Chapter 2 How to fill your home with joy

I am listening to this week’s chapter of Marie Kondo book, Spark joy: An illustrated master class on the art of organizing and tidying up, on the Overdrive app from my local library! It's a fun and different way to access the material at NO COST!

Chapter 2: How to fill your home with joy

Kondo states that discarding items will not bring joy. Instead, keeping things that spark joy will create a home that is filled with joy.

Imagine your perfect lifestyle from a single photograph

Find an image that represents your ideal home. Gather a variety of resources, like books and magazines, and go through them in one fell swoop. Blast thought them and determine your preferences. Hone in on themes and consider them as you work.

Keep items in the gray zone with confidence

The gray zone is defined as a place for items that you are not sure about. Some methods advocate keeping items in the gray zone for some time period, then making a decision on some predetermined date. Kondo argues the exact opposite! Kondo states that the grey zone method is closely linked with guilt. Instead, Kondo argues that there are two options: keep or discard. If you can't discard something, then keep and treasure it. No guilt needed!

A joy filled home is like your own personal art museum

Keeping items that only spark joy can elevate your home, creating your own personal art museum. Even daily items, such as dishes, can rise to art status.

Add color to your life

Color can spark joy. There are lots of ways find and keep things that spark joy ... and add color! For example, an easy way to incorporate color is with a plant or flowers.

Light and color

The chicken pictured here was given to me by Gloria King. It sparks joy in my heart! it is a nice cool color that blends well with my minimalist aesthetic. The chicken now lives in my office and is always noticed by visitors.

How to make the most of "useless" things that still spark joy

You know best what sparks joy in your heart. Display the items so you can use and enjoy them!

Make your own personal power spot

Create a personal space that belongs only to you. This is your power spot. It can be a room, desk, even a cork board. Size and space are not important. What is important is that you can easily access and enjoy the items!

Please join me next week for chapter 3, everything you need to know about storing joyfully.

See you next week,

GP

Source: Kondo, M. (2016). Spark joy: An illustrated master class on the art of organizing and tidying up. New York, NY: Ten Speed Press.

Chapter 1 Honing your sensitivity to joy

As you know, I am a fan of the Marie Kondo book, The life-changing magic of tidying up: The Japanese art of decluttering and organizing.

Good news! A second book is a available. The title is Spark joy: An illustrated master class on the art of organizing and tidying up. Kondo discusses the differences between tidying and cleaning. It is noted that the term cleaning refers to removing dust and dirt, that is, products generated by nature. The term tidying refers to confronting objects, that is, the things in your home.

We are going to go through the book chapter by chapter. Chapter 1 is titled Honing your sensitivity to joy.

The term "spark joy" refers to the feeling of happiness felt when handling an object. Kondo suggests honing in on emotion by creating a pile of similar objects, giving yourself three minutes, and choosing the top-three things that spark joy.

Kondo also notes that thinking that some object might come in handy some day is prohibited. Again, refer to the expression "spark joy." If it doesn't spark joy, Kondo suggests discarding.

Please join me on a journey though the book. Next week we'll cover chapter 2, how to fill your home with joy.

See you next week,

GP

Source: Kondo, M. (2016). Spark joy: An illustrated master class on the art of organizing and tidying up. New York, NY: Ten Speed Press