Kira Book Review: The life changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo
Style speaks in many ways. Its concept roots in the notion of how our choices reflect the character within. It can be our behaviours, things that we are passionate about, our choice of garments we wear, food we consume, and most of all, the environment we create for ourselves, which is a display of what we like to associate ourselves with.
Marie Kondo, the author of the New York Times best seller book “The life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing”, has created the KonMari Method, a simple yet extremely effective-everyone can do it method that Kondo believes will not only de-clutters and beautify home space, it can redirect the power of focus attention to personal life necessary for positive change.
When it comes to the things I own, the clothes I wear, the house I live in, and the people in my life, when it comes to my environment as a whole, … I am confident and extremely grateful to be surrounded by what I love, by things and people that are, each and everyone, special, precious, and exceedingly dear to me. The things and people that bring me joy support me.
Despite a three-month client waiting list, Kondo has zero repeating clients. She credits the success of her method to one essential: Tidy up in one shot to dramatically change the mind-set, thus changing the way of thinking, and changing the behaviour. Kondo believes tidying brings visible results. Tidying never lies. Kondo states that if you use the right method and concentrate efforts on eliminating clutter thoroughly and completely within a short span of time, you will see instant results that will empower you to keep your space in order ever after.
Although Kondo’s book is self-help in nature, it is a delightful, sometimes retrospective memoir of her own trial experiments in the art of home organizing. Filled with detailed, step-by step – just follow it rules, it motivates readers to get up and start picking up every pen they own and lay it on the floor and start de-cluttering.
I want to help others… to see how much support they receive from the space they live in and the things that surround them. This is why I spend my time visiting people’s homes and instructing them in how to tidy.
Words of wisdom from Marie Kondo:
- A dramatic reorganization of the home causes correspondingly dramatic changes in lifestyle and perspective. It is life transforming.
- Surround yourself with only the things you love.
- When you put your house in order, you put your affairs and your past in order, too.
- People cannot change their habits without first changing their way of thinking.
- Everyone needs a sanctuary.
