Author Archives: Megan Antlfinger

Are these toxins in your home and body?

If you have heard me speak at any point, whether in person, on the radio, Internet or TV you have inevitably heard me say, “Your home either supports and nurtures you or it drains your energy.” This is true on all levels… psychologically, physically, and spiritually. Today I want to make the connection between your home and your physical body. Most people don’t realize what an important role your home plays in your level of health. In this article we will focus on the health of your home & body and give you simple solutions to create the healthiest environment for you.

The air you breath as you walk around outside is filled with industrial pollutants. Studies have shown that the 5 most toxic industrial chemicals were found in the tissues of 100% of those sampled. 100%! This is an important statistic to understand because it suggests that as you and I go about our day we are inadvertently breathing in toxic substances as we walk down the street or go to the park. Unfortunately these toxins become stuck in our bodies and create havoc including dis-ease. Well, if that statistic isn’t bad enough, studies have shown that our indoor environments are many times more contaminated with pollutants than the air we breathe outdoors. The average person brings home 80,000 chemicals in the products they purchase. Let’s look at two…

Fragrance is in so many products that literally touch our lives. According to the National Academy of Sciences, 95 percent of the compounds used to make fragrances are synthetic materials derived from petroleum or petrochemicals in a laboratory. These chemicals are known to create dis-ease in the body. Fragrance has been categorized with second hand smoke. It is in everything from toilet bowl cleaning products to perfume. Begin to eliminate the amount of items that you bring home that have fragrance in them.

Although there is greater awareness in recent years about VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), ambiguity still exists around what they are and the degree to which they impact health. Let’s clear up any questions. “Organic” in “volatile organic compound” signifies that the substance contains carbon. “Volatile,” means that the compound evaporates easily at room temperature. This means it is easy to breath in. Unfortunately, VOCs are actually linked to cancer; respiratory issues; and damage to the liver, kidneys, and the central nervous system. Unfortunately VOCs are in many household products including cleaning products, hairspray, dry-cleaning, carpeting and paint (just to name a few!) VOCs also have a cumulative effect on the body. The more exposure creates more damage. With so many household items off-gassing noxious VOCs, it is important to be proactive in decreasing their impact—or to eliminate them, if possible. One simple solution to diminish the level of VOCs in your space is to choose no-VOC paint. Milk paints and recycled paints are a great option. When you do decide to paint that perfect hue for your home haven, make sure you throw the windows open and ventilate for as long as possible!

Begin to develop an understanding of what you are bringing into your home and breathing in. Your home either nurtures and supports your health or it depletes you and creates dis-ease. Designing a healthful haven will positively impact your health, vitality and overall well-being.

I would love to hear from you! What unhealthy product did you eliminate from your home? Did you switch to something that was healthier? Please share!

Happy Soaring!

XOXO

Image Credit: lifestyle dot com dot au

This will sabotage you!

Do you have a big imagination?

Your imagination can be a huge asset or it can turn your life upside-down. I share this because often times with the New Year people are excited and nervous about what will transpire in the year ahead.

Take a moment to answer these 3 questions…

What are you excited about in 2017?
What are you nervous about in 2017?
What is the movie reel playing in your mind’s eye showing you what is going to happen in 2017?

The movie reel is your imagination. Sometimes your imagination can leave you tossing and turning in bed at night because you are worried about something and your imagination takes you down a scary path.

At other times your imagination might create a beautiful, grande picture.

Well, it is important to know that what you focus on multiplies in your life. Knowing this and using it to your advantage can help you design the life of your dreams.

Take the three questions above and notice what thoughts, ideas and pictures come into your brain when you are worrying or dreaming about what is on the horizon. Becoming conscious of these different thought processes will help you turn them up or turn them off.

Begin to notice when your imagination detours down the path of negativity and self-sabotage. Shift gears and change that mental picture. Create a positive affirmation that can offset that image.

Allow you imagination to flow gracefully when it moves down the path of designing inspired events and situations that are on the horizon. Turn it into a movie reel where you can hit rewind, and watch over and over again. Make a point to focus on this movie reel in the morning when you get up and at night before you go to bed.

This singular focus will help to expand and solidify what you are hoping to create in 2017. The laws of quantum physics take over when you focus on anything, expanding the possibility and creating more of it in your life.

Begin to notice your thoughts, positive or negative. This will give you a sense for why your current life looks the way it does.

If you want to design a life you love use your imagination to create a movie reel that fits the vision you hope to create in 2017!

