10 facts behind this human behaviour: Why act of cleaning is deeply satisfying?

1. Organizing or cleaning your space, room, or home isn’t about tidiness, but being in control of a world that feels otherwise uncontrollable. It’s about a mental state with clarity, being organized and being at peace with oneself. Psychologically, the environment we live in reflects our mental state. In a world full of everyday stress, chaos, and overwhelming uncertainties, cleaning becomes a tool, a therapy to make ourselves feel organised, meaningful and at peace. Clearly, this act can help reduce stress hormones and release endorphins, which can lift the mood.

2. Many people, even after a stressful day, have a habit of cleaning and tidying their stuff after reaching home or their living space. Psychologically, when emotions are overwhelming and stressful, our brain tries to do things which are tangible, grounding, and clarifying, which makes us feel more in control. These actions give the brain a sense of relief and stability, an escape in an otherwise uncontrollable world.

3. In the brain, activities like reorganising the bookshelf, arranging the office table, cleaning and tidying the home, folding clothes in the closets, cleaning the kitchen, washing the dishes, vacuuming the floor stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, the reward system, releasing dopamine, the happy hormone. These small acts instantly feel rewarding, light and happy. A tidy living space, home, or office gives the subconscious mind a feeling of security, stability, and organization.

4. Psychologically, on the flip side, a disorganised, messed-up space gives the mind a sense of cluttered thoughts, incoherence, ambiguity, confusion and anxiety. In an already stressful, loud world, you feel more overwhelmed, stressed, where things and people are unpredictable, uncertain and reactive. So, for a change, cleaning, organising, and rearranging makes people feel instantly happy, stable, predictable and certain.

5. Research shows that a cluttered, anxious, stressful mind raises the cortisol hormone. On the other hand, the environment we live in reflects our mental state. So, a messy, cluttered space clearly affects our mental state. The subconscious mind feels confused, lacks clarity, and is incoherent in a disorganised space. So, rearranging the room, furniture, things, clothes, books gives an instant emotional high, certainty and sense of control. The truth is, cleaning isn’t about habit, it’s about emotional regulation, choosing to change the emotional responses of stress, anxiety, chaos to stability, calmness and clarity.

6. Emotional regulation, by definition, is the ability to regulate our emotional responses from a state of uncontrolled, overwhelming situation by making behavioural changes with a healthy coping mechanism to a state of emotional grounding, stability and a sense of control. Examples of emotional regulation are deep breathing, going for a walk, journaling, light exercise and doing tasks like rearranging the books, furniture, cleaning the kitchen, doing the dishes and so on. It’s the ability to change a negative situation’s impact to a more productive and fulfilling one.

7. The strategies of emotional regulation can be summed up as :

• Recognise: Identifying the emotions like anger, anxiety, ambiguity and incoherence.

• Respond: instead of reacting negatively, changing the situation’s impact to a more productive, controlled and tangible behaviour like going for a short walk, rearranging the books on the shelf, cleaning the mess, folding clothes in the closet, cleaning or mopping the floor or any similar activity.

• Reappraisal, like changing the emotional response to more rewarding outcomes like stability, calmness, sense of control and certainty.

• Reflecting on the change of behaviour and situation gives deep satisfaction and happiness.

8. Activities like cleaning a room, realigning a corner, rearranging books, furniture, cleaning a countertop or mopping the floor are not just tidying or organising acts or behaviour but something more deeper as emotional relief or emotional satisfaction. It’s about reconnecting oneself, bringing a sense of control, stability in a world of external chaos, a stressful day or an overwhelming situation. So, for many people, organising and cleaning their home or their living space becomes a daily emotional ritual and therapeutic.

9. People who keep doing such activities, while they keep performing the acts, they also process their emotions, release the stressful thoughts, anxiety, ease the confusion, bringing more clarity and stability. In fact, by doing such activities, as the visual clutter slowly fades away by physical actions, internally, the mental clutter slowly subsides, emotions and thoughts become more under control, and thinking becomes clearer and regulated.

10. To sum it up, in a world full of uncertainties and unpredictability, organising, rearranging, and cleaning gives an instant outcome which the brain interprets as safety or being under control. When a book or a thing is placed exactly where it belongs, refolding a dress and placing it back in the closet, cleaning the otherwise dirty countertop, it’s like reconnecting with oneself, which gives the subconscious mind that instant boost or reward of comfort, safety and stability in an external world of chaos or an uncontrolled environment.

