"Peace is tranquility i.e. when you reduce the volume of the clutter button in your life. Silence is when you push that button off." Do you agree? Great question by a fellow member on a Linkedin Group , which triggered a painful introspection , struggling through a highly cluttered life. Mine!

Well, let me first understand , what clutter means:-

Julie Morgenstern, author of SHED, defines clutter as, any obsolete object, space, commitment or behavior that weighs you down, distracts you or depletes your energy.
A deep look and the first conclusion -) there are two types of clutters in life :- Physical and Spiritual.Both contributes to our state of mind in a different but converging way.

Physical Clutter as Mary Hunt said is "all that stuff in the drawers, cupboards, closets, shelves and boxes in your kitchen, bedrooms, living room, basement, attic, garage, rafters, driveway, patio, side yard and cars ?"

It arises due our inability to organize materialistic possessions ,may be getting rid of unnecessary ones ,which keep piling up due to emotional attachments .Reducing the physical clutter free up some much-needed space, which in turn calm our spirit, clear our mind and help us achieve peace of mind or tranquility.

Who knows it better than me :- all the drawers of my study table are packed with bills,vouchers,locks,keys,old files and what not ? How often i need those staffs ? Rarely,still those occupy more than 90% of the useful space !

Every time, i open the drawers, get irritated but fail to ask a simple question to myself "Do I really need these? Why i am not able to determine the impact of these items disappearing from my life ? Well, it's high time to take some action now !

Spiritual Clutter is a bigger issue and it arises due to our inability to live in accordance with our goals, desires, and values? Restoring consistency between our expectations from life and achievements ,resolve all forms of clutters and restore peace of mind or tranquility.

I recently picked up a fight with my elder brother, regarding my ailing mothers course of treatment:- he is staying close to her place ( I am around 2000 km away ) and knows much better than me about the right strategy.

Still for no reasons i intervened ,leading to an argument.I am anxious and want her to receive the best treatment but i should have understood that, he also loves her and will take the right step.

For no reasons, i added more anxiety to already overloaded mind , spoiling the peace. So, i must avoid recurrence of such incidence in future !

Conclusion :- Challenge of living a complete and meaningful life is having control over those clutter buttons and not in pushing them off , which in my opinion is against the fundamental purpose of our existence.

Author : Abhijit Kar
My Blog     www.abhijitkar.com
My Group "Leadership And Networking" On LinkedIn