C E M I N D F U L N E S S D A I L Y 48H O W T O O R G A N I Z E Y O U R M E N T A L F I L I N G C A B I N E T57T H E T H I N G S B E Y O N D Y O U R C O N T R O L ( A N D W H Y Y O US H O U L D N ’ T S T R E S S )63Y O U R D A I L Y P L A N F O R S T A Y I N G C A L M A N DC O N F I D E N T ( E V E N O N B U S Y D A Y S )72C O N C L U S I O NC H A O S T O C A L MTABLE OF CONTENTS

0 7C H A O S T O C A L MTime and time again, others have tried to say thatwhen your space is cluttered, so is your mind.However, that can also go the other way. As yourmind becomes cluttered with things to do, meetingsto go to, and all the stresses you experience, yourspace will become cluttered as a result.A cluttered workspace may say that you are in themiddle of a project and need lots of informationpresent at once. However, this same workspace willstress out your mind and hurt your workperformance.

0 8C H A O S T O C A L MClutter creates a negative impact and our lives. Theclutter in the world around us indicates lots of clutterin the mind. When you experience stress andanxiety for long periods of time, take a look aroundyou. Are you seeing clutter that matches the state ofyour mind?The first step to bringing your chaotic world down toa calm one is to recognize the clutter around you.Knowing both the physical clutter and the clutter ofyour mind will let you know what you need to cleanto bring you back to peace.

1 0C H A O S T O C A L MClutter can be found anywhere. It can be seen inyour home with the junk drawer or with dishes pilingup in the sink. It can be seen at work with thecluttered state of your desk. Clutter can be seenthrough piles of clothes on your floor or the stack ofmail you’ve yet to go through. It can even be seenin your mind with all the stressful thoughts youhave.Simply put, clutter is the mess of items that arestrewn across your space without any sense oforder. Some may associate the word clutter withtrinkets and lots of decorations around your space.While this is true, that isn’t the kind of clutter we aretalking about. Instead, we are talking about theclutter that causes messes and therefore, a chaoticmindset.Clutter builds up over time as more and moreobjects are added to the piles.

1 1C H A O S T O C A L MClutter can look like:A junk drawer that is filled with things youhaven’t seen in ages.Piles of clothes that keep building up from younot doing your laundry.Items that you don’t use anymore being shovedin different spaces of your house.Having several items because you must replacethe item after “losing it”.Dishes that pile in the sink until you no longerhave any. Your house is so messy that it would be difficultto straighten up before guests come over.If your house resembles any or several of the pointson the list, that is a good indication that your spacehas become quite cluttered and that your mentalhealth may be suffering because of it. We are notjudging if your house or workspace looks like this.Everyone has experienced a cluttered space atleast once in their life and there are many reasonswhy your space may get to this point. When yourmental health is not the best, it makes it so muchharder to prevent and remove the clutter from yourspace. This creates a vicious cycle where clutterbuilds up in your house which makes your mentalhealth worse but because your mental health isworse, you have less motivation to clean the clutter,instead, it continues to build.

1 2C H A O S T O C A L MThis leads to a sense of losing control. For many,not having control is a huge stress trigger. Peoplelike having control of their lives and space. With lotsof clutter and not knowing where everything is, thatbecomes stressful.Also, it can be quite stressful when you are trying tomake your way through a cluttered house but endup stepping on some painful clutter left on the floor.We now know that clutter, and the loss of controlthat comes with it triggers stress in many people’slives. However, how does that stress present itself?The Impact of the Stress from ClutterStress leads to numerous detrimental impacts onthe mind. The stress that comes with clutter is noexception.With clutter, it leads to difficulty in focusing. It ishard to focus on getting one task done at a timewhen everything is a mess. It prevents you frommoving from one task to the next in a sensicalorder.

1 3C H A O S T O C A L MEach piece of clutter acts as a distraction until yourmind is overwhelmed by everything around you.You will also experience a worsening inprocrastination. With all the clutter that you aresurrounded by, your mind gets overwhelmed by allof the mess. By being overwhelmed, the idea ofdecluttering seems so much harder to do and as acoping mechanism, you will procrastinate cleaningup. However, by procrastinating on the task, theclutter problem continues to get worse and evenmore overwhelming.This procrastination translates to workprocrastination too. How could you possibly getwork done when there is clutter everywhere? As stress builds from clutter, so does the damagingstress hormone, cortisol. When your stress levelsclimb, this leads to health problems if the stress isunchecked. The health problems that you can faceinclude:Digestion problems Heart problems Insomnia Type 2 diabetes Weight problems

1 4C H A O S T O C A L MIt can seem extreme to say that a cluttered homecan cause all the problems listed above. However,because clutter has been linked to increased stresslevels, your body will be in a constant state of fightor flight.Even though this fight or flight is at mild levels, thedamages that happen because of it will not be mild.

