Just like Marie Kondo, I realized the magic of tidying up when I was very young. You see, I was an only child, and I was also the first grandchild. This meant I was given every toy and trinket under the sun, and having to manage all of those things at such a young age was quite overwhelming. I bet you can easily imagine how messy my room was if I told you there was barely room to walk on the floor because it was covered in toys and books.

On Saturdays my mom and I would sit in my room and tidy up. We’d pull everything out and categorize each item. We’d decide if I still wanted to play with each toy and read each book, and if their condition was worthy of keeping. The memory that sticks out the most during this time is how loving and nurturing my mother was when we tidied my room, it made the task fun and easy. After pulling everything out and then cleaning the space by dusting and vacuuming, we’d then put all like-items back on shelves and in drawers. I remember the feeling of pure joy take over my body when I looked at my newly tidied room, it always felt like a brand new space. This was the feeling I wanted to feel forever. 

After a while when I’d play with things and not put them back, that joyful feeling would turn into overwhelm. And when I hit adolescence and high school, I transformed into a major mess-maker. However, when I moved out of my parents’ house into my own apartment and was in college, I realized how important it was to be tidy to be able to pay bills, get to work on time, maintain a budget, study, and have friendships. I saw a direct correlation between success in those activities and my tidiness. 

It was during this time in my early 20’s that I also realized I needed to find my purpose and find out what life was truly about. Something you should know about me is that at a very young age I had a constant deep yearning inside of me. At the time I couldn’t put my finger on what the yearning was for and somehow tidying my things always made me feel closer to a state of contentment. But when I started college, the yearning grew bigger, and though the tidying still helped, I knew I needed something more.

In 2004, after dropping out of college and a serious broken heart, I was in my Denver apartment sitting on my couch in a complete state of shock and bewilderment. I had previously sold my car and quit my job, I also sold my paintings and did odd jobs around town to pay the bills, all in an attempt to find the thing that sparked joy for me, but contentment still eluded me. I was confused with life. Everywhere I turned, the yearning feeling inside grew bigger and bigger. College didn’t quell this yearning, nor did shopping, friends, work, or spending time with family. Nothing made me feel settled or at ease, and the more I tried to fix things and quiet this yearning the louder its voice became.

In that moment in 2004 sitting on my couch, I literally shouted out loud, “I need a teacher. I need to find someone who knows what is going on down here.”

All of a sudden something inside told me to call a friend who had been helping me Feng Shui my apartment in recent months. She answered the phone, and I said, “Hey, Lon, what are you up to today?” She said she was on her way to listen to her spiritual teacher talk, and he was scheduled to speak in about an hour. Coincidentally I lived about fifteen minutes from the location, so I immediately got in my car and drove to meet my friend. In the ballroom of a modest hotel, Sri Gary Olsen spoke. He said, “No matter where you’ve been, who you are right now, where you’re headed, what your nationality is, who you choose to love, whether you feel lost or found, none of these things will keep God from loving you.” After that, the purpose and meaning of life finally began to come clear and the reasons for that yearning feeling that spanned most of my life, I then saw as a divine gift.

A year after that meeting, I started my tidying business. I decided that I was really good at organizing and even though it meant that I was not following a mainstream lifestyle, being self-employed sparked a lot of joy for me. I taught myself how to create a website, how to market and advertise, and how to be professional and equally be a friend to the people I worked with. I made my own schedule, and at times I allowed myself rest when I needed it and then could work 11 days straight when my clients needed me. Owning my own business proved to be one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. 
 
Ok. Now lets fast forward ten years later to Christmas 2014 when my mother gave me a copy of Marie Kondo’s bestseller, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. After reading it, I saw how my tidying business and my spiritual beliefs perfectly aligned. I could no longer tidy for people but rather my purpose was to teach them how to tidy for themselves and I wanted to help others find their purpose similar to the way I had found mine. I took a really huge risk quitting my job and selling my car and when I did, what sparked the most joy for me landed lovingly in my lap and it’s because I made room for it to find me.

To this day, I still love to tidy when things get a bit chaotic in my life, and now that I’m a mother I constantly remember what all of my teachers have taught me: My spiritual teacher reminds me in every moment that God is LOVE, and this love resides in everything and is everywhere. I get to choose in every moment where I place my attention and I get to determine my attitude. The KonMari Method has taught me when I express gratitude for everyone and everything in my world, there will then be an abundance of all the things I need and they will show up when I need them. My mother, on a daily basis reminds me why doing anything with a genuine smile will make any task fun and easy.

Please know that showing others how to tidy is my passion. In the KonMari Method we teach that everything must serve its purpose and as a Certified KonMari Consultant I’m here to help you find your joy and discover your purpose through the tidying of your home.

​​photo source: unknown