Salina Yoon is a Geisel Honor-winning author/illustrator of over a dozen picture books and nearly 200 innovative novelty and board books for young children, with over 4.5 million books sold worldwide. Today she will share insights about her latest release, Kiki and Jax, the life-changing magic of friendship, which is a picture book she co-authored and illustrated with bestselling author and queen of tidy, Marie Kondo.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

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In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Salina's passion for art, which led her to creating books for young children and storytelling
• Why Salina's first book, Penguin and Pinecone, published in 2012, was so special and sparked her collaboration with Marie Kondo
• Saliina's favorite topics to explore
• How Salina navigates the challenge of translating big ideas like friendships and tidying up
• The reason behind choosing as owl and a squirrel as the main characters in Kiki & Jax
• Favorite easter eggs to look out for while you are exploring the illustration
• The challenge of illustrating clutter
• How Salina's childhood influenced some of the tidying activities represented in the book
• What it's like to collaborate and work with Marie Kondo
• How KonMari tidying has impacted the Yoon household

Salina's favorite tidying tip: Finding more gratitude for each item by having less.

What sparks joy for Salina: Her family and creating books that spark joy for other families.

To connect with Salina, visit salinayoon.com or follow her Twitter or Instagram.

Exclusively for Spark Joy listeners, Salina is giving away a copy of Kiki and Jax that is signed by herself and Marie Kondo! This special copy also includes a how to fold the KonMari way origami guide! To win this special edition, email contact@sparkjoypodcast.com by January 28, 2020 with Kiki & Jax Giveaway in the subject line. The first listener to email us receives this special gift that sparks so much joy!

Gems:

• "I think relationships are so important for the development of children's emotional being and social being."
• "I think friendships are vital for simply growing up."
• "Books can help build a child's self confidence, their self esteem, their social confidence."
• "Nothing sparks more joy than friendship."
• "Tidiness comes from the parents first."
• "This book has both her heart and mine combined."
• "Find the joy in each other more than from things alone."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Salina Yoon.

Her work has been recognized by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the Alcuin Society, and How Magazine. Robin teaches typography & book design at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

Join The Spark Joy Club today by heading over to our website, and clicking Join The Club!

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:
-Learning about the KonMari Book category controversy.
Washington Post: Keep Your Tidy Spark Joy Hands Off My Books

The Guardian: What We Gain From Keeping Books

-We discuss some of the reasons that people have reacted to the books category with a lot of emotion.

-What Marie Kondo has actually said about books.
Book lovers, Relax: Marie Kondo is not coming for your books

-The unanticipated benefits of the KonMari process in the books categories.
Learn about Kenya Hara and the book as a physical object.
The Hara Design Institute

-About tokimeku.
The Japanese Translation of Spark Joy

-How Robin has sorted and organized her own books.

-If you are tidying your books and looking for more details and tidying advice, check out our original book discussion via Spark Joy episode 57 | KonMari Books Category: Building a Library of Joy.

Robin’s favorite tidying tip: “Feel free to discard book jackets. The jacket can be visually distracting to some people, so feel free to let it go if you want.“

What Sparks Joy for Robin: Google images! Uses images as a means to discover new wonders in nature with her son.

Robin’s book recommendation:
The Kitchen Counter Cooking School

You can reach Robin at robinmitchellcranfield.com or on Twitter at @robincranfield

Gems:
“There’s been a panic in the book publishing world about the death of the book. However, people have been panicking about the death of books since they went from hand writing books to the printing press.”

"It's interesting that people who are otherwise live-and-let-live are really quick to tell people how they should feel about books!"

"Books are physical objects that hold not just the written contents, but the experience of holding the book itself. That is why Marie Kondo's tapping of the book to "wake it up" is so interesting to me."

“Marie Kondo’s metric is to suggest that you find your own metric.”

“Tidying the books in my home opened up my awareness of new types of books to explore.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Robin Mitchell Cranfield.

If you are just starting out, or want a refresher on how categories work in the KonMari Method, listen to: Episode 1: KonMari 101 and: Episode 9: Tidying by Location is a Fatal Mistake These two episodes of the Spark Joy podcast will give you the background you need, in addition to reading Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up , to tackle the books category.

Books are special and cherished items for many people, but there’s no denying the fact that physical books can take up a lot of room. Plus, in many cases, once the book is read, the actual book is placed on a shelf and is never used or read again. How can you approach books in such a way that honors the contents, respects the value and importance of books but also enables you to surround yourself with only the things that spark joy?