1 6C H A O S T O C A L MLet’s take a step back and see how you could havegotten to this point. A cluttered home and astressed mind don’t happen overnight. Instead, ithappens from a mixture of triggers and a series ofevents that brings items into your space and doesn’tlet you get rid of them. Let’s go over what couldhave led you to the cluttered space that you have.Sentimental ValueOne of the most common ways that clutter builds upis the refusal to get rid of certain items because ofsentimental value. Keep in mind, we aren’t talkingabout the necklace that has been passed throughyour family or the outfit that you got from yourfavorite person that you’ve worn a million times. As humans, we can find sentimental value in somany things. You might have a shirt that youhaven’t worn in years, but it was the shirt you woreon a first date that you can’t bear to part. You mayeven find sentimental value in old homeworkassignments if you have recently graduated fromschool.

1 7C H A O S T O C A L MHowever, just because something has sentimentalvalue, that doesn’t mean that you need to keep it.You don’t need to keep homework assignmentsfrom years prior and sometimes you have to let goof clothes that you never wear anymore even if itwas from a fun day. When you hold onto the thingsthat you don’t use for the sake of sentimental value,you clutter your space and therefore, clutter yourmind with the things that you don’t need.“But What If I Need This?”Another common cause of clutter is the fear thatyou will need something in the future. These itemstend to be found in the junk drawer stashed away ina closet.In some cases, wondering if you will needsomething in the future is necessary. For financialand legal documents, you should put moreconsideration into whether you’ll need them in thefuture or not.

1 8C H A O S T O C A L MIn many cases, these legal documents should bekept under the idea that you may need them withinthe next 7 years from receiving that document.Then there are the items that you definitely won’tneed in the future. Crafty people experience thisproblem a lot. You’ll find an item and you’ll think “Ican make something with this,” and stash the itemwith your craft supplies. However, years later youlook at that same object that you haven’t doneanything with. These items build clutter and shouldbe removed.Gift GuiltHave you ever been given a gift that you don’t havea use for but feel too guilty to get rid of it? This issomething that everyone has felt at least once.However, this guilt about giving a gift a new homemeans that this item is taking up space in yourhome which leads to a build-up of clutter.

1 9C H A O S T O C A L MCards are a huge contributor to this. So manypeople hold onto birthday or Christmas cards out ofguilt of throwing them away. However, this will buildup in your desk or a drawer and become stressfulclutter.Buying Things You Don’t Actually NeedIt is highly normalized to constantly buy things. Newgadgets are always being advertised as makingyour life so much easier and that you can’t livewithout them! Then, when you cave and buy theobject, you get a few uses out of it before goingback to the way you used to do things. Now youhave another gadget that you don’t need clutteringyour home.Buying stuff that you don’t need not only hurts yourwallet but also hurts your mental health as you addstressful clutter to your home.

2 0C H A O S T O C A L MWhat Causes the Stress in Your Life? Bad shopping habits aren’t the only thing that maybe causing clutter-stress in your life. Sometimes,stress causes clutter.Work can be a huge contributor to both clutter andstress. Imagine that you are at your desk andsuddenly your boss drops off a ton of paperwork toget through by the end of the day. This adds bothstress and clutter to your space. You have a hugetask dangling over your head and a bunch of papersis covering your desk.Another situation that will build clutter is when youbecome stressed about completing a project. Whenyou put all your focus toward a project, taking careof your space becomes a secondary priority. By thetime you complete the project, your stress doesn’tend because now you are surrounded by clutter.

2 1C H A O S T O C A L MBe aware of what is causing the clutter and stress inyour lives. Is the stress coming first or is the clutter?Knowing what is causing the clutter and stress inyour life will help you figure out the best path forremoving both the stress and clutter from yourmind.

2 3C H A O S T O C A L MThe impact of stress on the mind and body wastouched on earlier, but let’s dive deep into howstress over time will hurt the body.Stress on the BodyStress in the body is controlled by a hormone called“cortisol.” This hormone can be good for the body inthe case of an emergency.When the body is flooded with cortisol from stressand/or fear, the body will experience quickenedbreath, quickened heart rate, elevated bloodpressure, and digestion slows among other factors.When you are in an emergency, this stress helpsget you out of the situation while preventing harm.However, the stress we are talking about won’t saveyou from a life-threatening emergency.