Thanks for reading.

Peace and love 🙏

High Sensitive Person ( HSP): A closer look 🧐

Hello everyone ! Have a wonderful and safe day 🙋🏻

Being one of them or maybe, we must have come across people who are overwhelmed with trivial things, or sensory subtleties like a crowded place, loud noises, a strong odour. Or people who get easily stressed out, quickly get hurt or being overly emotional. This happens because such people are born with a particular personality trait and a susceptible nervous system so considered as High Sensitive People.

6 points to understand a high sensitive person:

1. People born with this personality trait is not abnormal, nor this isn’t a disorder. They have this personality because their brain is wired differently. There are scientific reasons for this kind of behaviour. Anatomically, their brain has a prominent insula which is responsible for their heightened state of emotional and sensory sensitivities. Their brain is wired to have a lower threshold for emotional and sensory reactivity. Genetically, they are associated with the 5HTLPR gene, which is related to mental issues like depression and anxiety. This personality trait is also known as sensory processing sensitivity (SPS).


2.High sensitive person does not necessarily are introverts. A few percentages of people with this trait can behave like an extrovert. Introverts are people who like or enjoy being alone. In contrast, HSP can have deep human connections and can be comfortable with a few set of people. They are sensitive to physical, mental, emotional and sensitive subtleties.


3.High sensitive People are deep thinkers, highly emotional and intense. They are sensitive to the external sensory sensitivities like a crowded place, parties, loud noises, strong smell or any physical sensations. Such personality is gifted with highly creative talents like art, painting, music, writing or in any such creative fields.

4.People with this trait can overthink easily. Overthinking can lead to repeating the same trail of thoughts, which can quickly turn to negative thinking. Repeating the same spiralling thought pattern can also lead to anxiety, depression and stress disorder.

5.High Sensitive people are not comfortable with multi-tasking or highly competitive environment. Too many tasks at a time can make them overwhelmed and stressful. So, choosing a profession or a job, which they can enjoy doing is quite crucial.

6.If you are born with this trait, self-acceptance is crucial. Self-criticism doesn’t hold any purpose. Though it is quite challenging to go through the everyday stress of life, living with emotional and sensory subtleties, but they have the capabilities to overcome them. They can thrive and become very successful too. Adjusting the environment according to their convenience and keeping a few trusted friends and family for emotional support is hugely beneficial. As far as physical and emotional strain is concerned, adopting a healthy lifestyle, enjoying a hobby, a daily exercise routine, sleep, mindfulness, meditation can help to lead a balanced life.

Thanks for reading.

Blessings and much love to all 💐

 

 

 

 

 

Post : How strange are we ? 6 facts about “human behaviour” 🤗

Post: 7 Strange psychological facts 🤔

Post : 5 ways to improve my self image.

Self-image literally means one’s personal view of oneself in regard to physicality and personality traits. Psychologically, it’s our ‘self scheme’ our own information of different traits that we perceive about ourselves that are already stored in our memory. 

3 dimensions of self-image are :

  • My personal opinion on me
  • How do others perceive me?
  • How I want others to perceive me?

As a positive self image can be favourable, advantageous, a negative self- image can be self – hurting, low self- esteem, low self -confidence, self -critical and pessimistic. Interestingly, many people have both, more or less depending on the different traits they have. 

5 ways to improve my self image in my everyday life.

1.Self – acceptance is important. Loving and accepting the way I am, will make life less complicated en route to the ups and downs of life.

2. Building a self – image realistically based on my strengths and limitations will increase my self- regard rather than based on idealistic views as nobody is perfect in this world.

3.It is important to keep a level of self – awareness to make a continuous effort to evolve as a better person to experience peace and happiness in life. 

4.Whatever good things and success have happened in life so far, enjoy to the fullest, build up more positive energy and move ahead. 

5.Every individual is unique. Never compare your success or failure with someone else. This will lead to shallowness and insecurities. 

Chasing my material goals and success is good, but at the same time, experiencing my emotional state of self achievement and fulfilment is motivating.