Happy Soaring!

XOXO

Photo Credit: shutter stock dot com

Here’s How to Release Overwhelm

What if I told you that you CAN move out of overwhelm… even during the holiday season?

We have been focusing on Overcoming Overwhelm this month because this is one of the areas that is most frustrating, according to feedback from the Home in Harmony community!

When you are feeling overwhelmed, the feeling of needing more time creates more stress and overwhelm. I completely understand! When I begin to have the overwhelm sensation creep into my life, I usually ask for guidance from the Universe to make me more efficient & effective with the burdens that are mounting. Well, this week I want to give you concrete solutions to help ease the stress and make your efforts more efficient so that you can move out of overwhelm, get things done and feel relief!

In this week’s article I am going to give you a super Simple Solution to help you make your life easy to manage and make your time more productive.

I also want to invite you to join me for the 4-week Overcome Overwhelm: Make Your Life Easy to Manage Program that begins on January 11^th! This program was designed for you if you are feeling the burden of overwhelm, stressed out over all of your to-do’s and feel like you are on a treadmill that is going nowhere fast. This program was created for you so that you start 2017 with a fresh start and clear path to making 2017 your best year yet. Release the overwhelm by joining me for the 4-week Overcome Overwhelm: Make Your Life Easy to Manage program. Click here to register today!

You and I live in a culture where the demands, to-do lists and stressors can pile up and inundate our ability to function well. You might get by but you know there is so much more to living. It should be joyful, vibrant and fun! Maybe not all the time but a good portion of the time! Instead you are set up to experience life in reverse. That is, work first, pressure first, to-dos first and maybe you can fit in that thing called fun or self-care. Is that what living was meant to be?

No! You are here on this earth to have an amazing experience. You can design whatever you envision for the best version of your vision for your ideal life. What does that look like for you?

Let’s look at 3 super Simple Solutions to help you jump off the treadmill of your life and release that dreaded overwhelm. You deserve so much more! I am here to tell you there is so much more than to-do lists and stress.

Isn’t it interesting that often time people seem to wear their to-do lists as a badge of honor? Is it time to shift that perspective for you? Take some time in the coming weeks to notice how many conversations revolve around comparing and complaining about the amount of stuff that needs to get done. Observing where this shows up for you is the 1^st step in noticing the pattern, which will allow you to walk a different path. As they say, what you focus your attention on is what shows up in your life. Begin to focus on ease & release instead of inundation & overwhelm. Things will begin to shift.

Having a simple system will also help you break the overwhelm cycle. Separate out the different areas in your life that need attention. List these things in your journal or on a piece of paper. This will help you be more efficient and effective when you begin to set forth in accomplishing tasks. For example, when I sit down at my computer it is imperative that I focus on one area at a time. I separate the different areas that need attention and I focus on one thing at a time. Depending on the day I might write down.. (1) House Renovation (2) Work Operations (3) Writing (4) Kiddo Stuff for X School. I then set a specific amount of time to focus solely on one thing for that period. If I don’t do that my energy and attention can move back & forth leaving me way less than effective. So, separate the areas in your life that need attention and focus on each are for a set amount of time. This will help you be more efficient & effective which is the 1^st step in releasing overwhelm. Imagine what it would be like to move through your day with efficiency & effectiveness! You would be the rock star of your life!

It is important to write down anything that comes up for you that you know you are going to need to deal with at some point. Having a specific spot to keep this information, be it a small notebook you can fit in your purse or on an app on your phone, will help you be organized. I actually prefer the notebook so that I am not always tied to my technology. Jotting items down that pop into your head helps remove it from your brain. This allows your brain to be free of a pileup of clutter, whether that mind clutter are ideas or to-dos.

The major setback that can occur from to-do lists is that they get so long, they can be difficult to accomplish. Each evening take a moment to figure out the 3 most pressing items on your to-do list. You might select the ones that will give you the most relief to complete. Break these down into small manageable pieces that will help show you the action steps needed to move forward. This will help you gain the momentum to move forward instead of staying stuck in the overwhelm. Commit to sticking to those 3 items before moving on to anything else. Notice how great it feels and the relief it brings when you can cross those 3 things off your list by the end of the day! Celebrate!

When you are stuck in the space of overwhelm it is often hard to begin moving forward. The burden of overwhelm can feel so heavy. This is when it is SO important to just start. Take that first step and move forward. This will help with the momentum you need to overcome overwhelm! Begin now!