2 4C H A O S T O C A L MInstead, the stress we are discussing from clutterwill increase your cortisol levels for extendedperiods. When a person experiences stress (even ifit is a low amount of stress) for extended periods,then the effects of the hormone will damage thebody.Having your breathing and heart rate quicken, yourblood pressure rises, and your digestive processesdisrupted for long periods of time, then your bodywill tire and become damaged.Think of it like driving your car too fast. In shortperiods of time, driving quickly will get you to yourdestination quickly. However, speed too much andyour tires will wear down and the internal structureof the machine will overheat and can break.When you live in a cluttered space for a long time,that stress will build up in your body. You willexperience stomach problems, a possibility of heartdisease, problems with your heart vessels,problems from increased blood pressure, increasedfatigue, decreased appetite, lack of sleep,inflammation, and so much more.

2 5C H A O S T O C A L MThe body will also hold stress in the muscles andjoints. Given enough time, the stress you feel willcause you physical pain by making your musclesache and joints inflamed.All of these symptoms can lead to heart attacks,hypertension, strokes, and other unwanted events.Stress on the MindThe impact of stress on the mind isn’t any betterthan the impact on the body. Long-term stressmakes your mind’s ability to function decrease andyour mental health will become worse.In an earlier chapter, we discussed how the long-term stress from clutter would cause increasedlevels of procrastination and difficulty in focusing.This, and other consequences that we will talkabout, happen because of the strain that stress putson the mind.

2 6C H A O S T O C A L MWhen you are stressed, a lot of your brain power isfocused on the cause of the stress and what youcan do about the stress. Then, as you are trying togo about your day, your brain has to work extrahard to do the everyday tasks you need toaccomplish.With your brain having to work harder than itshould, that will exhaust you by the end of the dayand make thinking hard to do. You may experiencebrain fog, increased amounts of stress when doingsimple tasks, and an increased number ofdistractions.This stress will then harm your mental health. Whenyour space and mind are cluttered, that can makeyou anxious. There may also be feelings of shamewhen thinking about having other people in yourcluttered space. Your self-esteem will lower inresponse which can lead to worsening anxiety andeven depression.When depression comes into consideration, avicious cycle can take form. The clutter that youhave in your home can make you feel ashamed andlower your self-esteem. This lowered self- esteemcan lead to depression. With depression, cleaning

2 7C H A O S T O C A L Mthat clutter becomes more difficult which means thatyour space will stay cluttered for longer periods oftime. Then, you get more depressed because youstruggle to make these changes. The cycle will thencontinue.A similar cycle can happen with anxiety. If you arealready an anxious person, the clutter in your spacemight have built up because you were so anxiouswith other tasks that your space got neglected.However, the chaos that comes with a clutteredspace can make you feel more anxious. Theheightened anxiety can make it hard to clean yourspace, and then the cycle continues.In extreme cases, high amounts of stress for longperiods of time will cause people to turn tosubstance abuse. While it is highly unlikely that acluttered space will cause this level of stress tocause people to turn to harmful copingmechanisms, it’s important to note just how much ofan effect stress has.

2 8C H A O S T O C A L MStress From Clutter Will Make It Harder to CleanFor those who are already in a spot where theyexperience a lot of clutter in their space, weunderstand that the process of taking the clutterseems daunting and overwhelming. You havegotten to a point where you are in a cycle where thelonger you wait, the more overwhelming it is but themore overwhelming the task is, the more you wantto push off the task.In the following chapters, we will go over the stepsto change your mindset and how to clean yourspace to bring the chaos in your mind to calm.

3 0C H A O S T O C A L MWhen you think about mindfulness, what are thefirst things that pop into your head? Do you imaginesomeone meditating with their legs crossed on theground? Do you see someone speaking affirmationsin the mirror? Do you think about habits andpractices that seem so impossible to incorporateinto your life?Mindfulness isn’t an exhausting list of healthy habitsthat you should do every day nor is it a set of rulesthat you must follow. It isn’t something that is justfor a healthy mind that doesn’t suffer from anxiety ordepression. Instead, mindfulness is a simpleconcept that is the first step to bringing more calminto your life.What is Mindfulness?Mindfulness is the concept where one becomesmore self-aware of their present experience withoutbeing judgmental or harsh to themselves. It’sbecoming more aware of the thoughts that you are

3 1C H A O S T O C A L Mhaving, how you react to what happens in your life,and how your thoughts are framed.With mindfulness, you take a step back. Instead ofreacting immediately to an event that has takenplace, you take a step back and access thesituation first.Mindfulness is the first step to making chaos into aworld of calm. You become aware of what ishappening both around you and within your mind.Then, because you don’t react right away, you canframe your thoughts and reactions to ones that arebeneficial to the situation. This leads to fewernegative consequences and therefore, less stress.What Does Mindfulness Do for Mental Health?With how simple mindfulness is as a concept, it canseem like it can’t possibly do anything to removethe stress from your life and make you calmer. Thatisn’t true.

