Outer Order, Inner Calm

Outer Order, Inner Calm gives you advice to declutter your space and keep it orderly, to foster your inner peace and allow you to flourish.

Decluttering is keeping only what can serve and represent you now, releasing the past to make room for a better present.

When only meaningful and easily accessible possessions are left, you are able to make better use of what you own, and buy less in the future. You’ll feel less guilty about the stuff you’ve bought and never used. And you’ll be empowered by new purposefulness and sense of possibility.

Since our minds feed on our senses, pleasing them with order is the fastest way to raise our spirits and gain the self-confidence we need to undertake new challenges.

By keeping your space tidy you can reduce stress. You don’t have to waste time searching your house for objects or rush out to buy things that you already own. And there’s no more mess to trigger arguments with family, flatmates, and colleagues. 

Now that her house is orderly, Rubin’s relationships have improved. She’s experiencing more harmony with her family. She’s no more afraid of people’s judgment and doesn’t get anxious when friends visit her. She really likes having them around now.

The first step for ordering our space is to decide rationally what to keep and what to throw away. Sometimes we still feel connected to now useless items and make excuses to not separate ourselves from them. Rubin also finds herself hanging onto clothes too old to be worn that she still loves. In this case, “It can be repaired or altered” is a common excuse. Do you really want to do it? Then immediately set a very close deadline. To make informed decisions while decluttering, for every object, ask yourself: “Is this something I need? Is this something I love? Is this something I use?”. Starting with the right mindset is important to make rational choices: you need to be rested, not in a hurry, and not hungry. You could also call a friend to help you make conscious choices on what to discard. The author still keeps a few mementos, especially from her children’s babyhood, but got rid of most of the things that weren’t useful for her and her family anymore. Unfinished projects are less considered a form of clutter. They take many forms: half-built Lego castles, knitting experiments, puzzles. They’re irritating in themselves because they radiate guilt and frustration but also contribute to clutter because we often leave them in sight as a reminder to finish them. As the author says, “the easiest way to complete a project is to abandon it”. So you decide: finish it or just throw…