With spring comes the urge to open the windows, clear out our closets, and start fresh. What better time to declutter our homes and refresh our physical and emotional lives?
Letting go of things we no longer need can benefit us on many levels. Not only does it give us more physical space to live our lives, but it can also open emotional space for us to connect more deeply with ourselves and others.
Positive psychology founder Martin Seligman’s PERMA model outlines five pillars of flourishing: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement. Spring cleaning—sprucing up our homes and simplifying our environments—may seem like a purely practical task, but it can also strengthen each of these pillars.
Here are five ways a streamlined environment can boost well-being
Positive Emotion: A cluttered home can increase our stress levels, contributing to unhealthy mood states and elevated cortisol. UCLA researchers found that women who described their homes as cluttered or filled with unfinished projects experienced flatter diurnal slopes of cortisol—a dysregulated pattern in which cortisol levels remain too high or too low throughout the day. This pattern is associated with chronic stress, poorer mental health, and an increased risk of disease. In contrast, women who described their homes as organized showed steeper cortisol slopes, a healthy physiological pattern.
These empirical findings support what many of us intuitively know: a chaotic environment can disrupt our internal state.
For some of us, clutter may take an even greater toll. I (“Suzie”) have often remarked to James that physical clutter affects me the way verbal clutter affects him. As a philosopher who carefully chooses his words, he immediately understood the comparison.
A more organized and less cluttered home can be restorative. It can foster a greater sense of calm, serenity, joy, and contentment—and ultimately less stress.
Engagement: Seligman describes engagement as the experience of using our strengths, skills and full attention to complete a challenging task. In doing so, we may enter what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a cofounder of positive psychology, called “flow,” an optimal state in which we are so fully absorbed in what we are doing that self-awareness disappears and time seems to stand still.
Flow can arise in a wide range of activities—from sports and music to reading or engaging in a meaningful conversation.
To enter flow, we must fully concentrate. However, clutter— papers, objects, and even multiple open windows on our computer—can easily distract us. As Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi have noted, a good life is one of engagement—”a life that is characterized by complete absorption in what one does.”
Relationships. Are there things in your relationship that you have been holding onto for too long that may be causing undo stress? How might you release them in a healthy way?
Sometimes we are not even aware of negative thoughts and actions that have become unhealthy habits. We may operate on autopilot, acting out of fear or frustration in ways that cloud our judgment and vision of the loving people right in front of us. By letting go of resentments, complaints, and grudges, we can strengthen our connections.
Healthy relationships are central to Seligman’s theory of flourishing. By cleaning out our emotional house, we can learn to respond compassionately rather than react critically. Practices such as forgiveness and gratitude can strengthen relationships and enhance well-being.
Meaning: Excess often leads to overwhelm and deferred decisions. Clutter can cloud our vision and distract us from deciding what matters most.
Simplifying our lives helps us focus on what truly matters and frees up time once spent managing unnecessary possessions.
By streamlining our homes, we can better focus our attention on what gives our lives meaning and purpose, such as belonging to and serving something bigger than ourselves—such as family, religion, or a social cause. By clearing our physical space, we may gain greater clarity about what we want to focus on and accomplish.
Achievement: Accomplishment and mastery are associated with a flourishing life. Some people pursue success in their professional lives, others in athletics or creative pursuits. In what domain do you want to achieve success?
In modern life, it often feels as though we have limitless options. While choice can be good, too many options can lead to paralysis by analysis, something social psychologist Barry Schwartz refers to as “paradox of choice.”
Organizing our external world often helps us to organize our internal world. Fewer objects mean fewer distractions competing for our attention. We can then focus on the decisions that matter most—pursuing meaningful goals and spending more time with the people who matter most.
As spring begins, you may once again set ambitious goals to tackle your packed garage or the hallway closet stuffed to the gills. You procrastinate because the task feels overwhelming and tell yourself you will get to it soon.
While it can be daunting to begin—especially when we are unsure of where to start—try not to delay. You don’t need to do everything at once. Just do one thing. Begin small. Streamline that overstuffed kitchen drawer, organize your purse, or clean out your snack drawer.
These small wins can help you feel better—and may even inspire you to do more. Before long, you may find yourself on a roll.
You might even reward yourself in advance. For example, you could plan to host friends at a future date—something I (“Suzie”) often did during my years living in New York City, when I struggled to organize my ever-growing piles of paper.
I would pick a date and invite people over for a cocktail party, knowing I needed to organize everything beforehand. The deadline motivated me to get the job done. I felt a great sense of accomplishment—and then relished spending meaningful time with my friends in my home, which was the ultimate reward: sharing joy and connection in a space that felt calm, both physically and emotionally.