3 2C H A O S T O C A L MMindfulness can rewire your anxious or depressivethought patterns. It decreases the amount ofjudgment that you have for yourself and yoursituation. With mindfulness decreasing the amountof self-judgment you have; it can then boost yourself- esteem.Mindfulness has been linked to reducing the stressthat you experience, even if your space is extremelycluttered. It also can improve your immune systemand can reverse some of the negative side effectsthat stress causes to the body and mind.When you are trying to clear the clutter in your lifeto improve your physical and mental health, youneed to make sure that you are in the right frame ofmind.If you continue to look at your space with negativeemotions and think of yourself as lazy or anothernegative quality, the process of removing the chaoswon’t be as effective. With mindfulness, you canbring calm into a chaotic place and allow that calmto spread until there is no more chaos.

3 3C H A O S T O C A L MDepending on the mindset that you are startingwith, mindfulness will either seem like an easyprocess or become a challenge. Mindfulness can bechallenging to start because you have to be awareof every thought that used to fly through your head.This requires you to slow your thoughts down whenthey become chaotic and to reword the negativitythat your thoughts may have.Even when mindfulness starts as a challenge, itdoes become easier over time.

3 5C H A O S T O C A L MLet’s take a step back from the surrounding clutter.When we are starting with mindfulness, look at itfrom a general perspective. This will make theapplication to the clutter in your space an easierstep to take.Luckily, you have many ways to start practicingmindfulness every day. You don’t need any fancy orexpensive materials to get started. All you need area few deep breaths and your brain.Slow DownIn today’s busy “grind mode” world, slowing downyour pace can be super difficult. We always feel likewe need to be on the go to get the next projectdown. This can sometimes require us to eat ourmeals while at our desks working, to be on a callwhile walking to our next destination, or to even putoff sleep for a few hours because we are “almostfinished.”

3 6C H A O S T O C A L MWhile those practices are great for getting yourwork done in a short amount of time, they are alsohighly stressful and harm your body over time.To begin practicing mindfulness, you must slowdown. Sometimes, this means shutting your laptopoff while eating your lunch and giving yourself adigital bedtime, so you are off of technology beforebed.With all these following practices, we encourageyou to start slowly. While it would be amazing if youcould suddenly switch your habits into healthiermindful practices overnight, this expectation is notrealistic at all.Start with small changes and slowly build up. Again,to begin slowing down during the day, focus on howyou are eating first.Make sure that you don’t combine your meals withyour work so you can focus, and be more mindful,of your food. Once you become comfortable withthose practices, then add your digital bedtime. Youcan start the bedtime later, let’s say an hour earlierthan what you would do normally. Then, you canmake the time earlier and earlier until it providesyou with the proper work-life balance.

3 7C H A O S T O C A L MEngage In Your Everyday Activities with MoreFocusBeing mindful of your everyday activities will boostyour memory and will prevent those feelings thattime is slipping away. Also, when you engage withyour everyday activities with more focus, this canprevent clutter from building up as you will be moremindful of what you do with all your stuff.To engage in your everyday activities with morefocus and mindfulness, recall the previousmindfulness practice and slow down. When you aredoing an activity, let’s say washing the dishes, beaware of every action that you are doing.Allow yourself to become aware of the water that ishitting your hands (or your gloves if you have them)and be aware of every dish that you are cleaning.Slow down your washing speed to focus on gettingthe dish in hand perfectly clean. For some,incorporating deep breaths while doing repetitiveactivities can be extra beneficial.

3 8C H A O S T O C A L MAnother important aspect of mindfulness is to avoidthinking about activities with resentment or disgust.Even if you absolutely hate doing the dishes,instead of thinking about how much you hate theactivity, think about how good it will feel to haveclean dishes again and not have clutter in the sink.Over time, thinking about activities with a positivemindset instead of one full of resentment, you willnaturally few those activities more positively and willwant to do them more.Take Note of Your TriggersPracticing mindfulness isn’t just about what actionsyou take, but it’s also about how you think andrespond to events. Humans aren’t positive all of thetime. Some things make us hurt, upset, and angry.However, we are sometimes way too quick inresponding with those emotions, making the actionswe take next detrimental.

3 9C H A O S T O C A L MPay attention to what events cause you to flare upwith emotion. What makes you mad and whatmakes you annoyed? This may be one of thehardest mindfulness practices to fully incorporateinto your life. Don’t beat yourself up if this practicetakes you a lot of time to master.Let’s say that you experience a lot of anger whensomeone breaks your favorite glass. Thereactionary response would be to go find thatperson and start yelling at them. However, this pathwill likely lead to a harmed relationship, and youmight do or say something that you would regret.This is the perfect moment to note a trigger. Yes,someone breaking an item you cherish willunderstandably make you angry. You now knowthat this anger is how you feel when this eventhappens. You are now aware of the emotion thatyou are feeling. By being aware of this feeling, youcan take a moment to collect yourself before talkingto the person you broke your glass.

