Not reading the last page of a new book first- isn't listed as one of my 2015 New Year resolutions, so I know how the story ends....or in this case, begins.
According to my new decluttering Guru, this book will change my tidying tendencies..forever!
Some of the testimonies listed are as follows:
"After your course, I quit my job and launched my own business doing something I had dreamed of doing ever since I was a child."
Wow, she decluttered her home...and her head at the same time.
"Your course taught me to see what I really need and what I don't. So I got a divorce. Now I feel much happier."
Hm..nothing like throwing the baby (daddy) out with the bathwater. Wonder if I'll be looking at Homeless Cat any differently...
"I finally succeeded in losing ten pounds"
I'm not sure how that could happen - but....OK!
My Japanese sista tells me that tidying my house will have positive affects in all areas of my life, including work and family - with "unexpected results." (o0h-la-la)
I read a good chunk of the book until it was time for me to go to work.
I felt the need to tidy.
I tidied the office supplies.
I tidied the store binder.
I put fresh contact paper on the bulletin board and tidied the tacts.
I tidied.
Maybe this is an example of the "unexpected results" of which she speaks.
I'll just start to tidy, where ever I am.
Visions of myself in the doctors's office - tiding the magazines and the tongue depressors.
Even now sitting in this coffee shop I have a strong desire to tidy. There's a man sitting across from me who looks like he could use some help.....
But, better not get carried away in the magic of it all. I'm new to this. I should finish the book first...
Her approach contradicts conventional wisdom when it comes to decluttering and organizing. She refers to storage experts as "hoarders."
We don't need to store (hoard) we need to "discard."
There's a physical aspect to her approach. She wants her readers and clients to touch the items- to examine what you own.
Selection criterion: Does it spark joy? That is the question..
She states that the process can take up to six months.
Well I guess so, if you are picking up every item and talking to it.
Like the conversation I had with these little shoes:
"Little pink shoes..you spark joy in me! I love to see your feminine shape ready and waiting in my closet. Um..we need to talk. We're just not a fit. It's not shoe, it's me! When we go stepp'n out - it never ends well. You're just a little constricting. I need my...space. A little wiggle room, please. You may have exaggerated your size. Are you sure you are really a 6 1/2? Because, you feel a little more like a 5. I'm going to have to let you go..set you free! Send you out to find your true soulmate! (so to speak..)
Well, that wasn't so hard! One item down! Just 259385038 more to go..
I tend to choose books with the hope that they will inspire me. Let's face it. Our surroundings affect us. Beauty and flow, matter. I'm not sure if I buy into all of her tiding philosophies but if "cutter symbolizes unfinished business and impedes forward progress" I'm going to have a few more conversations...with my "stuff."
(And the word tidy is now officially in my vocabulary.)
After breaking up with a few more of my items, I took a different kind of break to check my email.
My mom and I seem to be on the same wavelength, only she's talking about decluttering...forever.
Her email is a request for what she would like done with her things. Who should get what, and why.
I send a one-line email as a reply.
"I don't want you to die."
But, I get it. She's preparing. Even with my own decluttering efforts, the thought crosses my mind that I don't really want my children to have a lot of "stuff" to deal with when my time comes. I'd like them to find only the things that "sparked joy" in me ~ to come across things that mattered to me. Not a lot of ridiculous clutter.
I admire my mom for being proactive. She's taking charge and keeping up with the details of her life-and her death. I haven't always been like that- but then I had a dream that both haunts and speaks to me until this day.
In the dream:
I was a young mom of three. For some reason I was alone. I was in charge of three little people. Each night a lightbulb would go out. I'd say to myself "I'm so busy, so tired...I'll get to that later" Another night, another light out- until one night we sat there in total darkness. So dark, we couldn't see each others faces. My life was so undone and I was so unorganized I couldn't find a candle, or a match or even a flashlight. And, it was entirely my fault.
That dream changed the way I operated. Being afraid of the dark had a new and profound meaning. I stopped putting things off. I did my part to keep the darkness away.
My mom's a believer. She believes heaven awaits her -and if heaven is the next step:
" O Death, where is your victory? O Grave where is your sting?"~ 1 Corinthians 15:55
"Out of the darkness, and into his marvelous light"~ 1 Peter 2:9
I often have dreams about things that are current with what's going on in my life. When Aidan sees a plane in the sky, he does his "please please please!" thing..and I say "would you like to take a plane ride!? So, I've been trying to figure something out. A few months ago, I had this dream:
In the dream:
We are about to board. It's all so exciting! Big, ear to ear smiles all around. Aidan takes the window seat. (of course:) We buckle up! Ready for take off. Giddy with laughter! Then the scene changes. Aidan and I are in a place so beautiful we can't stop talking about what we are seeing! That's when I realize..Aidan has speech. I say "Aidan! Your talking! He nonchalantly says "yeah..I know" We burst into laughter. We're taking it all in...everything is just so beautiful! I'm wondering how we got there? The last thing I remember is taking off in the plane. It must have crashed. "Aidan, we're in heaven! More laughter! We were not worried about a thing. Not worried about the people we left behind..just somehow knowing they'd be there soon. We'd check things out for them first:)
Well, I believe Marie Kondo's book on decluttering and organizing really has had some "unexpected result." It's tidied up some thoughts in my life. I think I'll keep her book..because it "sparks joy' in me:)
I give it two (clean) thumbs up!
