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The pleasure (!) (?) of throwing away “old rubbishy stuff ”
Things live when they are used. If you don't use things because you are afraid to spoil them, you kill them. If you do not use this or that item, it is better to get rid of it. Remove the “pity” label and you'll know if you really need this thing.
(Nagisa Tatsumi)
We live in a consumer society, and we see it clearly in our homes: new things are settling with us at great speed. Of course, a Thing is not just a physical object; it becomes part of you - owning things gives us a sense of the possibility of self-expression. Having lost a thing, we feel pain, as if we have lost a part of ourselves (remember small children who do not want to share their toys) - and immediately we want to buy a new better one to replace the missing thing.
But do all the things in our house fulfill their purpose and are used by us as it was intended when buying? (and some things ended up in the house by accident, were presented and never used, or were left from previous residents)
Getting rid of old or unnecessary things is a real art and a necessary daily skill. These are things that prevent you from breathing freely in your own home, collect dust somewhere on the shelves, remaining without attention for months, or hide in the far corners of cabinets and wardrobes, against the walls on deep shelves.
But these things can still be useful! Let it lie for some time – you will tell me.
Oh! It’s a pity to throw this thing away because it: 1) was donated by a loved one 2) evokes pleasant memories 3) is of great value 4) ... and so on ...
Nagisa Tatsumi, the author of “The Art of Discarding” believes that the word "pity" is fraught with danger. In Japanese, the word "pity" means that a thing has a value, and it is not good to destroy this value, otherwise the heart is filled with sadness.
But there is a delusion here. Saying that you "regret" the thing, that you are afraid to damage it and therefore do not use it, but only keep it, you are disrespectful to the soul of the thing.
We fully agree with Nagisa Tatsumi that Use is the highest form of expression of respect for a thing. Hanging the label "pity" on the thing and pushing it into the farthest corner of the cabinet, you kill it with your inattention. Think of all that gourmet food that was put into the fridge because it was “a pity” to eat, and it ended up spoiling there.
If you “feel pity” for a thing, then this is the most compelling reason to figure out whether you really need it. If you need it- then use it. Use it as much as possible and eventually throw it away properly.
(there are different ways how to get rid of clutter, how to throw it or where to give it, but it is not the topic of this article)
To form a healthy attitude towards things, Let's evaluate things by whether we need them (= use them) or not, which means it's time to throw them away. Then we will learn to build relationships with things in such a way that we will own them, not they will own us. And using things is the highest form of showing respect for them.
Nagisa Tatsumi shares her experience of how she moved to her husband's house, where over the years of his life many things have accumulated in closets and various hidden corners. She began to throw away old unused things (of course, it’s easier to do this if it was not you who saved up the things), she had to “fight” with her husband to throw out many of them. But they start a new life, and it was important to make room for it.
It was not easy, but when the house became clean and spacious, the house began to breathe, husband of Mrs. Tatsumi realized how pleasant it was.
“Oh, this is an unforgettable feeling of relief that you experience when space around is cleared of unnecessary things! At such moments, phrases like "beauty in simplicity", "brevity and perfection" flash in my head. And even if there were a couple of things thrown out in the heat of the moment, then no one will ever remember them.”
The best way to redefine things for uselessness is, of course, moving. After all, we try to take what we use. Otherwise, the time and cost of moving will increase significantly. But we are not going to move for the sake of this all the time J
Let’s extract the golden rule from mentioned above:
New things and joys can come only when the old and rubbishy stuff is thrown away.
To help you with this, we are consulting about decluttering. And together with you, we'll go through this path of decluttering and purification.
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