4 0C H A O S T O C A L MTaking a few deep breaths will allow you to thinkabout how you want to react. Note the languageused “how you want to react.” By being mindful, youget to decide the path you want to take when atrigger occurs. This gives you more power becauseinstead of being controlled by emotions, you arecontrolled by the path that will give you the bestoutcome according to the situation.Rework Harmful ThoughtsAnother mindfulness practice that is highlyimportant but can be difficult to master is reworkingthe harmful thoughts you experience. This isespecially important for those who experienceanxiety and depression and are plagued by self-deprecating and chaotic thinking.Reworking your harmful thoughts requires you to beespecially aware of your thought patterns. You mustbe able to pause when you experience a harmfulthought and take those few seconds (though it couldbe longer) to rephrase that thought.

4 1C H A O S T O C A L MReworking your harmful thoughts is training yourmind to think more positively with less judgmenttowards yourself and more self-love.To rework your harmful thoughts, pause wheneveryou experience one. You should also take note ofthe action or circumstance that caused you to havethat thought. When you pause, mindfully rephrasethat thought into one that is more positive.For example:Harmful thought – “I’m so lazy.”This can be reworked to – “I work hard to take careof myself every day.”Pausing when you experience a harmful thought willmake you much more aware of the thoughts runningthrough your mind. You will have more control overhow you perceive yourself and eventually, you willautomatically think the reworded thoughts instead ofthe harmful thoughts.

4 2C H A O S T O C A L MBe patient with yourself when you are reworkingyour thoughts. It will take time to make eachpositive thought a new habit, but this awareness willbe incredibly helpful in the long run.Ground YourselfThere will be times when it feels like so much ishappening all at once. You will experience a rush ofstress and a feeling of being overwhelmed. In timeslike that, it is the perfect opportunity to practice themindful activity of grounding.Grounding is a practice where you stabilize yourenergy through heightened awareness. It issometimes called “earthing,” referring to peoplewalking barefoot on the ground to groundthemselves with the Earth’s energy.

4 3C H A O S T O C A L MThe mindful practice of grounding is super simpleand can be done in even the most chaoticenvironments. All you need to do is plant your feet(you don’t have to be barefoot) on the ground andbecome highly aware of the feeling of having yourfeet on the ground. Focus on how the ground iskeeping you upright and take deep breaths.There are many variations to grounding exercises,but the most common one is to imagine a circle ofenergy going through your body. Coming upthrough your feet is a stabilizing energy that calmsyou down and clears away the chaotic energy. Thatchaotic energy is pushed out into the groundthrough your feet.The practice of grounding requires you to practicemindfulness with each breath that you take. In timesof chaos, this is the perfect activity to do.

4 4C H A O S T O C A L MPause and FeelThroughout your day, you can practice mindfulnessby taking a moment to pause and simply feel. Whenyou pause, notice what your 5 senses are pickingup. What are the things that you see around you?What sounds or conversations can you hearnearby? What smell lingers in the air, and can youcurrently taste anything? If you were to reach out,what would you touch and feel?Pausing and feeling through your senses allows youto become more aware of both your surroundingsand your body. This mindfulness practice is also avery common treatment for when you are in themiddle of an anxiety attack. Not only should you feelthe outside world with your senses, but you shouldalso use this time to check in with your body.By checking in with your body, you can notice anyaches or pains that you are feeling. Try to notice ifyou are holding any tension in your body and usethis moment to release it through some deepbreaths. Check if your heart is beating too fast or ifyour breathing has become rapid.

4 5C H A O S T O C A L MWhen we aren’t aware of our bodies, we can get socaught up in the grind of life that we hold onto somuch tension we didn’t even know that we had.Checking in with our senses and our bodies allowsus to notice the tension we had missed before andgives us a chance to work through it.For daily mindfulness, pause and feel at least oncea day. However, we do recommend that you pauseand feel several times a day, especially during themoments that feel more chaotic.Tips For Daily MindfulnessIt can be challenging to practice mindfulness everyday when you have spent so long pushing throughthe chaos. Slowing down with your movements andbringing up your awareness will seem tiresome anddifficult to do at first.

4 6C H A O S T O C A L MRemember that these mindfulness activities can beestablished into your routine like any other habit.Start slow and incorporate one mindfulness practiceat a time.One of the biggest tips for practicing mindfulness isto be patient with yourself and not judge. Havingthis open and caring mindset for yourself allows youto make mistakes without punishing yourself.Mindfulness isn’t a task to check off of your to-dolist or something you must do to make someonehappy. It is completely for your state of mind andperfection won’t happen overnight or at all.Increasing your daily awareness is all you need andif you go through a chaotic moment without taking astep back, don’t beat yourself up over it. Reflect onwhat happened and what actions you could havetaken to practice mindfulness at that moment andmove on.

