Why is cleanliness important?

Hello lovely people! Pretty sure most of you laughed when you read the title. Like aren’t my parents enough to teach me about cleanliness? Haha, well, did you ever learn?

Let’s talk about this.. I think it’s pretty easy to not think about this ever.. Or you know, like ever realise the importance of it? Just speaking of physical spaces (let’s say our rooms), most of the millennials probably hate cleanliness to an extent that they go on to say - “Why did you clean my room!? I like it messy OR It’s fine the way it is.” Many of us would be able to relate with this.

How does this messy room affect our brain? It gives us a sense of clutter, a sense of confusion. Because most of us live in those states of mind already, we never realise this.

From time to time, it’s very important to be able to relook at our rooms - and remove the things that you don’t need anymore or are not serving you well. Like that half eaten packet of chips that’s just lying there for days? Throw it away. Your heels that you wore to the party 2 weeks back? Put them back (I know I’m sorry I’ll try not to give pre-covid references.) That amazon packet you received 4 days back? Throw the box away.

You feed off the energy of anything and everything that is there in your surroundings. This is the reason why our moods light up in the company of babies or pets. This is the reason we feel happy and at peace when we visit hotel rooms - less because they’re beautiful, more because they’re clean and organised. This is also the reason why we feel off in a graveyard, or even an old store room?

Even if we refuse to acknowledge it, our minds subconsciously know which things are serving us positively and which are not. And the more time you spend around things that are not, they keep affecting you, on a daily basis. Building up - in micro pieces. Until they start having a compounding effect on you.

Why does cleaning feel so satisfying? Because you consciously choose to let the negative energy go.

Now let’s look at this in a different context - our thoughts. How often do we clean our thoughts?

Do we ever stop to notice what we've been thinking? Why are we thinking this? Is it helping me or holding me back? Am I thinking positively or not?

Cleanliness of mind is as important, if not more. As said above, negative thoughts have an ability to build up compoundingly. We’d start with a simple negative thought - and we wouldn’t stop thinking about it - for days. Until, this has become a huge source of negativity, anger or stress for you.

Try to observe your thoughts every once in a while. Whenever you notice a negative thought, ask yourself? Do I need this thought? It’ll take me into a completely different direction - is that how I want to think about this situation or person?

How many of us have experienced days where we feel just everything is going wrong? Like everything, one or the other.

What is really happening? These are not ‘bad days’. Also I hope you are mature enough to understand that God is not conspiring against you.

This is what happens. One thing goes wrong. Your frame of mind shifts to a negative thought. Now you’re already thinking negatively and suddenly something very trivial happens. Now you cannot look at that trivial thing independently because you already have anger/stress built up in your head - and this trivial thing multiplies the negativity and stress in your head exponentially.

IT DOESN'T ADD UP. IT MULTIPLIES.

Yep, take control. Be more observant - of your surroundings, as well as your inner self.

Choose to consciously spend time and take notice of them.

Otherwise, you'd never realise about your deteriorating mental health. Once you’re aware, make cleaning an active part of your daily schedule.

This same concept also applies for teams. Human Resources of any organisation.

Observe your people. Understand them, their motives, their motivations, their energies. You’d be much better off without a negative person (even if they’re super talented), instead of them turning everybody else in the team negative.

Think about it. (Feeling like Krishna from Mahabharat. Sochiyega zarur.)

Jai Jinendra.