Can We Marie Kondo Our Lives?

The other day I finally got around to watching the Marie Kondo show on Netflix, the tidying expert from Japan who has taken the world by storm. If you have been living under a rock, Marie released a best-selling book "The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up" which evolved into her very own show, "Tidying Up With Marie Kondo".

I wasn't that impressed to be honest, but what did resonate with me is the concept of keeping things that spark joy. I thought, yes that IS a good idea, how can we look at things that are in our lives with more gratitude. It's almost a practice of thanks to our stuff, understanding why something brings joy and what impact that has on your life.

Marie's theory is based around only keeping things that spark joy, so you can easily decide whether to throw something out or not, hence leading to less clutter, mess and stress! I was thinking about how we can apply this process to our lives, doing a stocktake of what brings us joy and what doesn't. How can we weed out the things that aren't making us happy and aren't bringing us anything positive?

I'm sure you do things just because, well you do them. And you say yes to things even though they don't light you up. Whether it's social engagements or kid's play dates, when someone puts you on the spot often we feel obligated to say yes, even when everything in our bodies are saying no. These obligations are what zaps us of energy, they're not bringing us joy.

Sure, sometimes you do have to do things. But we could all use the word "no" a little more often, especially when the thing we are being asked to do does not align with our values.

What do you really enjoy, what brings you energy, what lights you up?

How can you do more of this and say NO more often?

Love to hear from you about your Marie Kondo experiments! Comment below.