It is so easy to get stuck in overwhelm. Today’s world and our culture set you up for failure. You are continuously under siege from a barrage of information overload, a mountain of things to organize, people who need something from you and a to-do list that can be miles long. That is exactly why I created the 4-week Overcome Overwhelm: Make Your Life Easy to Manage program that begins January 11. I want you to succeed and create the best version of the ideal vision for your life!

You deserve to live a life that flows with ease & grace. If you want to gain an understanding of what is working and not working in your life. This program is for you if you want to learn how to identify overwhelm before it takes over, determine what is causing it and redesign the patterns & habits so you can step into your power and take charge! You will get manageable action steps so you can be more, have more and do more without going into overwhelm. Step into 2017 with a clear path to releasing overwhelm and designing the life of your dreams by joining me for the Overcome Overwhelm: Make Your Life Easy to Manage Program. Click here to get started!

Happy Soaring!

XOXO

Photo credit: insights dot dice dot com

8 Tips to have a Happy, Healthy Holiday Home & Life

Did you feel it too?

No sooner were the plates cleared from Thanksgiving, attention shifted to focus on Black Friday, shopping and the holidays ahead. It felt different this year with the momentum and interest of holiday shopping and to-do lists being more intense than years passed. In many ways it made me miss the cadence of ease and grace that permeated the holiday season when my children were young or before the days of “Black Friday”.

I heard stories of friends joining the throngs of shoppers late night on Thanksgiving. In some cases waiting in lines just to enter the store! In one case, the midnight shopping revelers stopped for sustenance at the mall Chinese restaurant, which as they recounted, added to their all-ready over-indulged, sluggish energy level and expanding waist.

Is this what the holidays are about? Does any of this make you happy, feel good physically, or increase your energy?

Before you get caught up in the marketing and social dynamics that are all around you, let’s give you a safe haven in your home that will create happiness and vibrant health so you can sail through the holiday season with ease and grace. Today’s article will give you 8 Simple Solutions to move through the holiday season feeling, lighter, brighter and energized by this merry time of year.

Tis’ the season to be merry and bright. However this can be challenging if you are feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and stressed out. Let’s look at 8 Simple Solutions to help you navigate this time of year with ease and grace so that you feel energized, joyful and calm.

Meaningful Connections: How many times have you been out to dinner and watched people consumed by their phones instead of the yummy meal and great company in front of them. Make meaningful connections at your dinner table by asking people to put the technology away. You may find that people actually have a difficult time relating to one another if it is not through a screen. Plan ahead and have questions ready to encourage conversations. Something like, “Name one quality you like, love or respect about each person at the table… maybe explain a story that illustrates that characteristic.”

Serene Scents: Aromas of pine trees and cinnamon can waft through the air during this festive season. Just make sure that in your home you are using pure, natural scents and not chemical laden air fresheners and toxic candles that create dis-ease in the body. If you don’t have time to bake an apple pie, warm some mulled cider with a stick of cinnamon on your stove for a delicious aroma that will have everyone day dreaming about apple pie.

Mood lighting: Candles are a beautiful way to set the mood for a space. Use natural candles from pure wax instead of candles made from paraffin wax which off-gasses highly toxic benzene and toluene when burned. These chemicals are known carcinogens and are the same toxins found in diesel fuel fumes… something you don’t want to inhale inside your healthy home!

Flower Power: One of the plants that is often correlated with the holiday season is the Poinsettia plant. This beautifully colored plant acts as an air purifier absorbing formaldehyde and other noxious chemicals.

Sunlight Savvy: If you are feeling more stress or sadness it could be triggered by not getting enough sunlight. Sunlight helps to stimulate your feel-good hormone serotonin, which relieves seasonal affective disorder (SAD). You can either spend time outside or sit near a window that gets plenty of sun. Make sure to open your shades and let the light into your home.

Harmony Habits: Sticking to your daily habits that are life enhancing is critical this time of year. Don’t get thrown off course. Make it a priority to include your typical workouts, eating habits, sleep schedule and self-care regimen into your daily routine. If you get off course one day, get back on the next.

Clear Clutter: Clutter impacts your ability to think and function. Clear the piles in the places and spaces that impact you every day. These areas drain your life energy and inhibit you from making clear decisions.

Quite Moments: Schedule in some quite moments for you and perhaps those you love. Are you constantly on the go, feeling drained and overwhelmed. Schedule in time at home where you can rest, relax and rejuvenate. This will allow you to accomplish more! The restored you is able to be more efficient and effective when you are running on a recharged battery verses one that is depleted and drained.