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

Joy Checks:
Karin: I practiced KonMari gift giving for my 5th wedding anniversary! I got my husband a returnable gift, in case it doesn't bring him joy...and it's something that is designed to honor books, which totally bring him joy!

Kristyn: I was invited to The Jam TV morning show in Chicago to talk about the KonMari paper category.
Tips from For the Love of Tidy on How to Cut Down Paper

• Book Subcategories:
  -General Books
  -Practical Books
  -Visual Books
  -Religious Books
  -Sentimental Books

• How to sort books you have already read.

• How to sort books you haven't started or started, but haven't finished

• The challenges involved in letting go of books:
  -Our attachments to books
  -Our desire to honor the contents of books
  -Our attraction to the beauty of books as objects
  -Concerns about discarding them properly
  --Listen to Spark Joy Episode 21 on this issue: Book Review: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

• Options for disposing of books properly:
  -donations
  -selling
  -recycle

• Summer Brennan's blog post on the challenges of letting go of books: On the Heartbreaking Difficulty of Getting Rid of Books

Gems:
“Do I really need to take all these books down from their shelves?”

“You should use subcategories to view each book in relationship to other similar books, but remember you are evaluating each book on its own merits.”

“The goal is not to overwhelm you with the piling part of KonMari…”

“Who are you keeping these books for?”

“It’s important to honor your books with joy, keep them visible, especially those that are being kept to read 'someday.'”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Our guest, Yuno Imai, is a Japanese food and travel writer and copy editor based in LA. In addition to being one of the original translators for Marie Kondo and her team, she’s now living a life of joy and focusing on publishing a children’s book.

You can find out more about Yuno by visiting www.iknowyouknowyuno.com. Updates on the launch of her first children’s book will be made available there and you can track Yuno’s adventures and joyful lifestyle via instagram @iknowyouknowyuno.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you'll enjoy:

• How Karin and Kristyn met Yuno during KonMari consultant training

• How a fascination with American movies and culture inspired Yuno to pursue translating; the most challenging job she's ever had

• What it was like to observe the message of the KonMari Method while it initially spread

• How Yuno studied up on KonMari to prepare for her big translation gig

• How translating allows Yuno to experience many industries and bridge Japan and America

• Tricks Yuno uses to memorize her client's words and provide seamless translation

• Why the gym doesn't spark joy for Yuno and the joyful way she achieves the same results

• How life, death, prison, and food inspire Yuno's writing projects

• Yuno's favorite children's books: The Red Shoes and The Rainbow Fish

What sparks joy for Yuno: Creating her children's book, Trevor and Me, based on real events in her life. Themes: friendship across generations, death and reincarnation.

Gems:

• "I just follow what I love."

• "Positive attitude brings positives things in life."

• "Do what makes you happy and go after your joy!"

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Yuno Imai.

Our guest, Jaye Schlesinger, is an award winning artist from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who specializes in oil paintings of common objects and abstracts. Her recent solo exhibit “Possessed” caught our attention. It includes 380 individual paintings of all of her possessions inspired by minimalism and simplified living. It sparks joy for Jaye to explore the metaphorical possibilities of painting the mundane.

Jaye gave us a peek into the lifestyle change that inspired her creative process and story.

To connect with Jaye, visit www.jayeschlesinger.com. While you’re there, peruse her portfolio and contact her to purchase high quality reproductions of her artwork in a variety of sizes.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you'll enjoy:

• How the movie Tiny, The Minimalists Podcast, the documentary Minimalism, and experiencing a flood in her home inspired Jaye to start letting go of her personal possessions

• What Jaye's parameters for joy are, which include usefulness and beauty

• How being led to paint the items that sparked joy kept Jaye accountable during the decluttering process

• How Jaye divided her possessions from her husband's, followed by discussions about the "ours" items

• How Jaye enjoyed the structure this project provided within her studio time. Each painting took 2-3 days to complete and the project extended over two years

• How painting things gave Jaye a chance to meditate and connect to the true meaning behind some of the objects, especially the ones that were deemed sentimental

• Why Jaye continues to return to the still life painting

• How seemingly ordinary objects connect us

• How Jaye's husband reacted to her ruthless minimization

• What Jaye did to help her minimize regret

What sparks joy for Jaye: Jaye's two grandchildren and three custom end tables she's building for her new home

Gems:

• "These things of everyday life connect us. But, they are so overlooked. We take them for granted."