4 8C H A O S T O C A L MWith how fast-paced and cluttered the world is, it islikely that your mental filing cabinet is overflowingwith important memories, tasks that need to beaccomplished, and those random embarrassingmoments you had years ago. To move from chaosto calm, you should organize your mental filingcabinet to remove the chaos from your mind.Sadly, you can’t just physically go into your mindand sort through papers to clean things up.Organizing your mind will look a bit differently with afew more steps.Journal to Dump Out Your ThoughtsThe first step to organizing your mental filingcabinet is to dump out all those papers that youhave so you can see everything that you areworking with. This is a common step to cleaning outan area of your house or your closet, and this stepcan apply to your mind as well.

4 9C H A O S T O C A L MJournaling is one of the best ways to dump out yourthoughts for sorting. With journaling, you don’t haveto think about creating a story or making yourthoughts palatable. All you have to do is writeanything and everything that comes to mind.This practice is sometimes called “stream ofconsciousness” journaling. When you journal, youwrite everything that comes to mind with no pauseand no judgment. If you get stuck and don’t knowwhat to write, you can write “I don’t know what towrite” repeatedly until you know.It is recommended to journal every day to takeeverything running around in your mind and put itdown on paper. Journaling is a great mindfulnessactivity because you become aware of the thingsyou were thinking and by writing your thoughtsdown, you force them to slow down as well.Journaling can be done in a notebook or on a wordprocessor. Use the platform that allows you to flowfreely with your thoughts.

5 0C H A O S T O C A L MSee What You Wrote Again, don’t judge yourself for the things that youwrote in your journal. Don’t even judge thehandwriting you used to document your thoughts. Apart of this organizational and mindfulness activity isthat you are aware, but not judgemental.Read through what you have written in your journal.Even though you just wrote this all down, you mayhave not been super aware of every single thought.By reading through what you wrote in the journal,you can notice patterns in your thoughts.It is likely that everyone has some sort of pattern totheir thinking. It’s only human to look for patternsand to seek out repetition. Take note of anyinteresting patterns that you see and the thoughtsthat stick out to you. This will be important forreflection.

5 1C H A O S T O C A L MPrioritize the Thoughts You See Not every thought that someone has is beneficial.When reading through what you wrote in yourjournal, you may have noticed that you wrote downharmful thoughts. These thoughts that you wouldwant to rework will be lower on your priorities. Younever want to prioritize the negative thoughts unlessyou are actively reworking them.You can mark up your journal however you want. Inthis example, we will use highlighters to representpriorities.Which ideas are the most pressing and need yourattention right away? These thoughts might includetasks that have deadlines that are coming up soon,birthdays that are happening soon, or thoughts thatyou cherish a lot such as a recent compliment yougot. Mark these with one color of highlighter, suchas green. These are now your top priority thoughtsto store at the front of your mental filing cabinet.

5 2C H A O S T O C A L MNow, organize the thoughts that are still important,but aren’t as pressing and can sit further back inyour brain. These could be events that are comingup in a few months that don’t need much attentionyet. They could be a grocery list that you will take tothe store another day. This is anything that doesn’tneed immediate attention and energy. Mark thesethoughts with a separate color such as a yellowhighlighter.If you are still using the highlighting method, youonly need one more highlighter color. Mark thethoughts that aren’t beneficial or important to have.These thoughts won’t need attention for a long timeor even at all. The thoughts in this list may beharmful thoughts, overall negative thinking, orunnecessary anxiety. Anything thought that doesn’tbenefit you to have and instead could bedetrimental would be on this list. Mark thesethoughts with a different highlighter color like pink.Sorting through your thoughts in this way makes iteasier to digest all the information that your brainspews. It also gives you a visual representation ofwhat thoughts are important and which ones areholding you back.

5 3C H A O S T O C A L MBreak Down Complicated Thoughts When sorting through your journal entry, you mayfind some thoughts you had that are complex anddon’t necessarily fit into one neat space. If one ofyour thoughts is about a big event that is important,then you might have several thoughts connected tothis same event to sort through. There may beanxieties along with excitement and different tasksto complete. For complicated ideas, take time to break themdown into separate thoughts. This makes a bigproject more manageable by breaking it down intobite-sized pieces. Not only will these simplerthoughts be easier to organize, but you will alsoremove many anxieties that you may feel about anoverwhelming project. Reflect Your mental filing cabinet is looking prettyorganized now that you have taken everything outand resorted them! With an organized mental filingcabinet, you can now reflect on the kinds ofthoughts you had.

