KEYS TO LIFE TRANSFORMATION – WHY MARIE KONDO’S SYSTEM WORKS
Marie Kondo is taking the world by storm! You may have watched her Netflix series, “Tidying Up,” or perhaps you have read her books, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”, and “Spark Joy”. Marie Kondo is a Japanese organizational consultant who focuses on tidying up by going through absolutely everything in your home. The end goal is to keep only the things that truly bring you joy and to discard the rest.
Marie’s Kon-Mari Method, focuses on organizing by category instead of by room or closet. Absolutely everything from that one category is to be brought out and put into one place. For example, any and all clothing is to be gathered from all parts of the home and placed into one pile. When you do this, you will be gob-smacked with incredible awareness of what you have and how much you actually own! Each item is to be handled and considered as to whether or not it brings you joy. Then you discard or donate anything that no longer gives you joy in life. You do this whole process in order of the categories:
Clothing
Books
Papers
Komono (kitchen, bathroom, garage, and miscellaneous items)
Sentimental (pictures, memorabilia, etc.)
Through this constant decision-making process, you learn to discern what gives you joy, and what gives you joy for this moment in time. You may have loved something ten years ago but today when you handle it, it is really just a shabby garment. This process makes you in tune with the present.
TRANSFORMATION has been defined as: a marked change in form, nature, or appearance; conversion; renewal; to do an about-face; make a radical change; metamorphosis.
If you think of a butterfly, once it has transformed and gone under metamorphosis, it can no longer be a caterpillar. It is forever different and it is impossible to go back to what it was.
There are many parallels to Marie’s system of tidying up your physical environment, and how life coaching helps you to tidy up your inner environment and create the life you desire. The same principles apply in both fields.
WHAT MAKES CREATING LIFE TRANSFORMATION POSSIBLE?
1. AWARENESS
Having everything exposed and brought to light is so powerful. By going through Marie’s process of bringing everything out into one place you will discover what you have. Most people have at least twice as many possessions or clothes than they think they have because they are stored in multiple places throughout the home.
Life coaching is all about creating awareness in your life so that you are now cognisant and can make different choices. With permission, a life coach can help you to dig deep into one or more of the following areas: your personal goals, finances, fitness, relationships, career path, or deep seated beliefs. When you the reality of where you are really at in life is brought to the light, you then have the awareness to hold onto the good things you love or create something different.
2. TUNE INTO YOUR JOY
Often we do not know what we truly want or what we love in life. In Marie’s example, when you are intentional about each and everything that you have in your household, you learn to discern what gives you joy and what does not. You become good at knowing what makes you feel alive and what detracts from your life. At the end of the process you are only surrounded with things that bring you joy.
Coaching is similar. When you become more aware of and focus on doing what truly makes you happy and eliminating your energy drainers, you can be more intentional about creating the life you want. Are we aware of what we love? Do we intentionally about bring things into our lives that give us joy and happiness?
3. GRATITUDE
When our “stuff” begins to get exposed, often some of the first reactions that people have are shock, overwhelm, guilt, and shame for not dealing with things sooner. Marie encourages all of her clients to part with each item with gratitude. Even the clothes that were never worn. She encourages you to look at everything as a gift with thankfulness. There’s no need to feel guilt or shame for getting rid the shirt you never wore. The process of getting rid of it is teaching you something, which is something to be grateful for. Past items that have served their time are also to be acknowledge and released with gratitude.
In coaching we focus on gratitude and how even in messy circumstances you can still see your present as perfect and serving you in some way. We can be grateful for our past experiences and how they have made us into the people we are today. There is no judgement. We can make choices for something different in the future. It’s about gratitude, seeing how everything has served you, and moving forward.
4. LIVE IN THE PRESENT
Finding things that spark joy is all about living in the present. Marie’s process is about keeping only what is meaningful for you today. We often hold onto things that we loved and gave us joy in the past. Since then we have become different people since then, we need to reassess the role these things play in our life right now. What is their true purpose and have they already fulfilled their role for you? We may also keep many things that we “might someday use.” The truth is, if we would want to use them, we would have along time ago. Marie encourages elimination of anything that is purely past and future focused and has no relevance to your present.
The same is true in life. We may unconsciously be holding onto old goals and old dreams. We have become different people and need to be in tune with our present goals and vision for our life. We also don’t want the past or future to prevent us from living in the present. The best way to live is not being stuck in the past or hanging out on Someday Island. It is to fully live in the present to the here and now.
5. CONFIDENCE IN YOUR DECISIONS
When you go through the Kon-Mari Method of organizing your home, you will be making hundreds of decisions. After going through this process you will find that your decision making muscle is very strong and it spills out into other areas of your life. Testimonials from Marie Kondo’s clients say that they also procrastinate less and take care of things in the moment.
When your internal life is in order, you will be able to make decisions quickly because everything is crystal clear. You are completely in touch with your needs, values, boundaries, vision, and who you are, so that you can make bold, confident decisions with ease.
6. LIGHTER IN LIFE
A huge reason why both of these systems work regarding lifetime transformation, is you are getting rid of tolerations and energy suckers in your life. Too much stuff, clutter, and multiple things in chaos and disorder is stressful. You may not realize the enormity of how things drag you down until you are free of them. Having less quantity and more quality will make you feel light, efficient, and streamlined. What is weighing you down in life and sucking the energy out of you? We can all use some lightening up of our loads in life. Are you aware of the things that drain your energy and are intentionally working to eliminate them?
7. EVERYTHING HAS ITS PLACE
After tidying up, you know exactly where everything is. Keeping your home in order is easy because you now know the specific place where everything goes and it doesn’t include a miscellaneous “junk” drawer.
When your internal life is in order, there is a purpose and a place for everything. You have a place for your family and relationships, time for self-care and personal growth, for developing your career, and growing your finances. Your time is not haphazardly thrown into a junk drawer causing you to frantically look for it in the mess. In your life, everything has its place and it is a very joyful and peaceful space to live.
REAL TRANSFORMATION is genuine, lasting change. Your life, whether it is your physical or internal environment is truly transformed when you become a different person. This is where the magic happens in Marie Kondo’s system and in life coaching. You genuinely see, feel, and experience how good this new way of living is and you don’t go back. You actually learn a new way of being a different person. You have experienced metamorphosis.
