Kurashi at Home - Marie Kondo

This picture book shares the same general principles and lessons that she is known for. I was an early reader of her first book and appreciated that there was an old school element to needing to interpret words on a page without any accompanying visual element, especially for the folding component which was unknown to me beforehand. I picked up this book out of habit, because who wouldn’t want to be inspired by the magic of tidying up, by the inspiration of clean, uncluttered spaces, by the peace of mind that comes with working on your peace of mind, both outwards in and inside out? I certainly do and imagine I always will. This is the same attraction of stationery stores.

Unfortunately, I also realized how poorly I have adhered to some of the principles in the recent years. I took it for granted the way that constantly moving kept my physical belongings to a minimum, the way that lacking my own space removed the possibility of having a space to curate, and above all, how much allowing others to set the rules for me removed my responsibility to decide for myself - I let them be the judge of my performance.

Now that I have remained single and not given up my right to decide for myself, I equally need to accept responsibility for the clutter of my mind that is reflected in the clutter of my home, of my work documents, of my finances. I have finally begun taking care of myself, through meditation, books, journaling, skin care, yoga, fitness, and sleeping without the aide of alcohol. If I can believe that I deserve this, then I can also believe that I deserve a wonderful home space, an uncluttered, aesthetically pleasing, and highly functional of my similarly designed mind space. 

Herein lies the blessing of delayed book reflections, it feels like I am learning this lesson twice. The irony, of course, is that I nearly opened this entry by reminding myself that it is the practice of the lessons that matters, and not the lessons themselves, because we are often in a position to learn from the same lessons, even if we don’t consider it a reflection of karma. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Chosen Few - Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein

Botticini and Eckstein fact check each of the most common explanations for how Jewish people ended up a highly educated group known as an urban population of traders, entrepreneurs, financiers, lawyers, physicians and scholars. In the majority of the books I read in learning about Israel and the Jewish religion, these were the same cited phenomena: prohibited from owning land, diaspora population after the destruction of the Second Temple, repeatedly massacred, Christians were banned from lending money at interest. In other words, mobility is important, so human capital is worth more to this group, and it’s a small group.  The idea of chosen few is ingrained into my understanding of the group, and yet conversions to and from Judaism, forced or not, plays a role. After having completed the history of China course, and now that I’m in the midst of my wine studies, it is helpful to see how some of the same principles and themes, as well as frameworks, work throughout the various topic...
Read more

Talking to Strangers - Malcolm Gladwell

Talking to Strangers was a recommendation after a networking meal with one party who certainly oversold her reach and abilities. I was, of course, the freierit who fell exactly for the tricks described in this book. Before I get further into the lessons I want to remember for future reference, I would also like to mention how extraordinary I find Malcolm Gladwell, and how I do believe his unique background and appearance have allowed him access to see the world from the margins. He is of Jamaican descent without looking or sounding detectably black or African American and without a noticeably non-standard American name. Yet the intimacy with the issues, and I imagine the comments and conversations he has heard behind what others assumed were their closed doors, can only be accessed with someone who has lived a first person experience and worries for their families in a first person way. The first is the default to truth. The irony of this fault of mine, or the freirit mistakes I make, ...
Read more

Language A to Z - John McWhorter

The biggest lesson, and almost a regret, is that I didn’t know how to clip the audio during my key takeaways. For the print books, I have been able to flip back through and find the key ideas. Rather than torture myself, I am going to write what I remember and then add as needed. He provides an explanation for the modern uses of like and lol. There is a term for their uses, and it explains how we actually text and speak today. I have been so far lost in foreign languages that I forget sometimes how rich it is to speak English as a mother tongue. I can always go back into the audio and find the references. Now I have found the PDF. A few interesting tidbits: - C for Compounds: a “black BIRD” is an adjective followed by a noun, while “BLACKbird” is a compound and a specific animal. Think a “white HOUSE” vs. the “WHITE house”. - K for Ket: New Speakers of Languages. The chances the elaborate languages can be learned by busy adults is pretty slim. At least, they can’t be learned completely...
Read more