A few months ago, our patient Bibi R. gave me a gift. It was a copy of Spark Joy – The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. It’s a deceptively small book that is basically a discussion of how your home is your sanctuary and when it is messy or unorganized or full of stuff, it becomes a part of your stress.
Now I have to tell you, I am in the “that might be useful some day” camp. And the “I love that book” camp. And the “that is an essential reference volume” camp. And “those are the special screws for (name the household item)” camp.
So, it came as quite a shock to read about how much I might possibly expect to remove from my abode as part of a sanctuary re-establishment! The author even suggested that keeping papers was completely unnecessary! (But mine are so ORGANIZED!! I exclaim mentally!).
And how is one to choose what to keep? Simple. By whether or not they Spark Joy.
Now, strangely, I habitually donate what I don’t wear or what doesn’t fit or what has gone out of style. I color organize my closet like a rainbow of loveliness. I am kind to my socks (um, you’ll have to read about that in the book). But I have some secret spaces where things accumulate. Make no mistake. So I have slowly started tackling areas where I can clearly use some tidying. And I have found so many of the ideas in this book useful, not just to clean house, but to clean up my attitude towards things, that I am quite happy to say that I bought the workbook (Spark Joy – An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up) and I am starting to attack my house with my Joy-discriminator beam!
I have learned that tidying is the act of confronting myself and that cleaning is the act of confronting nature (luckily Aspen Clean is confronting nature for me – I have better things to do!)
I have learned to choose with joy!
I have let “it might come in handy” become taboo!
I have learned to live with temporary clutter of the sanctuary!
I have learned how to fill my home with joy!
This is the essence of spring cleaning – to clear away what is no longer needed and freshen the energy in your home.
So, if you’re thinking about doing some Spring Cleaning, consider how much could get tidied up by putting into to practice these neat little volumes. Of Joy.
PS. I kept the books ;)