Declutter your mind

Mohan Ji
An incident comes to mind from the Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle. Here we have the super-intelligent Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson who is always fascinated by the intelligence of Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes has the ability to see what others usually don’t, which helps in solving mysteries effortlessly.
One day Watson asks Sherlock Holmes, “How do you have this clarity, this intelligence? How do you manage this?” Sherlock Holmes answered quite matter-of-factly, “My mind is uncluttered. I only store the information that I need, so I can retrieve it effortlessly. I do not store anything random in my mind.”
Sherlock Holmes
Now consider your mind – how much information have you collected and stored in your mind. Information that is pretty much useless, or irrelevant withtime. The information that I have in my mind is always fresh and usable. We have a wide variety ofinformation entering ourminds every day:politics, sports and variousthings we are interested in. We collect and store thisinformation unconsciously, or spontaneously. This information gets mixed up with the information that is essential for us to remember. Eventually, everything gets mixed up. It becomes impossible to retrieve something at the right time; you don’t remember. Memory loss is usually connected to an over-burdened mind; too much information that causes clutter. Just like Sherlock Holmes said, if you store only what you really need in your life, you can prevent memory loss.
This thought came to me and continued into another dimension: the wastage of time. How much time do you waste in life- chasing rainbows, illusions and illusory things? Quite a lot. If you can avoid chasing rainbows and stay with the reality of everyday existence, life will be uncluttered.
You get fascinated by others’ stories, opinions, concepts and temptations. You then deviate, taking detours to chase, find or experience them. And often you don’t get there because they don’t exist. Many things that you see from a distance lose value when you approach closer. Rainbows are beautiful from a distance. But when you reach closer. it’s just invisible water vapour. This is our life. This is how we live every moment.
This understanding might help you reposition yourself to distinguish between the relevant and irrelevant in life. If you choose what is relevant in life, based on practical, realistic criteria, you can ignore the irrelevant things spontaneously. What occupies our mind holds us, molds us. So, we are what occupies our mind. This is our choice. We can occupy our mind with high elevated thoughts- thoughts of grandeur, higher elevation, Masters, super-conscious states connected to a Master.
You can occupy your minds with great things, but there will be strugglesbecause of your desires, inherent laziness, tendencies and inclinations. They will pull you in all directions. These tendencies are a part of your system and you can’t avoid them. You have got to tackle them because they are living with you. They are like family members who have an interest in you, who believe that this is what you’re born for.
You don’t have control over thoughts, thoughts just happen spontaneously. But what occupies your mind makes you. If this understanding is clear, you can choose to fill your mind with the right thoughts. You can choose to apply your mind on the positive, regenerative and rejuvenating matter. Such information will enhance you and the world around you; so that the world reciprocates that back to you.
What you give to the world, you get from the world. When you give yourself to the world, the world gives itself to you. You can control these factors. This control is in everybody, you can all choose to do this. It’s an attitude. You can definitely choose to be different, to be yourself. Connect to your highest possibilities and express that to the world. Your value always is what you give to the world.