Tidy Up Your Thoughts

I have currently been mesmerized by the Marie Kondo phenomenon.  She’s written books and even has a Netflix show on organizing your home.  However, her process includes an unusual way of getting one’s home ‘tidy’, not necessarily clean, but tidy.  Everything in your home must be analyzed and then either given or thrown away OR kept and stored so that its owner can truly appreciate the item.   She recommends starting with clothing; students are instructed to place ALL of their clothes in a huge pile on the bed or floor.  She says one needs to see the sheer volume of their possessions before beginning to decide which items to keep.  Kondo describes the procedure by telling her students to hold the item and ask if it brings joy.  Is there a thrill as the item is touched, is it truly loved, does it spark  joy?  If the answer is yes, the item must be kept and a special home for the item must be created.  If, however, there are no positive feelings associated with the item, it must go immediately.

As I contemplated this process, I thought about our minds, our thought lives and emotions, and I began to compare them to the items in our homes.  I wondered if the same strategies could be used to declutter our thinking patterns and emotions.  “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;  if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”  Philippians 4:8

Imagine this scenario…begin by taking all of your thoughts and putting them on the table in front of you so that you can see the sheer volume of thoughts and emotions you own – both the positive and negative.  For example, the jealousy you feel when someone else gets something you desperately want and you cover it up with a smile that is so insincere you feel like a contortionist.  The envy of seeing other people succeed while you don’t seem to be making any progress.  The insecurity you feel when someone belittles you or your ideas and you want to slither out under the rug quickly and quietly.  The guilt you experience when you remember something from your past that always seems to be lurking in the back corner of your mind waiting on its chance to jump to the forefront.  The frustration you feel rising within you, like water coming to a boil on the stove, when your customer service experience makes you feel as if you’re an imposition instead of a paying consumer.  But don’t forget to put the good thoughts on the table too, like the joy you feel when a child embraces you and you feel so accepted.  The pure joy that overwhelms you when your family sits down together to eat and talk and laugh, as if nothing else is going on in the world that deserves your attention in those moments.  The satisfaction you feel when you finally reach a goal you worked hard to achieve and you realize the sacrifices were worth the reward.  The love you feel for a beloved spouse who knows all your flaws, yet still chooses to be with you.  Now…once they are all out on the table, pick each one up and hold it in your hands.  Ask yourself, “Does this thought or feeling bring me joy?”  If so, fold it neatly and store it vertically in your mind so that you can quickly find it when needed, Marie Kondo style. If not, say goodbye, knowing that you received some satisfaction from that feeling somewhere in your past, but now you’ve grown and you realize you don’t need that with you anymore.  

This is the process we all need to go through so that we can focus on what our Creator intended, before we allowed too many ‘things’ to crowd our minds.  We are loved and accepted and we need not dwell on thoughts that don’t bring us joy.  Thank you Marie Kondo, for not only helping me get my house tidied up, but for reminding me that if I keep only those thoughts and feelings that align with the Word of God and get rid of the others, I will be full of real joy.  The unspeakable joy that only Jesus Christ can bring.