Mindfulness and decluttering

I’ll tell you what happened to me today while I was dusting.

I am confident you know that Mindfulness and decluttering belong to different areas. Nevertheless, both of them each in their own way, help us to shed a light within us.

Clarity is that state in which we get rid of all the superfluous and face the essential and often uncomfortable questions; those ones we often avoid being unused to poking our noses in ourselves or that we are afraid of.

Here the point is to answer one of those questions:

I feel better owning a few things so I decide to get rid of clothes I haven’t worn for over a year and items I haven’t used for a long time OR am I able to develop non-attachment to things?

It’s not about understanding who we are, that is, asking yourself those textbook questions like who I am, where I come from, where I go.

Today I started decluttering. Actually, years ago I used to do it once a year during the Christmas holidays.

As you probably know, even if you haven’t read the decluttering “bible” by Marie Kondo, decluttering means “to remove unnecessary items from an overcrowded place”.

The Japanese tidying expert has created this method based on categories so that tidying up one “class of things” at a time makes things easier and quicker.

But I’m not interested in writing about decluttering as an end in itself. I wrote this post because while I was picking what to keep and what to throw away I perceived this question was buzzing in my head.

Choosing what to keep and what to toss does not depend on the questions listed in the best selling handbooks, such as:

• How long have I not used this item?
• Haven’t I been wearing these pants for more than 12 months?
• Is this item really useful or did I buy an up-to-date one?
• What memories does this object hold?

The decision depends on who we are.

Can you live surrounded by a thousand things but you’re not attached to any?

Or do you live small?

You’ve got 30 shirts but even if one of your favourites gets stained, you don’t give a damn!?

Or do you only have 7 shirts in the closet, let’s say one for each day and every now and then you replace a worn or damaged one?

As Wayne Dyer said:

Simply have a mind that is open to everything but attached to nothing.

Anyway, we live on a planet in the grip of marketing rules and one of the first things we are taught as children is “don’t break stuff” and make good use of them. So when we’re just 9 months old the cot is overrun with toys!

Just today I ran up against another quote – a young American writer who has written a couple of books that are seemingly going strong: Bianca Sparacino.

Well, I didn’t read anything about her but she wrote:

Be alone. Eat alone, take yourself on dates, sleep alone. In the midst of this, you will learn about yourself. You will grow, you will figure out what inspires you, you will curate your own dreams, your own beliefs, your own stunning clarity, and …

The advice has a grain of truth: you can slave away but there is only one person in the whole universe who knows who you are. You.

Mindfulness and decluttering have this in common: they allow us to learn to dig into the real questions, those ultimate ones, the questions lying underneath a mountain of ruminations that have nothing to do with our present mood.

What was my final decision? Keep everything or live as a hermit?

Well, let’s say a compromise was the wiser solution. I really like minimalism, the intriguing Japanese culture!

However, living with the tribes of things, clothes, plants, books, houseware all over the place but well arranged, does not bother me because when a teacup falls on the floor and shatters, I am already aware that it was already broken when I bought it.

I’d really like to know if you answered the same question too. Please, write it in the comments.

1. Your house is full of things but you practice a diligent non-attachment?
2. Are you a minimalist fan living with the essentials?
3. Or are you attached to your own things and don’t feel like parting with them?