How to Clear the Clutter from Your Mind - Super Naturally Me
Childhood traumas can clutter your mind in adulthood
In life, we often decide where to go, who to be around, how to be, or what to be. Or sometimes we don’t, sometimes we just let life happen to us without much intention. From birth into adulthood we try to find the answers to these questions, “Who am I?” and “What is my purpose?” Our whole lives are centered around finding out “Who am I?” There are many online videos and books that teaches ways to improve yourself, improve your relationships, and the psychology behind why certain people behave the way they do. Some resources explain how life experiences in childhood shape the adult you become. There are things that may have happened during childhood; disappointment, traumatic experiences that manifests itself in adulthood in various ways. When we carry around all of our baggage from years of trauma that have gone unaddressed, it weighs us down and clutters our mind. I wonder, what does the bible teach us about how to clear the clutter from your mind.
What clutters our mind is not always clear
Manifest means clear or obvious to the eye or mind. It is not always so clear to us, the person experiencing it. There is what we see, what we perceive, and how we feel; which we display or show (a quality or feeling) by ones acts or appearance. What we demonstrate. How we feel shows up in the way we act; but there is not always a clear path of correlation. That makes it hard to pinpoint exactly what transpired to make us act or demonstrate certain qualities that we develop over time. It’s often painful experiences that affect us traumatically so to protect ourselves we will subconsciously develop defence mechanisms. As an adult I have trouble sorting through my feelings and processing them in a healthy way. Imagine a child who is still developing and trying to make sense of the world being introduced to trauma. The following is an outline of how to clear the clutter from your mind.
1. Become aware of the existence of a junk closet in your mind
Think of it like this. In your home, you have a closet or space that is for “storage” but becomes what we will refer to as the junk drawer/closet. All of your miscellaneous stuff ends up in there. You don’t pay much attention to it because at least the stuff is out of the way and out of sight. You leave that space as is and just keep throwing stuff in. At some point, if you are not periodically sorting and organizing, it’s going to overflow and all of this clutter is going to come crashing down into chaos all around you. So now you are living in a state of chaos. You don’t have time to sort through it, it’s now too overwhelming to organize it. You don’t ask for help because you don’t want anyone seeing your mess. So you walk around it, and try to live with it as if it’s not there.
Over time, that is what seems to happen with our minds. We have a space for all of the feelings that we don’t want to deal with. If we are not sorting and getting rid of the negative feelings associated with experiences which have impacted our thinking; then those experiences, emotions, and negative thinking manifests in negative ways with our actions.
2. Be intentional with your actions for positive outcomes
A biblical example we will look at is the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4. Cain and Abel were the offspring of that famous or infamous couple (depending on how you look at it) Adam and Eve. Cain was the first born and when he grew up, he cultivated the ground. And Abel the second born grew up and became a shepherd. Some of the wording here is interesting to me because in Genesis 4:2 NLT, it states, “…When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd…” They speak of the second son first and what he became, which indicates to me intention. Abel intentionally became a shepherd. With intention there is an amount of planning, preparation, and skill that is acquired to have expertise in an area.
And then secondly “…while Cain cultivated the ground.” The statement while Cain cultivated the ground, seems almost like an afterthought. He didn’t become a cultivator, he just simply cultivated the ground, like he just settled on doing that without much intention. Even though Cain is the first born son, the special one to inherit and become the head of the family, it seems like his younger brother may be more highly esteemed with a greater level of skill. Cain stuffs this experience in the junk closet he has in his mind; even though I am the first born, my brother is more highly accomplished. In other words, the negative thinking that Cain harbors in mind might be something like, “Who does Abel think he is? I am the first born, the special one, who should be regarded more highly than him!”
3. Accept or seek help and good advice to clear the clutter
Next the NLT version says, “When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift, the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.” (Genesis 4:3-5 NLT) Oh boy! So again the wording is very interesting because it doesn’t say Cain presented a gift of crops or even presented his best crops; he presented “some of his crops as a gift” to the Lord. Again, to me this indicates a lack of intention. He threw some stuff together and tried to pass it off as a gift. While his brother Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn lambs as a gift, the best of the best!
