Four years ago, I wrote several postings about the joy of tidying—being impressed with Marie Kondo’s methods and spirit for sorting and organizing. The results were amazing not only for me but for many others as well. The basic method is to gather everything of a kind—all your clothes for instance—and make a big pile of them. Then, handle each item individually, finetuning your awareness for what items bring you a spark of joy. When joy is felt, you keep it—otherwise you give gratitude for what it has brought to you and pass it on. That way you end up being surrounded with only those items that bring you joy.
Recently, Netflix released a series featuring Marie Kondo and the way her methods and her spirit produces results that are not only practical, but also changes relationships and lives in significant and positive ways. Having experienced the surprising power of tidying (a seemingly innocuous word for initiating such amazing results), I have continued to be impressed with Marie and her methods. I am still working on getting it right in my office, to have only those things that give me joy and to have a place for everything–I have too much paper. I have made a renewed purpose to being tidy in all parts of the house, including my office, and some work in the garage as well—I am still a work of tidying in progress.
The idea of choosing only those things that give you joy with your possessions is wonderful. Then the idea came, why not choose joy in all categories of life? Using the same principles and being mindful of what brings you joy in relationships, work, spending money, recreation and your spiritual life—taking each, one by one, and feeling the quality of its “fabric,” how it fits and discerning if it brings you real joy, versus doing things out of habit, restless energy or lethargy.
Think back on your life, consider if you had carefully evaluated each choice you made; being calm and finetuning your intuition for what brings you real joy? How different my life would have been if I had done that! Some people truly have an inborn sense of purity and know what right-action is, right-relationship, right-work, right-food and what to imbibe. Many others are more mixed in their understanding, gradually learning to pay more attention in all areas of life as to what works—what brings joy. Then there are some who seem to have no built-in discernment at all—in fact their directional compass seems to point south instead of north and they consistently make decisions that bring pain and misery.
Many confuse pleasure with joy, but pleasure is temporary and does not bring real joy. Drinking alcohol, using drugs, easy sex or binging on food gives immediate gratification, but then you look at the after-effects, such as making poor decisions, hangovers and being in the power of addiction—and those choices definitely do not bring joy. Some get “drunk” with money desire—wanting or having it—and some with power and control. Or you feel an attraction for someone, but it is not the right relationship for you, however the temptation for pleasure and forbidden fruit is strong.
You say “Yes” to some things, and “No” to choices that do not bring joy. The more you work on conscious living and choosing what brings you real joy in life the more finely tuned your joy-compass becomes. Through practiced intuition you instantly know when the compass is pointing north to joy, and, because you now know that feeling of joy, you have the strength to resist those strong contrary attractions when they try attach themselves to you, foul your compass and clutter your life with things that do not bring you joy.
Meditation, exercise, saving money, not watching too much television (Master called it a pest in the home in the early 1950s) and breaking addictions can be difficult in the moment, but its after-effect is that you feel better, healthier and more joyful. So, it is really taking a moment and sensing the total package concerning a certain activity—does this bring me joy?
God is ever-new joy and therefore is always the right choice. Because God is beyond cause and effect you can experience this joy-filled freedom independent of circumstances. And, due to the fact that God is purity itself, the more you focus on God the better your choices are. Some people fear that if they go with God they give up on having fun in life; their lives will be dull, staid and constricted. How wrong they are! God is the intelligence that creates this universe, it is the power behind all activities and the pure essence of joy! It is literally the most exciting life you can engage in, as well as the most challenging. When you choose joy you choose God, and when you choose God you choose joy. Let us finetune our ability to know what brings us that spark of joy in life, and then be its connoisseur.