I've finished the book.

Finally.

I actually want to read it again now that I've read it through once and have used some of the methods already. Then I'll lend it to my friend.

I actually really liked the last bit of the book...I'm trying to find what stuck out at me but there was quite a bit, actually. I think, though, it really was the section titled Your Possessions Want To Help You

Here it is: "Everything you own wants to be of use to you. Even if you throw it away or burn it, it will only leave behind the energy of wanting to be of service. Freed from its physical form, it will move about your world as energy, letting other things know that you are a special person, and come back to you as the thing that will be of most use to who you are now, the thing that will bring you the most happiness."

To be honest, when I read this section even now, I start to cry. Maybe it's because it's written so well or maybe because it's the idea that the things I get rid of never really leave - even though I'm getting rid of the physical item, its soul, if you will, remains and wants me to find happiness with its energy as it enters something else that will enter my life and make me happy. I'm crying even now and I'm not even too sure why.

I was looking at getting rid of some of my items as 'Now THEY will be happy, being played with/being worn/being used when I was just neglecting them' but this is saying that they will be free to release their energy to bring -me- happiness. Maybe that's selfish and maybe that's why I'm crying...or maybe I've been so unhappy for so long that the idea that doing this -- that the silly act of tidying -- could actually bring me happiness. It's not happiness because my living space is clean, necessarily, but because I've released the items who just want to help me and their energies will come back to me because they have always wanted to and always will want to help me.

There's something so generous about that and I think it makes me feel very selfish that I've held onto them for so long...and I've held onto so many things that just wanted to be set free. For me.

Not that I think I can just throw away perfectly good clothes or items because I still need to know that they won't be going into a landfill somewhere but...I don't know if this makes things easier or harder.

I'm not sure that I'll be able to look at my things the same way now. Maybe that's the real magic of this book. It's not that it tells you that your superfluous items are inanimate and getting rid of them should mean nothing...or that if they're not doing you any good, they will surely do someone else good. It's that, and this is my interpretation, your items made you happy once and they will continue to do so, whether or not they are in your possession. But when you set them free from your possession, you free their spirit which will then return to you through another form/item of happiness. So, in tidying and clearing your space of excess items that no longer bring you joy, you are in turn, bringing this positive, happy energy back into your life.

But now I think I feel sad because the items no longer bring me joy. I'm also torn though because I know that they can bring someone else joy if I give them that opportunity. So does it become a Win-Win situation? They get a new life and I get positive energy?