Meditative cleaning reduces anxiety!
First of all, decluttering and cleaning can bring your mind into a meditative state. If you focus on the task of cleaning, you’re doing something consciously, and your mind cannot wander around.
By focusing on the motions of my hands doing stuff, the mind has no chance to bring back all the bad memories from your past to haunt you. Your mind is already occupied thinking about what to do with the stuff in your hands.
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THE KONMARIE METHOD BY MARIE KONDO
Marie Kondo, a Japanese decluttering expert, is all over the news. She released beneficial books and even has a show on Netflix.
Her book „The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever (English Edition)“ (AL) or in German „Magic Cleaning 1 – Deutsch“ (AL) explains the KonMarie method.
The starting point is always to get everything in your household in one pile that fits one category. For example, all the books you own, all the candles, all the pants, all of your socks, all lipsticks, …
KEEP OR THROW AWAY?!
And when you stand in front of one pile, you hold every item in your hands and think about if it makes you happy. If so, you keep it. If not, you’ll get rid of it. It’s not about throwing everything in the trash you haven’t used for a year. It’s about the feeling that you have when owning the item.
And this is why this method resonated with me a lot. I have many things I love to look at from time to time. They might not be practical for everyday use, but having them brings me joy. So those items will stay.
ONE TOPIC AT A TIME
What’s also very handy is that you can use this method to deal with one thing at a time. You can decide to focus on one specific drawer or type of item. For example, I started with my desk. It’s a manageable size. One the next day, I took care of my socks. Then I looked at all my books. And so on.
MEDITATIVE CLEANING: ORGANIZE YOUR TOWELS
Let’s get started with towels. First, you need to bring every towel in your household and put it in a pile. Now investigate which ones bring you joy. Hold each towel in your hand and make a decision. Maybe some have stains you don’t like or holes. Put them aside and only keep the ones you love.
You can group them: I made a pile of kitchen towels and another for bathroom towels.
The meditative cleaning effect kicks in when you start folding them the Konmarie way 🤩
Meditative Cleaning: Kitchen Towels
1️⃣ Put it flat on your iron board and iron it.
2️⃣ Fold it in half twice (over the long side).
3️⃣ Roll it.
4️⃣ It now stands on itself and can be easily stored in a box.
Meditative Cleaning: Bathroom Towels
The larger towels don’t come with a bigger challenge 😉You still lay it flat on the iron board and iron it (1️⃣). Then you fold them twice over the long side (2️⃣). Now it gets different:
3️⃣ Fold from the other side and leave some space at the end (see picture).
4️⃣ Fold twice, starting from the side where you left the space.
5️⃣ Optional: You can iron over it again for more stability.
6️⃣ It now stands alone and can be put into a drawer.
If you also like to have a steam iron, I can recommend the one I use: Braun CareStyle Compact IS 2043 BL (AL). It comes with a station, the cables are long enough, and it has two settings for the steam (low and high).
VIDEO ABOUT MEDITATIVE CLEANING
You can also check out my reel on Instagram. Click here or on the screenshot to watch it ⬇️
WANT MORE MEDITATIVE CLEANING?
Check out my previous blog post about decluttering your desk (especially if you’re working from home!) and find out how to deal with papers and letters.
Need more help with decluttering? Let me know in the comments what you like to see next!