01 Jun New research shows why it’s better to live a cleaner, less cluttered life
One of the keys to happiness is…simplicity.
The minimalist movement has a lot to offer those seeking happiness; and so to do those who advocate de-cluttering.
If you think any of this might boost your happiness then keep on reading…
via Psychology Today by Susan Krauss Whitbourne
Do you look around your home and wonder how it got so full of knick-knacks, or scan your office and ask yourself how it got to be so buried in neglected piles of paper? What about your calendar: Is it filled with appointments stretching indefinitely into the future? Is your email box so overflowing that you don’t even feel like wading in to try to address any but the biggest emergencies? All of this clutter, physical and mental, can interrupt your flow — both your ability to move and your ability to think. It turns out that your well-being could also become victim to what we might call the “clutter effect.” A collection of recent studies on stress, life satisfaction, physical health, and cognition all speak to the value of streamlining.
When we think of cluttering, the first association many have is with the inside of a hoarder’s home. However, cluttering can simply involve the accumulation of more possessions than can fit into the available space. If you have a lifetime of memorabilia strewn around the rooms of a 25-room mansion, all will fit comfortably onto shelves and tables. It’s an entirely different matter if that same amount of stuff ends up in a cramped two-bedroom apartment.
A relatively recent investigation on perceptions of the environment and well-being examined the set of relationships among clutter in the home and subjective well-being. University of New Mexico’s Catherine Roster and colleagues (2016) examined how clutter compromises an individual’s perception of home, and ultimately feelings of satisfaction with life. The underlying premise of the study was that because many people identify so closely with their home environments, the extent to which it’s cluttered can interfere with the pleasure they experience when being in that environment…
…keep reading the full & original article HERE