We recently had a really big clean up of the office. Our team managed to fill 3 recycling bins with paper and boards. The place was a real mess and it was getting ridiculous. People were inefficient and sloppy. It just felt tardy.

With the clean up now done, all of a sudden, the place feels clear and spacious. There is room to move and room to get on with things. And people are better able to focus on their jobs without having to step over 4 year old campaigns. Low and behold, people are more productive.

 I think it is important to do the same with our lives. A lot of people seem to get to this come spring. The sun comes back out and the trees begin to sprout new life. We give the house a good clean and dust and we throw out a bunch of old clothes.

There is no need to wait until Spring. And there is no need to restrict the cleanout to the house. By all means go through all the old clothes you don’t wear anymore and give them to a better home and can give your old mobile phones you don’t need to Mobile Muster so they can be recycled. 

But I think the most valuable clean up you can do is in your living. Clear your mind of old stuff you don’t need any more. Redundant memories. Useless stuff you no longer need.

I remember a Married With Children episode when Kelly Bundy, with a finite mental capacity, is going on a game show. Al fills her head to the brim with information. She is packed as full as she can go. When she turns up on set, they teach her to use the buzzer, which replaces her oldest memory. The one about her father being a college football star. It just so happens that it is the topic of the question to win the game.

So what’s my theory? If we get rid our minds of the useless and redundant crap, then we free up space for it to be replaced with far more interesting and useful information. If we purge the people we no longer need and the grief they cause, then there is new space for inspiring people to fit in our lives. People who push us to be better people.

Hopefully, in the pursuit of knowledge and happiness, we will look to read more and expand our vocabulary. We will aspire to be more worldly and learned. Perhaps then we can move beyond four letter words to express ourselves and racial slurs to make us feel superior.Hopefully, by ridding our minds of rubbish, we can grow to become a smarter race.