Peaceful Summer Tip #4: Make some space for the new. Take some time this summer to clean your house, space and documents. This will bring renewed energy into your life, and make you feel lighter. Organizing, decluttering, throwing away, helps us to make more space to step into ‘the new’.
Thanks to Marie Kondo, and her new Netflix programme, the Japanese tidying guru gives us the promises of not only a decluttered house, but also a clean mind. “When you put your house in order, you put your affairs, and your past in order, too,” Kondo explains in her 2014 book The Life- Changing Magic of Tidying. As a result, you can see quite clearly what you need and what you don’t, and what you should and shouldn’t do. But is it really as simple as asking whether everything you own truly “sparks joy” and then throwing away anything that doesn’t?
Most tidying methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach,
condemning you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari MethodTM
encourages tidying by category – not by location – beginning with clothes, then moving on to books, papers, komono (miscellaneous items), and, finally, sentimental items. Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy. Thank them for their service – and then let them go. People around the world have been drawn to this philosophy not only due to its effectiveness, but also because it places great importance on being mindful, introspective and forward- looking.
Peaceful Summer Tip #5: Find your Ikigai. Why not go a step deeper and refresh the meaning of purpose in your life? An ikigai is essentially a reason to get up in the morning: a reason to enjoy life. According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai. Your ikigai lies at the centre of four interconnecting circles: that which you love, that which you can be paid for, that which the world needs, that which you are good at. According to this Japanese model, the intersections of these circles, will point out your vocation, mission, passion and profession. If you are lacking in one area, you are missing out on your life’s potential. Not only that, but you are missing out on your chance to live a long and happy life.
You can ask yourself these few questions to start with: are you doing something that you love; that the world needs; that you are good at; and that you can be paid for? How can you live with purpose today, to live a longer and healthier life? There is lots of ikigai help online, find your own. It is a long process, start writing a bit today, and see how it evolves as the days go by. If you set your intention to have your ikigai during your holidays, don’t try doing it in a day. It takes maturity, insight, reflection, even some communication with other people, to get some clarity on aspects of your personality, on the potential jobs and hobbies that could come out. You will feel a sense of purpose and will have more energy available for whatever you are doing, because you are aligned with your inner self.