5 4C H A O S T O C A L MThis is the perfect time to note the patterns that yousaw when sorting your thoughts.Did you have any repetitive thoughts? For example,did you have the same anxious thought repeatedlylike a worry about a specific project? These patternsshould be noted so you can delve into the “why” ofthose thoughts.Reflection is also the right time to go back to thoseharmful thoughts you may have highlighted in pinkand rework them. You can rework these thoughts byrewriting them in a more beneficial form above theharmful version. This way, you can see the progressthat you make by thinking more mindfully.For the thoughts that were highlighted in green, usethis reflection period to make your plan of action.We highly recommend writing down this plan so youhave a physical copy that you can see. This makesit easier to both remember this plan and by writing itdown, you are much more likely to stick to the plan.

5 5C H A O S T O C A L MReflection is so important to thinking mindfully andhaving a calm mind. With reflection, you think of thedetails behind each thought so your brain isn’tracing with a million thoughts that aren’t organized.

5 7C H A O S T O C A L MYou can control a lot of the clutter in your life.However, there are still many things that may stressyou, but you can’t control them. We know thattelling you to not stress out about something isn’talways that helpful, you’ve been wired to stress outabout certain things. Yet, we still want to let youknow about the things that you can’t control andshould work to let them be.The Past It’s very common to stress out about the past. Thereare always those embarrassing moments that popinto your head or those arguments you wish youhandled in a different way. We want to remind youthat the past can’t be changed, no matter how muchyou wish to change things, there is no way to goback in time to alter events. If we had thattechnology, things would get messed up quickly.

5 8C H A O S T O C A L MWhen you find yourself worrying about the past,remember that the past is what made you who aretoday. Allow yourself to have the thought and feelthe emotions that come with it, but then let it pass.Dwelling on the past will only stop you fromappreciating the present.Change Many people fear change, it is full of unknowns andsome change isn’t wanted. The only thing thatremains constant in this world is change andchange is something that can be appreciated onceyou stop fearing it. When people try so hard to control change, theyend up losing control and spiraling into chaos.Those who flow with change without stressing somuch about it are better able to adapt to thechanges.If you find yourself stressed out about upcomingchanges, take some time and be mindful of yourthinking.

5 9C H A O S T O C A L MConsider all of the good outcomes that could comefrom the change. If the change is nothing but bad,consider the lessons you will learn from it and makea plan of how to move past that negative change.Other’s Perspective of YouThe perspective and opinions of others about howyou dress, act, and look can be scary and stressful.Humans desire to be loved and we don’t like facingrejection from other people. Yet, stressing so muchabout what others think of you will prevent you fromenjoying the simple things in life.Not everyone is going to like you, that’s the logic ofit all. There will always be someone who doesn’tlike you, but that isn’t something to stress about.The best way to go about others’ opinions is bytaking a step forward and focusing on yourself.When you focus on yourself, you will think ofyourself with more love and less judgment.

6 0C H A O S T O C A L MThe FutureThere are many things about the future that you cancontrol. You can make plans for yourself in thefuture and stick to them, you can plan an event forthe future, and you can control the outcomes ofsome events. Yet, there are still many things aboutthe future that you can’t control and you should letthat stress go.For example, you can’t control how a presentationnext week will go. Sure, you can practice andprepare yourself for the presentation, but you can’tfully control the outcome. Many people will stressout about how an event such as a presentation willgo, but that stress goes to waste because you can’tcontrol everything that will happen.It is okay and reasonable to feel some stress aboutthe future. However, after a certain point, you mustallow those feelings to pass because those thoughtsare not of high priority.

6 1C H A O S T O C A L MRemember Thought PrioritiesThoughts of stress are often not of high priority.When you stress about things you can’t control,they aren’t helpful in keeping your life calm andaway from chaos. If you find yourself stressed outabout many things, journal all your thoughts andsort those thoughts into a list of priorities.Oftentimes, those stressful thoughts will be of thelowest priority.

6 3C H A O S T O C A L MYou are on your way to living a life of calm evenwhen you are super busy. Having a strong dailyplan will keep you cool and collected even ifeverything has turned into chaos. While you can’tcontrol the world around you, you can control yourdaily routine and how you react to the situations thatyou encounter.Start SlowNever start your day in a rush. Make sure you giveyourself enough time in the morning to go throughyour morning routine with care and awareness.Being mindful, which is a very important aspect ofyour daily plan, will keep you calm and confidentthroughout the day.When you wake up, avoid stressful situations likereading drama on social media. Instead, start yourday off with some journaling. Get all of yourthoughts out onto paper (or onto your computer) so you can start your day with a fresh mind with all ofyour thoughts in order.

