Visual Complexity
Minimalism, clearing space, and decluttering are always in vogue, and there?s good reasons for that. Clearing away and decluttering your space can help eliminate stress.
There have been many studies that show that?visual complexity has an effect on our feelings.
What?s visual complexity? It?s how ?busy? a space looks and what your tolerance for clutter is. We react to?sensory stimulation.?Sensory information comes from sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Any of our five senses can be over stimulated.
The important thing to understand in your home is your stimulation threshold. That means how much is too much or not enough.?Reaching a healthy balance is important.
We?re limited to the amount of information we can process.?We might experience?overload?in a cluttered space.?This overload causes?stress.
Under stimulation can cause anxiety.?We all have different thresholds. The tricky part is knowing what your threshold is.
For example, if you?ve been living in an environment with high stimulation, then you may have adapted and enjoy the arousing and pleasurable environment.?It would take a lot to overstimulate you. Someone else in the same environment who is used to calmer surroundings would most likely feel stressed.
The following graphics illustrate the results.
Over Stimulation / Stress
Under-stimulation/Anxiety
Balance
Visual Complexity
If we?re?overstimulated in our workplace, we will probably?relax better?in a home that has?less visual complexity.? If our career has us in a very sterile environment, we may look for more complexity to offer intellectual and spiritual stimulation.
People with attention deficit disorders will not have the same threshold as an individual who requires less time to understand and retain information.? There is also research and theory that an?effortless attention can restore the capacity to pay attention.? The best example of this would be to draw ourselves to nature in our surroundings.
If you want to determine if you have a high threshold for visual complexity, look at the following homes.? Which one are you drawn to?
The first has a good deal of visual stimulation.? The second blends with the environment and would offer less visual stimulation.
Many elements add visual stimulation to space.???Stuff? is one of our bigger problems,?kids toys, mom?s books, dad?s video games, these all add to visual complexity when left out.? Furniture, accessories, window treatments and wall hangings, as well as lighting, can add to the visual complexity.
Who?s up for clearing some clutter?
Too much stuff? Let?s lighten the load together!
Just imagine ? less clutter in your life. Peaceful, stress free surroundings. If you can use more of that in your life, Join Us! We have a? group going right now April 13th – May 3rd, but you can also do this as a DIY.
We?ll have fun, support and action steps to clear the clutter. We?ll focus on:
*Introspection
*Goal Setting
*Action Steps
*Accountability
*Fun, Lessons and Laughs
*Peer Support
*Results
Through this guided program, you?ll participate your way. You?ll set your own goals, and with group support will hold yourself accountable for taking action.
You?ll receive daily inspiration, focus and plenty of support in our ?secret? Facebook group.
Now that we have looked at the importance of balance, stay tuned for solutions in achieving visual balance by eliminating clutter in our Clutter Clean Out Part 2 blog.
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