Hopefully these 8 Simple Solutions will help you design a holiday season filled with joy, peace and harmony.

As always, if you have additional tips to maneuver gracefully through the holidays, the Home in Harmony community & I would love to hear from YOU! Leave your helpful comments below and Thank You for sharing your inspiration!

Happy Soaring!

XOXO

Image Credit: HGTV dot com

Goals Your Manifestation Station

A year ago I declared that my intention for 2016 was “The Year of Travel”. Eleven months in, I look back and marvel at how my intention not only came to pass but also exceeded my expectations and hopes on every level.

I went to Europe on four occasions and spent time in Florence, Prague, Munich and London. On one adventure I witnessed my daughter playing in the World Selects Hockey Tournament against Olympic qualifying teams from Italy and Russia. On another trip I was blessed to stay in Windsor Castle while the Queen was in residence… yes, I was actually invited to stay at the majestic castle!

There were multiple trips to Florida & North Carolina, a family vacation in Charleston, a romantic excursion to the Bahamas and a few adventures out West.

As I write this, I am on a flight to LA where I will connect with friends & colleagues and then fly off to the Hawaiian Islands for both business and pleasure.

After this whirlwind I am looking forward to staying put for the holidays in our quaint New England town!

Why am I sharing this? We are in the eleventh month of 2016. Looking back, my intentions wildly exceeded my original vision. Did you realize your goals and dreams this year? If not, let me help you create a quantum leap for the best version of your ideal vision for your life in 2017.

I should not have been surprised that my intention for “The Year of Travel” would take a quantum jump. That is how intention, the Law of Attraction and using your home as a manifestation station create a vortex for dreams to appear at super-sonic speed.

In this week’s article, I will share a few of my secrets on designing the life of your dreams with ease and grace using the quantum power of intention, the Law of Attraction and your manifestation station (i.e., your home or office).

Our home was destroyed in January 2015 and we fought an epic battle with our insurance company to rebuild. What we thought would be finished by December of 2015 is still not completed today. Subsequently we had to move our family of 6 on two different occasions. Although our current rental is in a beautiful golf club community, it isn’t the same as being home. Last December, when it sunk in that we were in a battle that could last years, I decided to make lemonade out of a lemon situation.

As the New Year approached I decided that my intention for 2016 was to make it “The Year of Travel”. Instead of dwelling on the fact that we were not in our home, that most of our personal items were packed away in a moving company storage unit and things were very unsettled, I decided to look at it as my opportunity to go adventure. If you don’t like where you are, be it location or home, level of happiness, job situation, in your relationships or physical health & vitality, it is time to make a change! Recognize what is or isn’t working so that you can design a life you love! In every situation there is a way to make lemonade out of the lemons that may come your way.

For me, home is where my heart is. I love the traditions, roots and nurturing environment that a home environment supports. This was taken away. But, it gave me the opportunity to spread my wings and fly around the world.

What was your intention for 2016? Did you make it a reality? Have you thought about what your vision for 2017 will be?

There is an art to manifesting intentions. Let me share a little tip on how to create a quantum jump in manifesting Your intentions, dreams and vision for your life.

Use your environment as a conscious & subconscious and physical & metaphysical cue! Yes, your environment can have a big impact on whether your dreams are realized.

Have you ever heard that what you focus on and give your energy to will show up in your life? The more energy you put towards something the more likely you are to see it manifest. This subject alone could take up volumes of shelves in a library.

Well, the thing is, in today’s day and age with the onslaught of information that overrides our senses, it is hard to stay focused on intentions and it is easy to become distracted. (Have you read my article on Information Inundation?) For this reason it is imperative to put physical cues in your environment to remind you on a conscious and unconscious level of your intention, goals and dreams.

For example, a few physical objects that I included in my environment to remind me on a conscious and unconscious level that my intention was “The Year of Travel” included leaving my passport on my bedroom bureau, a map of Maui on my desk and a commemorative coffee cup celebrating the Queen’s birthday (I knew I also wanted to stay in one of her castle’s… which amazingly came to be!)

This is how powerful your home or office environment can be in manifesting Your intentions for Your Ideal Life!!

So, what are your intentions for 2017? What physical representation are you going to put in your environment to help you manifest your dream year and design your dream life?

Set your intention and allow your home or office environment to be your manifestation station!

Happy Soaring!

XOXO