The end of one year and beginning of the next is a natural time to pause and reflect on your life. Goals for the future are set, often in expansive fashion based on the magnified sense of hope the holiday season inspires.
Don’t mistake New Year’s resolutions as being equivalent to envisioning your ideal lifestyle and then working to bring it to life, however.
Resolutions are like birthday wishes we want to come true through some form of serendipity. They’re typically a superficial pursuit representing more of a diversion than a commitment to dedication.
“Imagine your ideal lifestyle,” the second principle of the KonMari Method of tidying and decluttering to improve your lifestyle and your life, is just the opposite.
It’s important that it comes after the first principle, “Commit yourself to tidying up,” which really translates as committing yourself to doing the hard work of tidying up and decluttering to build the foundation for your ideal lifestyle.
The first principal is about how much time you are going to devote to KonMari, and whether that commitment matches your expectations for the process.
Combining the first two principles leads to the question, “How committed are you to committing to a lifestyle that supports the person you are moving toward or working on or may discover during the tidying process?”
Assuming you have the will and the commitment to undertake and benefit from KonMari’s life-changing magic, let’s look at what it means to envision your ideal lifestyle and the steps on this journey to choosing joy. 
Some people mistakenly focus on the “style” part of lifestyle in pondering the ideal version of themselves. The challenge is to envision who you are working toward becoming, but not in a visual way. It’s more about realigning your life to create a lifestyle “feeling” that gives you joy, love, truth, peace or whatever it is you need on a daily basis.
As part of accomplishing this transformation, you put your intent forth, out into the universe, to create the things you’re hoping will become defining characteristics in your life and lifestyle.
Creating a vision board, essentially a visual chart of your hopes and dreams, is one helpful way to inspire the process. Maybe you need your home to be more peaceful, for example, or maybe you need it to be brighter and lighter both literally and figuratively.
In the context of KonMari, you will also need to ask yourself, “What are the things in my home that are going to support that lifestyle?”
As Marie Kondo says in her video on the second principle, “The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.” This is a very powerful statement … sit with that a moment and think about what that means to you.
When Marie invites people to take a moment to imagine the life they want to lead, she counsels them to be as specific as possible, and to picture living that ideal life. “What does the beginning and end of your day look like?” she asks.
Having a clear vision of your ideal lifestyle will help you stay motivated during the KonMari tidying journey, “and you’ll begin to create this life you’ve always longed for,” Marie says.
Listen to a Spark Joy podcast on the second KonMari principle
I can attest to the positive power of this philosophy on a personal level. Inspired by Marie’s book, “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing,” I not only took the course to become a Certified KonMari Consultant but also changed my own life and lifestyle through the benefits of the KonMari Method.
My journey inspired Marie Kondo’s team to invite me to serve on a panel for the KonMari Consultant Certification Courses in early November at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York City, which was a wonderful experience. Seeing and interacting with Marie again energized my passion for helping others achieve the promise of the second KonMari principle: Imagine your ideal lifestyle. I genuinely would be honored to help you have the lifestyle you deserve!
To begin the process, see the Services page on my Sage of Interiors LLC website, or get in touch directly by email at [email protected], or by phone at (203) 772-8883. You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram @sageofinteriors