The firstborn lambs symbolize the importance and quality of being a first born. A gift of value and thoughtful intention. Abel and his gift are accepted by the Lord, however Cain and his gift is not accepted. So again Abel the second son is highly esteemed and Cain the first born is rejected. This makes Cain very angry. The Lord gives Cain some advice, “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you…” (Genesis 4:7 NLT) Cain doesn’t seem to accept this advice(he doesn’t want the help to clean up his mess), instead he places his feelings of anger and dejection in the closet with the envious thoughts about his brother.
4. Be accountable for your actions
At this point Cain’s junk closet has been filling up with negative thoughts, feelings, and emotions about himself relating to his experiences. Instead of him taking time to focus on himself and his emotions to clean up the negativity that he has been harboring and compounding, probably since childhood; the weight of all of this stuff in his closet becomes unbearable and starts crashing down on him. And what do we do when we are living in chaos from all of these things crashing down that we didn’t take time to deal with before? We blame. Everyone, anyone, but ourselves! The text says, “One day Cain suggested to his brother, ‘Let’s go out into the fields.’ And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.” (Genesis 4:8 NLT)
The manifestation of Cain’s experiences, traumas, and negative thoughts pushed into the junk closet of his mind; was the act of murder. As a result he is cursed and banished from the ground where he killed Abel and will no longer be able to yield good crops regardless of how much work he puts into it. So Cain will never get the acceptance or high esteem from his position as first born or his work that he envied in his brother.
5. Take inventory of your experiences and identify how it manifests in your life
It can be a daunting and overwhelming experience to sort through hurtful or negative experiences that have impacted our outlook and behavior. Take the time to see what actions or situations are being manifested in your life now and what possible experiences, thoughts and actions it stemmed from. This is not easy, especially when our behaviors become a pattern and form a habit. This is when we need to seek help to clean up the mess. The word of God has many examples of actions and results that we can apply. See also, How to apply the Word of God to your life: Abraham and Sarah. We also should seek the help of a therapist. Therapists are trained in helping you identify, sort and discard negative thought patterns and introduce new thought patterns or behaviors.
Be intentional about discarding the negative thought patterns you have developed over time so that you can stop or avoid negative actions and consequences. What you store in your mind and allow to cultivate will grow and result in either a positive outcome (fruitfulness) or a negative outcome (consequence). Another post titled God’s Business Plan: Cultivating Disciples in the Kingdom has more on the principle of cultivation. Cain allowed envy, anger, and dejection to be cultivated in his mind which manifested as him murdering his brother. The result of this was a curse which still didn’t get him what he wanted.
How to Clear the Clutter from your Mind
Ok. I know. It’s a lot. Let me recap. In order to clear the clutter from your mind you need to:
- Become aware of your minds junk closet
- Be intentional about the things you want
- Get help from an outside source to clean up the mess
- Be accountable for your thoughts and actions
- Explore your thoughts, feelings and experiences and how they manifest in your life
Be Intentional about Clearing the Clutter
Cain’s habit of being unintentional in planning, preparing and skill is somewhat ironic. He chose a profession as a cultivator yet didn’t understand fully what that meant. Cultivation is a powerful concept, which he failed at literally, spiritually, and mentally. Abel was intentional about choosing what he wanted to become, a leader. He cultivated good habits; planning, preparing and skill, to become a shepherd. Being intentional is a leadership skill acceptable to God. Abel was born to be a leader, he couldn’t help it. When we focus on ourselves and are intentional with what we want to do, we are less likely to harbor negative thoughts, feelings or attitudes about ourselves in relation to others. So let’s just face the facts, and answer the question for ourselves. What are you really mad at? Embrace the clutter, get help and clear out all of the negative thinking that cultivates chaos.
