“Does it Spark Joy?” is the important question Marie Kondo advises us to use when we tidy our homes. Instead of deciding whether an item is useful, has financial value, or when it was last used, she emphasises the importance of joy.
But why is joy so important when decluttering?
The importance of Spark Joy
The KonMari Method™ is designed so that through the tidying process you not only create a tidy home, but one that can help your dream life come true. The method’s focus on joy is designed to create a space that helps you live a fulfilled and happy life.
“The question of what you own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.” Marie Kondo.
Let’s say your ideal lifestyle includes spending relaxing Saturday afternoons curled up in front of the fire, hot chocolate in hand, reading a book. The decisions you make about what you keep, prioritise and how you organise your home will look different to the choices someone else might make if their time off is ideally spent hiking and wild camping.
No two ideal lifestyles are the same. Yours will be unique to you, so your home should be too. Thus, don’t make decisions based on the pressures and judgements of others, resulting in a carbon copied, impersonal home. Instead the method encourages you to make personal decisions.
The home that you create now will impact the life you have tomorrow.
What better emotion to base your future on than joy?
By decluttering with joy in mind, you’re free to focus on what genuinely makes you happy. You’re able to match what you own and your priorities with a greater vision for your life. Choose how you want to live and then choose what items make this a reality.
When you let the rest go, so the clutter will no longer block the path to your ideal lifestyle.
What are the benefits of choosing what Sparks Joy?
The decluttering process is a complicated one. It raises lots of emotions as you discover items from your past, present and imagined future. It can result in a lot of self-doubt, regret, insecurity, and fear, and the thought of decluttering can become very overwhelming.
Switch to using joy as the foundation for decluttering and feel these benefits:
- Positivity: The KonMari Method™ reminds you to focus positively on joy. Instead of looking for items to discard, which focuses on the negative, seek out the things you love the most. You stop focusing on what don’t want, and begin focusing on what you DO want. It’s a much more positive way to approach decluttering.
- Personal: By consistently asking yourself if an item sparks joy and allowing your own emotions to choose, you’ll begin to build a home that’s filled with items that truly matter to you. As you discard items, you’re also letting go of past versions and fantasy versions of yourself, getting a clearer sense of who you really are in the here and now. It’s a powerful exercise in self-reflection.
- Decision-making: The practice of evaluating joy translates to a more thoughtful approach to decision-making. The method helps develop a habit of mindfulness, leading to more deliberate and meaningful decisions in all areas of your life.
- Connection: By choosing to surround yourself with only items you feel connected to, you become deeply connected to your environment. When you let go of everything you don’t love, all that’s left is joy. You’re able to feel uplifted and inspired by your home, which creates a sense of contentment within your living space.
- Respect: Tidying your home becomes a way of showing respect to the items you have intentionally chosen to keep. When you’re surrounded by items you love, you will want to look after them and tidying becomes less of a chore.
- Gratitude: As you practice asking yourself about joy, you’ll start to feel more regular gratitude for your home and the items you choose to keep. This provides you with a peaceful place to live and thrive in.
How do I know if something Sparks Joy?
If you’re feeling utterly overwhelmed and possibly very resentful and negative about your cluttered home, considering joy may feel like a stretch. Feeling a disconnect between your life and your home makes the question “Does this Spark Joy?” even more important.
The KonMari Method™ is a personal journey. It’s a time to connect with joy, choose how you want to live your life and what you need to support you from now on. It’s not just a process of throwing out rubbish and neatly putting things away. Rather, it offers the opportunity to enjoy a full reset.
Hold each item individually and listen and feel
Marie Kondo suggests you pick up each individual item and ask yourself quietly “Does this Spark Joy?” While you hold the object in your hands you should listen carefully to your body’s response.
Marie Kondo uses the word Tokimeku which means “throb,” “pulsate,” or “beat fast”. It can be used to describe the heart’s response to inspiration or anticipation. Think of it as a heart fluttering.
Marie describes the feeling as “a little thrill, as if the cells in your body are slowly rising.”
When you hold an item, listen to how your body responds. Does your body lift, do you feel lighter? Or do you feel heavy and weighed down?
An item that sparks joy will create a feeling of excitement, happiness or contentment.
When you hold your favourite cosy jumper, or a treasured object from your childhood, you will feel an obvious sense of joy in the item itself. But what about when you hold something ordinary, like a wooden spoon?
When you are holding an everyday object, search for the joy in the purpose of these items. Something can spark joy because of what it allows you to do. Perhaps the wooden spoon helps you bake cakes with the kids on the weekends. Does this spark real joy for you? If yes, the big picture joy is clear.
Now, gather all your wooden spoons and choose which ones(s) spark the most joy. Choose your favourites and let the rest go.
How choosing joy will make a difference
Spend some in advance of your practical decluttering, thinking about your ideal lifestyle. Then use decluttering as a tool to guide you towards this, so you can create this life for yourself.
By repeatedly asking yourself about what brings joy, you’re developing a picture of your values, priorities, how you wish to spend your time and really choosing what your future looks like.
You get to create a home that has your heart right at the centre. This is why choosing joy is so important when you declutter.