When I read the book and applied her concept to my closet, I donated about 1/2 of my clothes. Anything that didn’t fit or caused me to feel negatively about some aspect of my body was tossed. Then I went through the DYT process over the summer and learned about my personal style, which caused another round of evaluation! I never realized how much black I owned. Black pants, black jackets, black shoes, and on and on. Since black and white are not recommended for a Type 2 individual, lots of that got donated.
At a monthly Club night with Carol called “True to You: How to Make Style and Lifestyle Choices That Spark Joy,” she applied the concept to lifestyle.
Carol asks two general questions:
- Am I trying to make this work? Does this spark joy? Just because something is true to your type, that doesn’t mean it’s true to YOU. Maybe it’s not meant to be! Some things just don’t feel right and that’s ok. Or you say yes because you don’t want to say no. I have bought things that I regretted and that sat in my closet for years but I felt I should keep. They don’t bring me joy so they were out of there. Be more selective with your yeses. This applies to cleaning your inner world as well. As for memories, carrying them around for years and feeling bad about something that happened long ago, you can give yourself permission to let that go too.
- What am I still not letting myself choose in my style (and lifestyle) that I want and that’s keeping me from feeling more joy? We can choose differently to create more personal balance, which will create more joy.
I invite you to try asking yourself those questions too. Let us know in the comments how it goes!
Naomi, I enjoyed reading your blog post and thank you for sharing about this book. When it comes to the colour “black” I also have a lot of blacks. ‘What’s keeping me from choosing more joy?’ Great question … one I need to be asking myself. Surely there’s something for me to learn in that question. Thank you for sharing.
Suzanne recently posted…One more surgery…