Marie Kondo is known as an organizational expert. She is also my spirit animal. She is the cutest little Japanese woman with a heart of gold. When I watch her show on Netflix I am so impressed at her calm presence while she enters homes in need of dire need of attention in the departments of cleaning and organizing. What I also love about her is her simple ways of detoxing the homes of our past selves. She focuses on who you are becoming instead of who you are in the past.
I can tell you if I entered one of these messy homes on the show my initial response would be, “Holy shit! Get a bucket, a shovel, and industrial garbage can!” But Marie, she holds no judgment. She gets down on her hands and knees and offers a blessing to the home before she starts her magic of working with her clients to help give them a fresh start with her advice and skills.
Her calm presence has touched millions of people through her show and the following books if you want to check them out:
Life-Changing Habit of Tidying Up:
Spark Joy:
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She stresses to only keep objects in your home that spark joy or are functional. A true leader in concepts of essentialism or minimalism. So what does she mean by this quote?
Your home should reflect who you are becoming, the person you want to be.
Take a moment at home and take a look around you. Would you say your home reflects who you want to become?
For example, if you want to start dating and you notice you sleep on a bare mattress on the floor and you keep kitchen knives are on your coffee table this might be a sign that it’s time to put those knives in the kitchen and maybe buy a bed. Unless you are on some “Murder Cosplay” dating app…then, by all means, carry on. 😜
–If the person you want to become is an author, maybe this means adding books to a bookshelf. Having notepads scattered around for ideas and positive quotes on the walls.
–If you want to become a manager, maybe this means getting papers organized and having more professional attire in your closet.
All it takes is some time to clean up, let go of items from your past, and put your imagination to work to think of small changes you can make. Break out a piece of paper and write down your first thoughts as you imagine this scenario…
Imagine the future self you want to become coming home:
- As you walk in the door, what do you see?
- What do you smell?
- What do you feel below your feet? What’s the first thing you do when you walk in the door?
- Where do you put your bag down?
- What does that bag look like and what’s in it?
- Who are you? (A married woman, a dad, an entrepreneur, a Google executive, etc.)
Feel free to expand on this exercise and continue to imagine yourself in this different space. Then, use these answers as your action plan to adjust your current space to become a reflection of your future self.
It can also be therapeutic to let go of aspects of your past self that you no longer relate with. Keep the items that spark joy and let go of the others that bring about negative memories or feelings.
Once you start to develop your space into what you want, I guarantee you’ll feel better and inspired to start taking the remaining steps needed to make your future a reality.
Don’t wait, your future self is waiting for you! You are becoming.
