Terry Sarten: Start decluttering by ignoring all things you're told you should be doing

Marie Kondo, the 'organising consultant', has a popular TV series on cleaning up, organising and de-cluttering your home.

Take note and take the clutter out of your life. There is far too much talk about clutter, and it is time to declutter your thoughts.

The first step is to tidy your mind and remove that Marie Kondo influence. This can be done by taking the minimalist approach - simply ignore her advice and stop it cluttering up your thought processes.

This can be done by recognising that this is her way to commercialise her ideas and make money by telling people to throw away things.

There was even the suggestion that too many books are a problem. That is a step too far. She can do what she likes in her house but please leave the rest of us alone to make our own decisions.

Then you can start to declutter your own thinking. Remove all the thoughts of all the things you are being told you should be doing. If there is a should in there, then toss it aside. If you see an advertisement telling you that you must have the latest shiny gizmo widget, then ignore it. Replace that with need and see what happens.

You do not need half the words in your vocabulary. Expunge the buzzwords. Is using the term to 'drop' a new song or fashion item at all useful? How about 'opening up'? This usually indicates that a celebrity is about to 'drop' a new book, film, song and is revealing some aspect of their life in a desperate pitch for media attention.

Another term is 'to reach out'. This has become a dazzling mix of hyperbole and hypocrisy as it often means a person or organisation has offended and is looking for forgiveness from the public so is (a) reaching out for some redemption or (b) it denotes a hopeless last-ditch attempt to fix a situation that has gone badly wrong with maybe the bonus of some media attention.

Mind you, it could be simply 'virtue signalling'. This term tends to be used as a sort of diversion meant to diminish the fact there might be some truth behind the action by tagging it as a form of self-righteous semaphore rather than tackling the issues raised.

Another key word that can clutter up perspective is 'but'. Exhibit A. I am not racist but ... beware the but. It holds in its three little letters a whole bag of contradictions. It acts as a buffer around what the real unspoken thought is. 'But' may appear a diversion when in reality it is a one-way street that ends in bigotry.

Next time you find your thoughts full of 'buts', go through them and see if they are worth keeping. If not, get rid of them and replace them with some curiosity. That might lead to some new ideas worth considering.

It is important to realise that when decluttering the mind that not all thoughts are equal. The meaning of life is a big one and can take up lots of space. To make room, it may require dismantling others.

If hating things/people/idea is taking up too much room, then ditch and switch to dislike - it is a milder, lower-stress way of thinking. If your thinking is stuffed full with thoughts about loving stuff, then declutter because 'stuff' cannot love you back. Only people can love you back. We can instead like and enjoy things, leaving more room for thinking of people and the real value of love.

"He aha te mea nui o te ao. What is the most important thing in the world? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. It is the people, it is the people, it is the people".

■Terry Sarten (aka Tel) is a writer, musician and social worker whose office is full of essential clutter - feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz