Garbage, Junk, Shit, Cutter = Disorder/ Dysfunction

[Epiphany_Inspired]

I just finished the audio book: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo....her clients have found life-purpose, peace, joy, direction, mental clarity, overcoming issues and blocks, etc after completing the process of putting their houses in order, with no relapses to a cluttered home (or mind, lol...) yet, ever!

I did a post way back about my minimalism vs consumption, and loved the post and video on the forum Via Negativa by @Siim Land . I believe Leo's response was to elevate the mind first.. which may work for some...but my collections of clothes, records, books, etc are pretty extreme....This book says the opposite, home disorder is a hidden tactic to distract the mind (Likely why I visually *need* some clutter)... some of the methods in Via Negativa also contradict this Japanese method (such as packing "maybe keep" items away for a bit). The main lesson from Marie Kondo is to pick up EVERY item in your home, in one streak (as long as it takes with your available time) and ask "does this spark joy"? I can't believe it...I've been struggling to chip away at my collections of crap for years....and this one simple question has allowed me to discard way more things, super easily. I wish I knew this years ago! There is an order to the items to go through, starting with clothing, and ending with sentimental things like photos (check the book)...and only after all of this, you find a special "home" for everything. I love how much respect she has for the objects that we keep, their energy, how to treat them, give them time off, etc it's beautiful... Amazing concept! Hope this helps any other clutter junkies out there too!

Edited May 16, 2017 by Epiphany_Inspired

[Sevi]

Excellent share@Epiphany_Inspired thank you very much! Yeah, I know the book, it helped me a lot too... years ago when I did my first de-cluttering, I went through a grief of couple of weeks for just throwing away one of my pyjamas, that was educative for me to see the attachment habits of mine.

I've watched Leo's authentic self vid yesterday, what you say is really connecting to that: by staying so attached to the past by any means, like freezing it in our places we're inhibiting ourselves to be fully alive and one with the present moment, which is ever only is... by staying in the past we are not allowing ourselves to be alive and live the life, I think it's really fear based attitude of us especially as women, even to call ourselves 'emotional' is the same example for clutter: Joe Dispenza explains it so well. Being emotional is a choice to stay connected to the past he says, I see huge relevance in these two concepts, as a female..

Edited May 16, 2017 by Sevi

[Epiphany_Inspired]

@Sevi That's awesome! Good for you! It was a weird synchronicity, I picked the book at the library after just learning about Rahu and Ketu....the snakes and ladders like head and tail of the dragon of the universe....apparently in order to feast on the abundance of the universe (dragon head), one must release (dragon butt/ crap) physical and mental things, to allow in the new....it made sense....and I have been working on the mental/ emotional release...while lacking in the physical letting go....the book was perfect...I hadn't heard of Joe Dispenza, but what he says also makes total sense, thanks!

[Sevi]

4 hours ago, Epiphany_Inspired said:

It was a weird synchronicity,

 tell me about it! It's almost like my  second nature

4 hours ago, Epiphany_Inspired said:

Rahu and Ketu....the snakes and ladders like head and tail of the dragon of the universe....apparently in order to feast on the abundance of the universe (dragon head), one must release (dragon butt/ crap) physical and mental things, to allow in the new....it made sense

This sounds quite interesting though, I'm gonna look for it.. I heard of a similar symbolism about the dragon's head and butt, but not under this title.. 

[Siim Land]

@Epiphany_Inspired That's so true! Thanks for sharing and the mention.

The book you mentioned is amazing. A ton of insight into the lifestyle and psychology of minimalism. In my opinion, the greatest thing people need to realize is that they're not attached to the particular item but to the emotion or memory. Like, they keep old clothes just because they're reminded of a past event or who they used to be. It's natural and sentimental, but we have to understand that the item itself isn't where the good feeling we get resides - it's in our consciousness and it will stay there as long as we won't forget about it. 

[Epiphany_Inspired]

@Siim Land Yeah, what you said about memory attachment is so true!... memory attachment was 1/2 my problem, the other 1/2 was "potentially useful someday"....when I would go through things to discard, in the past, both of these blocks would get in the way, constantly. With the possibly useful things, my mind got too involved: "how much would it cost to replace this_____if I need to", "I am likely to need these 3 spare _______ my current one could rust/ break/ etc... someday", "this is valuable", etc... and when I came across things associated with a memory, I would not part with them for fear of loosing that connection....what you said is right, it's in our consciousness, not the object...plus, we now know memory is cellular too.... my logic was both bullshit, and irrelevant, because the past is for learning from more than just remembering ...lol....