I was never extremely untidy. But I was also never extremely tidy or obsessed with perfect cleaning. Till at this age (35...), my mother from time to time tells me "well, why don't we do a lesson in folding?" Can you believe it? Well, putting aside the fact that my mom considers me an eternal child and the she irons pajamas, I got actually a lesson in tidying up this week. And it has changed my life.
Have you ever heard about the KonMari method? I came across it over Netflix. Again, talk about how bad watching TV is compared to reading, and yet I learnt precious insights on how tidying up and surrounding yourself only with clothes and items that spark joy for you is extremely important for happiness, balance and decision-making, hence assertiveness!
With this in mind, I tried the method out. Folding becomes truly fun and, for every piece of clothing, you have to ask yourself whether this clothing sparks joy for you or not. If not, thank the item and put it aside. As Mari says, it is not about getting rid of stuff, but keeping things that you want to move forward with.
Exactly like coaching, this provokes thoughts. Asking yourself the uncomfortable questions, such as "Do I want to have this item/person/situation moving forward?" is liberating and brings self-awareness.
While I was doing the exercise, my decision-making was sharpened, even more because I did not feel the guilt of letting an item go. I was thanking it and thinking of how to honour it forward (donate, sell, give it to my sister, goddaughter, etc). The image above shows how 6 pants can fit into a clothing box, where you can also see the colors and decide what to wear, without having to search out of a mountain of clothes.
Try it.. test your decision-making to see what you can keep and get rid of, still thinking that that particular thing had a meaning to you once, and now maybe it's over. And that is OK.