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Wait until I thank the house

by MAURA COSTANTINO

“Spreading joy through tidying up”, thanking what surrounds us, is the first step to be able to achieve happiness. We thank our house , it is a great friend who is always there to comfort us, to keep every moment lived inside it safe. Four walls or more, hoping to be a treasure trove of emotions , allow us to collect and contain the objects we own, but above all what they represent. Marie Kondo , founder of the KonMari method, treats objects with absolute venerability and respect, as endowed with soul and sensitivity. But if our happiness really depended on an object or even its position in the house, we must pay close attention and make a careful selection of the things we surround ourselves with. The space in which we live represents in some way our inner space which, if consumed, obstructed and suffocated by “too much”, cannot be free to make us lighter. In a hectic society we feel the need to occupy every single moment of the day, for fear of being alone with ourselves. Probably the success of KonMari lies precisely in being a breath of Japanese purification in our, at times superficial, Western culture. "When tidying up it is not important what to throw away, but what to keep, to keep what makes us happy and to know where to put it away". Sorting, organizing and boxing leads to personal satisfaction and organization, a sense of purification and a moment of joy in our casket. "The Ego says: << When everything falls into place I will find peace. >> The Spirit says: << Find peace and everything will fall into place. >>" (Zen maxim)

96 LESSONS OF HAPPINESS

Marie Kondo

(2012)

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