Japan’s de-cluttering queen believes possessions must justify their presence.
By ET Bureau | Updated:
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Human beings crave a state of control, no matter how much we actually celebrate spontaneity and impulse. The thing is, there is very little we can actually control, except perhaps the contents of our receptacles: homes, handbags, briefcases, suitcases, closets, cupboards, shelves, etc. So, when all else is spinning out of control, the satisfaction of neatly disposing of or lining up and storing things to a method has a huge comfort factor.
But do we really need a guru to guide us in matters other than of the mind? The recent success of de-cluttering queens, especially the latest sensation from Japan to invade homes, Marie Kondo, indicates we do. Marie Kondo (Image: Marie Kondo/Twitter) People evidently need to be told not only how to purge their lives of ‘joyless’ physical jumble but how to joyously compartmentalise and store in the best possible way — for the object and its owner — whatever has proved itself to be worthy of retention.
Get the difference? The new normal is for possessions to justify their continuity in people’s lives by providing a convincing ‘spark of joy’, not people justifying (to themselves and their gurus) what they need. Negotiating that subtle but crucial distinction is not easy and has turned into a profitable consultancy business. So much so that there is now a new word for this mental and physical cleansing of home and heart: KonMari-ing.
