Marie Kondo has written a best seller that is taking the world by storm. Her book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” has made her a household name. She also now teaches others how to teach her methods through her certification programs. The chance of her having such unprecedented and highly unusual success with the topic of tidying up is mind boggling. What makes her worldly success even more mind boggling is that she doesn’t speak English well enough and uses a translator to communicate with everyone. Her mother tongue is Japanese and only 1.92% of the world population speak Japanese. And second of all, her subject matter, at first glance, seems obvious to the point of being trite. Keeping your room clean was what every mother taught their child. It wasn’t rocket science. Anyone can do it. It wasn’t unusual. It was a daily practice, for goodness sake. Netflix has given her her own show and people are eating her up.
What Marie Kondo has done is show us just how to do our daily practice of keeping our rooms of our homes clean with conscious intent and with a feeling of gratitude, joy and honor for things seen and unseen. Did our mothers teach us that? Not likely. We were taught that cleaning was a chore. We wanted to get them done as soon as possible because they weren’t fun. Marie Kondo has taken a chore and made it a renewal of our spirit. The unprecedented success of her technique, I think, reflects our times of what direction people are wanting to go toward.
As a society we are waking up to accepting things never before accepted, like publicly honoring our ‘things’ as if our ‘things’ feel us honoring them. This elevates the process of tidying up to new heights. And why shouldn’t it? Even rocks have a conscious, according to the oldest religion, Animism. Everything effects everything. If our intent is to be mindful and grateful within our environment for things used and things being discarded, then our intentions will have more influence on the structure of our lives than ever before. The simple act of cleaning up is now the simple act of self-empowerment.
Some people might laugh at the whole idea of praying to the house for help in tidying up, or fidget and feel uncomfortable at the idea of tapping the books to wake them up, or even saying a prayer of appreciation when placing clothes in the give away pile and praying they continue on to clothe someone who really needs that article of clothing. Yet, people are trying this and some are doing this live on camera for the whole world to see. They might nervously giggle because they are a bit uncomfortable and feel embarrassed, yet ultimately they get comfortable with doing it and surprisingly have a look of peace and calm on their faces afterwards.
We, as a people, could use more of these humbling moments of gratitude for having all of our things that have served us. The bowing of one’s head for a brief moment of silent prayer can be so refreshing for so many. Not only can our consumer based society use this slice of humble pie, it can bring us together with this shared understanding. The big plus is that it can clear the mind and with a clear mind, everything is possible.
As you probably have heard—your outer state of being reflects your inner state of being. If your home environment is a mess then usually your state of mind will be in scrambles. When you clean up your room, you are actually cleaning up your act. Where there is a void, the universe likes to refill it with something more appropriate for you. When you don’t have the debris to rummage through then your inner vision can become sharper and you attract what is better for you. This way of being is so important, especially now in 2019.
Our world seems to spin faster on many levels and everyone is more busy now than even five years ago. Getting our routine streamlined is getting to be more and more essential if we want to be as productive as we can. This is why the Konmari Method is so timely and relevant. This method is helping people around the world to streamline never ending daily tasks, saving us time, and helping us be more efficient with not only our time but also with our minds.
The ability to create the world we really want is getting stronger and faster with each passing day. Getting our minds empty and focused will help us create want we want faster than imagined. Why waste time and mental energy trying to find something somewhere at the bottom of a heap or maybe in the back of a drawer when really time is of the essence now? Our lives are all that we have and we are responsible for them. As we grow in capabilities to become masters in manifesting what we want, that’s when the real joy blossoms. Staring with manifesting small things is exciting but when we start to manifest larger things, that’s when it gets thrilling.
So, watch Marie Kondo’s Netflix program. Learn her method of how to tidy up your drawers and your home combined with a small conscious intent of showing gratitude. Jump into your life’s own natural flow of simplistic and unencumbered way of being and watch the manifesting happen!
What are your thoughts about the KonMari Method?
How wonderful! Thanks!