What is common between a big house and a mind filled with ideas? Both can make your life stressful if you are not organised. Happiness resides where there is order and clarity, whether it’s your home or your mind.
Big or small, a house becomes a home when you look after it, the same way you look after your wellbeing. You keep things organised, tidy, and clutter-free, so every day feels anew. Life becomes beautiful when you have a place that shines in daylight and glows in twilight. Even visitors feel elated when they step inside your abode because it’s clean and organised. Home, as they say, is not a place but a feeling.
The same goes for your mind as well. To feel relaxed and calm, you need to put your worries to rest. That means, decluttering your mind and keeping your thoughts organised. When you do so, your radiating face will tell a story of a person who is happy and stress-free.
Now imagine living in an organised house with a decluttered mind. This is what Marie Kondo has been helping people with since her bestselling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing was released in the fall of 2010. Today, thousands of people follow her advice on the art and importance of decluttering. Her show on Netflix, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, also talks about decluttering your house and life, which has become the need of the hour for countless working citizens.
As Kondo wrote in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, “messy room equals a messy mind.” She lives by this mantra and so should we. Let’s take a closer look into the connection between your home and your mind, and the various life lessons Marie Kondo can teach us.
Find beauty in broken things
Not everything broken is ugly, especially if it’s a part of who you are. If something is broken, you don’t have to throw it away just because it looks unusable. You can repair it if it holds an emotional value. The Japanese follow the philosophy of Kintsugi, a 400-year-old concept of mending broken things with gold dust or silver. It’s a way of preserving what you value or finding beauty in not so perfect things.
Often, we focus on achieving perfection, which is nothing but a figment of our imagination. In reality, no one is perfect. Everyone has flaws, some are just more visible than others. This is what makes us humans after all. If you can accept this, you can have long-lasting relationships and a life filled with contentment.
Ask yourself what brings you joy
The KonMari Method is the philosophy Kondo uses to declutter a house. It’s not about tidying things up—as many people think—but discarding items that no longer serve any purpose. In her book, she writes, “We should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of.” And to know the former, the question you need to ask yourself is, does this bring me joy? An old sweater, a vacuum cleaner that doesn’t work, overused utensils—do they hold any value months or years after you bought them? Depending on the answer, get rid of them to decrease the clutter in your house.
Life works the same way. Make a list of all the experiences and memories that you often think about. Now, ask yourself which ones make you happy. Get rid of everything that doesn’t fit the bill and keep you from being happy.
Decluttering our home creates a peaceful environment that positively impacts our mindset, reducing stress and promoting clarity.
The KonMari Method teaches us to keep only the items that bring us joy, helping us focus on what truly matters in life.
Valuable nostalgia brings joy, while hoarding generates negative feelings and clutter. Recognizing the difference helps maintain a tidy home and mind.
Practicing mindfulness meditation helps clear our minds of intrusive thoughts, promoting inner peace and a happier environment around us.
Comments