Today I read Marie Kondo’s #1 NY Times best seller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying. The basic technique to choose what to keep is to hold the item (touch!) and ask: “Does this give me joy?” If not, throw it out. And so I decluttered and transformed my living space: it does allow for a fresher, clearer perspective.
Of course I kept my childhood teddy given to me by my father, and in holding him, for the first time perhaps since I was a child, I really held this sentient being. I wound him up to play “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic” from his internal music box. He has a little pensive mouth. He has a tail–of course! For 30+ years it has been moored to one side. He wiggled his tail, revealing matted fur hidden all these years.