A Quote that Says it All: Outer Order – Inner Calm
This is a quote by NY Times Best Seller Gretchen Rubin, author of the Happiness Podcast which says it all! Within her book ‘Outer Order, Inner Calm’, Gretchen helps and encourages us to de-clutter our outer environment with precious tips including making the right choices, getting organised to create order, getting to know who we are and what we need and cultivating habits that serve us. According to her, creating outer order -amongst other reasons- help create a feeling of peace, calm and sanctuary, which leaves more room for our creative pursuits. Eliminating ‘visual noise’ in particular takes away stress and impetus to get distracted by mess. Plus, you always find what you need quickly, enjoy more space and you are faced by fewer choices that suits you best: Win / Win
Yoga and Mindfulness practices can help your child cultivate a sense of inner calm too by choosing to reduce or restrict our senses that absorb our external environment. In essence, we practice shutting down some senses to reduce our distract-ability and instead give full power to one sense only for instance our Auditory sense. The practice of tuning in to Tibetan Bells is a great illustration: ring the bell asking the children to focus on the sound, and put their hand up only when the sound stops to signal it to you. Over time, it becomes apparent that sitting still and lowering your gaze can really help focus on the sound better. This practice is a great illustration of how we can declutter our minds. We instantly feel calmer and less overwhelmed by choosing not to let yourself be bombarded by your senses. Once your child knows that they can control their senses, they will be more likely to use them in a way that serve them.
Another experiential practice of the effect of de-cluttering of our minds is the wonderful story of ‘A Squash and A Squeeze’ by children author Julia Donaldson. In this story, which can be acted out in Yoga poses, the wise old man helps the little old lady change her perception of her house. At the beginning of the story, she feels her house is too small. The wise old man tells her to bring in lots of animals into the house. She does to the point where everything is really titchy. Upon clearing the house of all the animals, she finds her house much bigger indeed. A brilliant example when creating clutter, then removing it, can help us see things a different way.
This is after all what we can do best: changing our way of thinking and our perception is not only within our control, but also the best way to make successful changes in our lives. Gretchen Rubin and Julia Donaldson have it right: change your space to change your mind!
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