Let's Tidy Up

This month’s theme at the Granada Hills Center for Spiritual Living is “Prosperity, Abundance, Wealth.” Living in my home for 43 years, raising a family, being a wife and then a mother, and then living alone for the past 10 years, I see the material evidence, certainly, of abundance.

An abundance of stuff. I’ve decluttered at different intervals, but there’s still a lot of stuff in the house...stuff I don’t really use or need.

I recently embarked on another decluttering mission, and ended up with 12 boxes of clothes, shoes, purses, books, a straw hat and a wedding dress waiting for a truck for the take away.

I came across a little graphic novel, “The Life-changing Manga of Tidying Up, A Magical Story,” by Marie Kondo. The heroine, 29-year-old Chiaki, is living in the midst of immense clutter. She signs up for a tidying lesson with Konmari, who promises tidying up will change Chiaki’s life and fill it with joy.

Chiaki needs first to visualize her ideal lifestyle and how tidying up can dramatically change her life. Konmari says material things need to be functional, informational, emotional, or possess rarity, but most important...they must spark joy. Take each item in hand and ask: Does it spark joy when I touch it? Is this something that’s going to make me happy?

The novel proceeds with various tips:  Fold clothes rather than hang, and fold with gratitude for the way they protect you. Unread, neglected books that don’t bring joy are discarded. Store so things are easily accessible.

Sentimental items are last. The principle here:  Your life now is more important than memories of the past. What really matters is not the past but the person you have now become, thanks to those past experiences.  Space can now be used NOT for the person you once were, but for your future self.

Once the home is filled with only things that spark joy, it becomes a joyful place. Real life begins. Konmari says if people are unable to discard things, they are either attached to the past or afraid of the future. So tidying up can set ourselves free.

By clearly identifying our own joy point, she says, we can gain confidence and trust in our own future.  Space opens up for positive things to happen out of the blue, to have different experiences and more.

So I realized: 12 boxes is not enough. There is a whole lot of remaining stuff that doesn’t spark joy, that’s attached to the past, and can be discarded. Then I have the space, the mindset, the clarity,   and confidence for Spirit, as Ernest Holmes says, to manifest an abundance of whatever I need to make my life NOW happy, opulent, and joyful.

And so it is.