6 4C H A O S T O C A L MStarting slow keeps your mental filing cabinet inperfect order. If you start your day out in a rush,papers from your filing cabinet will fly out and createchaos in your mind.Get Enough Sleep This applies to how you start your morning and howyou end your night. We understand that sleep isvery difficult for many people. People suffer frominsomnia and sleep disorders that make getting therecommended 8 hours of sleep seem impossible.Sometimes getting enough sleep means resting inyour bed. Resting is still better than nothing.Make sure that you block off at least 8 hours forbeing in bed. Get to bed at a reasonable time thatdoesn’t have you working on your computer until thelast minute. Then, find a wake-up time that givesyou enough time to get ready but still gives you thenecessary amount of sleep.

6 5C H A O S T O C A L MGetting enough rest will keep your brain fresh andyour mind clear so chaotic thoughts have a hardertime rooting in your mind.Take Mental Breaks This is when you will pause and practice yourmindfulness activities. Take a few mental breaksthroughout your day so you can take deep breaths,ground yourself if you need to, and be mindful of allthe thoughts running through your head. By taking mental breaks, you will have a chance torecollect yourself when times are getting crazy. Thiswill keep you calm. You can also tell yourselfpositive affirmations to build your confidence.

6 6C H A O S T O C A L MIt will seem difficult to take mental breaks when youhave a huge list of things to do, but you can eventake a mental break while taking a trip to thebathroom. These mental breaks only need to be afew minutes long and they are so important to take. Practice Positive ThinkingWhen the day gets chaotic and you have beendealing with people who don’t have your bestinterest in mind, it can be easy to slip into a state ofharmful thinking. This is when a pause is necessaryto take as you need to break that thinking cycle.When you find yourself thinking harmful thoughts,take a pause and rework those thoughts that youhave. Think positively about yourself by thinkingencouragement and not judging yourself if you havemade a mistake. Positive thinking will boost yourconfidence, so you feel stronger about your abilities.This way of thinking will also keep you a lot calmer.

6 7C H A O S T O C A L MTake Responsibility Even the calmest, most confident, and smartestpeople make mistakes sometimes. That is just apart of being human. However, you should not shyaway from responsibility for your actions. Not onlywill this disappoint the people around you, but it willalso harm your perception of self. Shying away fromresponsibility might make you feel like a coward andashamed. Build your confidence further by takingresponsibility. This will remove the looming fear ofothers’ opinions from hanging over you and willallow you to solve the problem faster. Fixing yourmistakes will build others’ trust in you and therefore,build your confidence. End Your Day with Gratitude As you end your day and being to unwind, thinkabout everything that happened that day that madeyou grateful. You can be grateful for things both bigand small from getting a promotion to having a goodconversation with a co-worker.

6 8C H A O S T O C A L MPracticing gratitude makes you more mindful as youbecome more aware of the little things that happenthroughout the day. It makes you a more positiveperson as it trains your brain to think about the goodthings.Also, gratitude makes you appreciate what youalready have. This makes you less anxious aboutthings you don’t have and allows you to becomfortable and happy with where you are now.There is nothing wrong with striving for better butdon’t let that motivation cause you to ignore the lifeyou are currently living.Make the Best Plan for YouWe could give you a step-by-step plan for livingwithout clutter in your mind and around your space.We could give you the perfect plan to make surethat you are always calm and confident.

6 9C H A O S T O C A L MHowever, the most important plan is the one thatworks best for you.Different people will need different things from theirplans. You might need to make sure that you takeseveral breaks throughout the day and some peoplecan be content with one.You may want to journal at the beginning and at theend of the day while others only want to start off theday with journaling. Using everything that you have learned in this book,make a plan for how you want to live your mostcalm life. Use the tips that make the most sense foryour life needs.When you have a plan that fits, it will be a lot easierto incorporate the new mindful thinking into your life.Everything you plan will apply to what your needsare and you will get the most benefits.Your plan should include physical actions such ascleaning out your junk drawer and the mindfulactions that we had listed above.

7 0C H A O S T O C A L MWe recommend that you write down your plan sothat you can see it often. Having a plan writtendown pushes you to follow it and you won’t have toworry about forgetting any detail.

7 2C H A O S T O C A L MWhether your clutter is mental or physical, havingclutter around your life increases the stress andanxiety you face every day. When you have clutteraround your home, make sure you create a plan forhow to tackle each room so you can create a livingspace as clear as your mind. The clutter in yourmind can be cleared away through journaling andother mindful habits.Taking on the clutter in your life will take time. Youwon’t have a perfectly clear and calm life rightaway. Through these tips, we hope that you can usethem as a direction to achieve the calm andconfident life that you want.Always remember to treat yourself with love andcare. Don’t judge yourself for your mind or for yourspace. Instead, encourage yourself to make thechanges you want to see in your life. Mindfulthinking and actions will make your life go fromchaos to calm.

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