Photo Credit: Lucy and Claudia
[Starting with Marie Kondo but not staying there, so for those not a fan, hang with me a few minutes.]
Marie Kondo is a petite and lovely Japanese decluttering guru. Her book and Netflix TV show Tidying Up are based on her KonMarie method of organizing one’s home. Such that joy is sparked. She ascribes to the Shinto belief that cleanliness is essential to a good life. In Kondo’s thinking, disposing of everything in your home that doesn’t spark joy brings an order and spiritual calm you wouldn’t have otherwise.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing – Marie Kondo
YouTube Video – 10 Amazing Tips for Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (the KonMarie Method)
Shintoism: How It Influenced the Lives of the Japanese – Saki Yoshida
The Hidden Religious Promise Behind Marie Kondo’s Decluttering ‘Magic’ – Karen Swallow Prior
Because of the popularity of the KonMarie decluttering method (and other similar approaches), homes (in the West anyway) have less stuff and more open spaces. These are great days to shop in thrift stores because they are full of higher end clothing, antiques, memorabilia, and the nearly new impulse buys of the minimizing upper middle class.
This decluttering can be a good thing because it is visually refreshing and potentially allows for a greater enjoyment of the stuff we do have in our home. The problem comes when we indiscriminately toss items just because they don’t spark joy (joy being a tall order coming from material things). It sets in motion a wider worldview on what is disposable in life. What should be cut out of our lives (possessions) or cut off from our lives (people)?
In this culture of trending decluttering and downsizing, we must beware that the freedom we feel in letting go of things can transfer into an ease in letting go of people. Intentionally, ruthlessly letting go of people…maybe without even being aware we’ve changed along with our homes.
– Cutting off family and friends in the insatiable pursuit of joy –
There are always consequences in decluttering, disposing, letting go …and for sure in cutting off relationships with people.
Photo Credit: Haiku Deck
You might say that some people don’t deserve further access to your life – they are complicated or difficult (even abusive). [I am all for getting help and setting boundaries when necessary…especially in the face of abuse.] It’s the cutting off of relationships that feels like it alters who we are as people, set in families, in particular.
My older brother, Robert, experienced enormous loss in his life. Because of all the losses and setbacks, he developed thick skin and a tough heart. He was hard on all of us who loved him. Brutally hard sometimes. There were plenty of occasions I could have walked away from him and not looked back. Fortunately, we had a mom who loved us all well, even when her oldest treated her as he treated us. Also, fortunately, I had two friends who kept counseling me to look beyond the contentiousness and mean words to what was going on inside him. “Hurt people hurt people” they would tell me. I finally came to the place where I didn’t react when he tried to push emotional buttons that would always end in sibling fights and walk-outs. My two younger brothers and I determined together not to get baited and to try to lean in, in love. It wasn’t long at all until he changed – almost as if he woke out of a long and terrible dream. He remembered he loved us and that we loved him.
I thank God that I didn’t cut him off. He died at a young 61, and those last years of being his sister were sweet. Those years were full of joy actually. Worth the wait…and the willingness to give up my own way.
We have all probably had the experience of drifting from relationships, of neglecting friendships, of just not showing up emotionally or physically.
This is part of the imperfect nature of life. What bears examination is the very intentional, thought-out cutting off people from our lives.
“Does it spark joy?” is the question Marie Kondo asks the person deciding whether to keep something or dispose of it.
“Make sure everything you keep sparks joy.” “Unless something makes you happy in your life, why would you hang onto it?” – Tidying Up
“Does it spark joy?” Is the Wrong Decluttering Question – Joshua Becker
Beware of the worldview that decluttering leads to joy, because where, then, does it stop?
One writer goes as far as saying out right: “When you are confronted with people who do not bring joy to your life… it’s 100% okay to toss them out of it.”
There is so much being written about how to “Marie Kondo” relationships we perceive as toxic or at the least annoying and joyless. I chose not to link to those in today’s piece.
One really helpful article, though, about the reasons we cut off family members can bring real insight into why we rationalize such a decision:
10 Reasons Why People Get Cut Off From Their Family – Dr. Barbara Greenberg
Click on the link and read Dr. Greenberg’s analysis on cutting off family and why we should think it through again. In brief, here are her 10 reasons people make this choice:
- Modeling
- Power and Control
- Exhaustion
- Rewriting Narratives
- Loyalty
- Perceived Slights
- Money
- Caring for Elderly or Sick Parents
- Abuse
- Lack of Elasticity
It’s just something I’m thinking about this Monday morning.
People are not stuff. They are made in the image of God. They matter, even with all their cluttered baggage, this side of Heaven. They aren’t disposable. Who we become across our lifetime is framed by those in our family and among our friends…who don’t always spark joy…nor do we.
I welcome your thoughts…in the Comments below.
The Hidden Religious Promise Behind Marie Kondo’s Decluttering ‘Magic’ – Karen Swallow Prior
The Real Reason Marie Kondo’s Life-Changing Magic Doesn’t Work for Parents – Tanya C. Snyder
‘Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” Isn’t Really a Make-0ver Show – Sarah Archer
What Japan Can Teach America About Family Caregiving – Barry J. Jacobs