I confess to taking some enjoyment in observing a clash between two experts on the subject of our stuff, or perhaps better stated, our relationship to our stuff. Today, I reread Heather Havrilesky’s essay, Stuff, in which she (at least partly) takes on Marie Kondo and Kondo’s wildly popular book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. In the essay, Havrilesky comments on the Kondo theme of getting rid of any of your stuff that doesn’t “spark joy:”
“The question isn’t whether or not your stuff sparks joy. The question is: Can you spark joy all by yourself? Do you remember how that feels?” In making her point, Havrilesky relates the story of her deceased father’s wallet that sits in the top drawer of her desk.
“Every few months, I pull it out and look at his money: $26 – a twenty (dated 1990), a five (1993) and a one (1988). When this cash was in my dad’s wallet, he was fifty-six years old. Along with that $26, he had a retirement fund, several investment properties, a condo, a brand-new Lexus coupe, and a small piece of paper stuck to his dresser mirror on which he had scrawled a reminder, in black ballpoint pen: ‘All of heaven is within you.’”
…
“My father’s wallet reminds me that nothing lasts. Just when you are starting to get comfortable, you disappear. And maybe only one or two of your things will seem important enough to someone else when you’re gone.”
“That’s sad, but it’s also a reason to wake up to the enormity of the moment, to the unbelievable gift of being alive, right now. You don’t need more than this. All of heaven is within you.”
Indeed, all of heaven is within us – within all of us. Granted, some days it takes much more effort than others to find it, but still, it is there, in me, in them – yes, even in THAT person. Things come and go, but that heaven within us, thankfully, remains. Now THAT sparks joy!
It occurs to me... 