8 Ways To Figure Out If Your Partner Is 'The One' Based On Marie Kondo's 'KonMari' Method

If you're a Marie Kondo fan, then you know her KonMari method for decluttering your life is amazing and starts with a simple question: "Does this spark joy?"

But the Marie Kondo method for how to declutter is amazing when applied to other areas of your life too, like love and relationships. Yes, there is a way to use KonMari to declutter your mind and reorganize your thoughts when it comes down to finding out if your partner is really "the one."

"Does it spark joy?" might also be the perfect relationship question. Can you look at your partner — the person you fell in love with — and answer yes when asking yourself, “Does he spark joy?” 

Read more here to see how her method can be used to explore your relationship.

Messy Life? Here's How You Can Declutter

 

Despite recent evidence suggesting that a cluttered desk leads to a creative (not cluttered) mind, I'm determined to declutter. It's difficult to be creative when you can't find your ideas buried in piles of articles, legal pads and journals, or elsewhere on tiny scraps of paper and sticky notes. Not that you could tell by looking, but I prefer the esthetic of a neat, organized workspace. 

Here are my six simple steps for decluttering and other change.       

1.  Identify the change. Name it so you make the change you want clear--having spent a marathon weekend clearing out the detritus of a project I recently completed, my goal is to remain clutter-free. You might decide you no longer want to act like a shy person, or you want to stop eating junk food or you want to start exercising daily. Many changes are possible by following the steps.  

Read more here...

Clear the Desk, Declutter the Mind

Thrilled to have published my first eZine article, I’ve found that in the week since, I’ve produced absolutely nothing of any substance. Okay, it’s only been 5 days, but it feels like a lifetime. It’s amazing how hard we can be on ourselves. I’ve talked about writer’s block before.

Instead of producing, I go through the papers piled on corners of my desk and table. Toss some, file others, cross out things in lists. I have ideas I put in files (handy for when the creative spirit moves me), things that ignite a spark of interest which leads to reading an article or two, visiting a few sites, maybe copying a few lines, which I put in yet more files of ideas.  I balance checkbooks, read mail, pay bills.

I remind myself that these activities all count. They must be done in order to get to the next level. I’ve written before about decluttering in life. It’s like winning a tournament in your sport. After it’s over, you need some rest and recovery, maybe a break completely from your play. You wash your stuff (or have your mom wash it if you live in my house), reorganize it, possibly even clean out your backpack or gear bag. You post the pic with the medal on your facebook wall. You deal with some things unrelated to it all that must be done.  Then the training starts anew for the next big thing.

I’ve facebooked the eZine link, linked it in and tweeted it. I’ve cleaned up the desk. It’s starting to look neater. I think I’m going to be ready to do some real work soon. Oh yeah, this is actually a blog entry. Whew! I’ve moved on.

Mood music to help you Move Along, All American Rejects.

How to lists

I forgot I was supposed to post something on "how to" lists. Why do they irritate us so? Here's how I changed my opinion on the how to list.

One reaction I used to have is that if I could do the five or eight things on the list, then I wouldn't NEED help.

True, and not true. It's all a matter of timing. I was reading a how to about clutter. I'm not a big clutterer. Not that I'm a neat freak, no way. But things around me are generally fairly ordered. I thought the article might be helpful to my clients.

There was a bit about how physical clutter sometimes reflects what's going on in your mind, i.e., psychological clutter. That's when I knew.

I started to go through all my stuff putting together all the jewelry that remained from my former marriage. Things related to the jewelry too, like little bags to travel with jewelry, little boxes in which gifts of jewelry arrived.

Other reminders I'd previously expelled from my life, but the jewelry seemed like it was mine. I'd worn it after all, some of the pieces for years. I realized as I considered that article and my relationship to these objects, that I didn't need them around me. Much as I'd loved some of the pieces, it was too similar to the way that I loved the giver. Time to go.

I'd already found someone to sell a few pieces to, but I hadn't moved on it. I took him everything. He knew what it was about having worked with both remodelers and rebuilders. Some people renovate (you know, you take the diamond ring and add it to the ruby earrings making a lovely pendant) , others tear it down and build from scratch. I'm of the rebuilding ilk. You might be a remodeler.

Either way, the decluttering felt like a weight off my shoulders that I didn't even know was there. The point about the lists being that sometimes you just get one idea from the list that works for you, that's super-helpful at that moment. So you never know what help you might get from a how to list, but they're well worth the few minutes it takes to review a few ideas.