Spark Joy

Shooting star tree (Clerodendrum quadriloculare)

Every new year I begin with an announcement: This year, I am going to get organized! Usually, I will read a book or two to get me motivated, and start cleaning the kitchen. Last year I laid out a plan and shared it with you here on Daily Divertissements. In case you missed them, my previous posts on organization can be found HERE, or by clicking on the "organization" label on the right. These include my experiment with the ten item wardrobe, as well as my series from last January. Hint: if you start at the bottom of the page and work your way up, you will see them in chronological order.

The plan I put together is a good one. When implemented, it really works. The trouble is, usually after awhile, life happens, and the whole routine is forgotten. Papers start to pile up, clutter starts to accumulate, and before I know it, I'm right back where I started. So I thought it might be a good time to revisit the ideas I wrote about, evaluate the process, and get back on track.

Meanwhile, I am reading two books to get me going: David Allen's best seller Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, and Marie Kondo's book Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up. I have read David Allen's book before; I am going through it now as a refresher course in his method, which I have applied, to some extent, in my own strategy for organizing my life. The other book is the second one written by the Japanese decluttering guru -- a continuation, if you will, of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. While some of her ideas are a little unusual, the main concept she promotes is intriguing. Marie teaches that we should only keep those things which "spark joy" in our lives. And that goes for everything -- clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous stuff, and sentimental items. Why keep them, if they don't bring us joy?

So with that in mind, I will set to work. I will look at my things with new eyes. As I work my way through my belongings, I am going to keep only that which I truly love. In other words, I will only keep those things that spark joy!

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, 

or believe to be beautiful. 

William Morris