SETH WENIG/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Reading through the popular book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo, the book is focused on the aspects of our lives and how it changes as we continue to declutter material items that we have long hoarded across multiple decades. We find that by confronting our past selves and material items that we’ve held, we discover (or rediscover) things that have defined us or have had some emotional attachment to. Part of the decluttering process involves categorising items and isolating them to one area. One by one in silence you are to pick each item up and feel the energy (or emotion) returned from each item. Then you are to ask yourself as you hold it:
Does it spark joy?
Does this item that you once loved still bring you joy? Will it still continue to bring you joy ? Will you still continue to wear it even if it’s not in fashion or no longer fits you because you’ve grown out of it or its become too big? If not, discard it, it’s lived it’s life, it’s served its purpose or it’s no longer for you. This was a simple principle to apply, when dealing with things that have no sentimental value such as clothes, books and miscellaneous items. Photos and gifts are also mentioned in this book, and more often than not the sentimental items are usually the ones that are the hardest to discard, whether it be from a family member or a past lover. The nature of gifts have served their purposes from when they are received, because it was the notion of receiving a gift from the person that gave it to you that acted as the sentiment, not the gift itself. Photos often clutter albums, when we really only need to have 5 photos per event to really capture the moment.
Truly precious moments will not vanish even if you discard the items associated with it.
And after all, the realisations will come when the difficulty of discarding such things are not stemmed from the things that didn’t spark joy, but the ones that you know are no longer for you that continue to spark joy indefinitely….
