We wanted to watch "Crazy Rich Asians" but Amazon can't play it now. It is available elsewhere but we were interested in watching the Marie Kondo episodes on straightening up the house. I was impressed with how good and interesting it was. She was very friendly with the couple she was helping and she brought a translator along with her in case her English was too limited.
Before she started in on the clothes scattered around, she asked the couple to thoughtfully thank their house. Seems like a good move to me. Stopping to thank the house, to face the value and the good that comes from the house is the beginning of an important type of gratitude and thoughtful appreciation of the value and the good times, the shelter, the warmth and the centrality the house gives to their lives and their family.
Her first activity was having the couple get all their clothes, scattered about or hanging in the closet or packed in drawers and pile them all in one great pile on the bed. Then, one garment at a time, pick it up and consider it. Does it "spark joy"? (That's the name of one of her books, "Spark Joy") Does the garment make you glad you have it? If so, keep it. If not, it goes in the get-rid-of pile. Again, like the blessing of the house, take a moment for each piece to consider one's feelings for the item.
After all the garments are sorted, fold each one that is being kept. Fold with concentration and respect for the piece of clothing. We saw pictures of Kondo's own kids folding their own clothes, again with respect and consideration. She told the couple that their children would soon pick up an interest in folding their clothes. Shortly after, we saw the couples' kids doing just that.
My own thinking and that of just about everyone I know has been about duty, storage and resultant neatness. The psychology, especially of the acts of "tidying" rather than focusing on pride in the result, had not occurred to me. I would have thought that pictures of people straightening their house and their clothes were pictures of people doing their duty and being correct, not pictures of thoughtful people appreciating the value and the history and the stories and memories associated with their garments.