• "Less is more."

• "When you decide to keep a few things, they become stronger in some way."

• "It was always more about being deliberate than being minimal per se."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Jaye Schlesinger.

Our guest today is Meg Brunson.

Meg is a multi-passionate mama living in Phoenix, AZ with her husband and 4 young daughters. She is a serial entrepreneur and a former Facebook employee, striving to provide a better life for her family through entrepreneurship.

She is the founder of EIEIO Marketing, the host of the FamilyPreneur Podcast, and recently helped her 10 year old launch her first business.

In this episode, you'll enjoy:

-You'll learn how Meg started her business and her motivation for becoming an entrepreneur.

-Meg's tips for teaching your children critical thinking skills.

-How she and her daughter drilled down to find the perfect value statement that created Story Time with Kiki: Story Time with Kiki

-The importance of the calendar in managing a busy household with kids.

-How Meg and her husband support their girl's passion for learning.

-Meg's strong passion for helping kids set and achieve their goals.

-Using setbacks and challenges as a way to help kids be resourceful and resilient.

-Meg's favorite resources for building a great business:
A CRM platform: Dubsado
A scheduling platform: Acuity Scheduling

-And, hey, we all need a good resource for relaxing!
Winc

To connect with Meg, you can visit her at her website: www.megbrunson.com
Or her marketing website: www.eieiomarketing.com

She's on Twitter: @themegbrunson, Instagram: themegbrunson and Pinterest: themegbrunson

Her facebook is:
Meg Brunson on Facebook

She's the editor at: Phoenix Kids Out and About

And Kiki's website is: Story Time with Kiki

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week's show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

What sparks joy for Meg:
Her kids "those happy moments, their smiles and giggles" The freedom of working from home and being able to spend spontaneous moments with the kids while pursuing her entrepreneurial dreams.

Gems:
"We should be paving additional paths for our children."

"Drill down to the thing you know the best and find the value proposition within that knowledge."

"Turn their questions back on your kids. Get them to explore the question themselves."

"If you are passionate about it, I really believe you can make it happen."

"I'm going to have those good resources. I'm just going to have to build them out myself!"

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Meg Brunson.

In this episode, we discuss what "spark joy" truly means and how to apply it to your tidying event. We share practical tips on how to build your own personal awareness of joy and how to apply this concept to your decision-making. The term will start to become part of your vocabulary and you’ll see joy everywhere.

But first, we begin by sharing what's sparking joy for us today. We also answer a great question from a Spark Joy listener about how to determine what sparks joy when it comes to seasonal items, in this case, Halloween costumes.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at  www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at  contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, or on Twitter at @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Learning the Japanese language origins of the phrase, "spark joy." The Japanese translation is Tokimeku ときめく, which means "to flutter with a little thrill" in the same way that we describe how our hearts can flutter with joyful emotion when something makes us happy or excited

• How Marie Kondo demonstrates what sparking joy looks like while interacting with possessions. See videos below:
  -- Marie Kondo: Organize the World: Design Your Life to Spark Joy - SXSW 2017
  -- Marie Kondo explains Spark Joy

• How to avoid getting caught up in how many things you're keeping or discarding instead of focusing on the joy

• Being reminded of the importance of vision, as discussed in Episode 5, to keep your thoughts future-focused and in tune with the quality of life you envision for yourself

• How to set a high joy bar by developing a criteria for what stays and what goes

• How considering the passage of time and your evolution as a person can help you understand whether something is part of your future or just hanging out from the past

• Marie Kondo states, “When we really delve into the reasons for why we can't let something go, there are only two: an attachment to the past or a fear for the future.”
  The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

• "If it makes you happy, then the right choice is to keep it confidently, regardless of what anyone else says."
  Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up

Gems:

• “The practice is to pay attention to how your body reacts when you’re holding your possessions.”

• “You want to be able to live in harmony with your things.”

• “Does this item spark joy AND fit into of my vision for the quality of life I’ve envisioned for myself in the future?”

• “This is an area I really do want to invest in instead of buying the cheapest things to just make do.”

• ”Keep your joy bar high!”

• “Objects like having a job to do.”

• "If it makes you happy, then the right choice is to keep it confidently, regardless of what anyone else says."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy