I just finished reading a really inspiring book – the life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo. http://tidyingup.com/. I am a little late to the party as this book is already a New York Times bestseller and has sold 3 million+ copies. Better late than never – if you haven’t already gotten your hands on a copy, I highly recommend you check this book out – it will start a revolution in your home, your heart and your soul.
Her method is simple: “Start by discarding. Then organize your space thoroughly, completely, in one go.” The discarding bit takes time but feels amazing. I have already gone through all my clothes and books and tackled the basement – yikes. I have loaded the car up several times for trips to my local Goodwill donation site, sold stuff on Craigslist and posted things for people to pick up for free. It has all thankfully left the property and as a result I feel so much lighter – happier really to not have that stuff weighing me down.
If it doesn’t spark joy, let it go, get rid of it – donate it, recycle it, sell it, trash it. Let it go, plain and simple. This is one of the mantras I repeat for the people I work with – only surround yourself with things you love, it makes for a happier life.
Marie Kondo recommends a category-by-category system for clearing clutter. The sequence she recommends is this: clothes first, then books, papers, komono (miscellany) and lastly mementos. If we were to start with mementos it would be easy for us to get lost in a rabbit-hole of memories and nostalgia and harder to part with the things we don’t need. The beauty of this sequence is by starting with clothes and books we gradually grow bolder and develop confidence in discerning what we can truly live without.
Even those of us like myself who live minimally in small houses have areas of excess that we can get rid of. And she says, if you are a storage expert, you are a hoarder. “Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved.”
I encourage you to start waging a quiet, loving discarding revolution in your home – it takes courage because we have to come face to face with all our stuff. And all of our stuff has a vibration and is attached to us energetically. When we look at it, touch it or hold it, it may remind us of a time in our life, an event, a choice we made. Whatever the case, that was then, this is now. It’s time to free ourselves from the attachment to these things.
“When we really delve into the reasons for why we can’t let something go, there are only two: an attachment to the past or fear of the future.”
Trust me, once you start the tidying/discarding revolution in your home, you will feel the difference and you will begin to build momentum. Ride that wave because you will start to feel lighter, freer and happier the more you detach and realize that you don’t really need to surround yourself with all that stuff. Just keep the things that you love, that lift your spirit and make you feel happy and alive.