Wow, it is amazing what a whirlwind it feels like at the end of the school year! Graduations, graduation parties, the overflow of paper work that comes home from school, class projects, teachers gifts, sport tournaments, dance recitals… need I say more? In this week’s article we will look at a few simple solutions to help your transition from Spring to Summer flow with ease and grace! It will have you sipping lemonade with your feet up and a smile on your face in no time! You do know that the Universe hopes your Spirit will soar each and every day?

I was honored to be a guest speaker at the esteemed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this past weekend. Myself and four other speakers were asked to speak about Mastering Mindfulness. I explained how you can use your environment to help master mindfulness. You might ask “Why?” or “What is mindfulness?”

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines mindfulness as “the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis.”

The best way for me to describe the state of mindfulness is to connect you with the awareness of a gap between your thought and action. When you begin to find the gap between your thought and action it distances you from your reaction to the trigger or stimuli. For example, if you have a desire to loose weight but you keep binging on cookies it is because you are reacting to a want (which is a thought). But, when you can put a “pause” between the “I want that cookie” and the act of eating it, your chance of successfully abstaining grows substantially.  Often times the best way to begin connecting to the gap is to make it a habit to take five deep breaths before reacting to your want or need. This will bring you into a state of full awareness, which will empower you to make conscious decisions.

I encourage you to play a little game this week. Begin to become mindful of the amount of stuff you have in your home. In today’s culture, we have 2x more things in our homes than 50 years ago! Each week and sometimes each day you are tempted by the consumer marketing machine to bring more and more items into your home. Studies show that the average women will spend more than eight years of their lives shopping. (The Daily Mail). Create a gap so that your brain doesn’t resort to autopilot and just buy something out of habit or lack of mindfulness. This game will help you become more mindful of the items that are in your home or the ones that you are thinking of bringing home.

Place a piece of paper on the wall near your entrance with the names of each person staying in your home. Every time someone brings a new item in the house put a point next to his or her name. At the end of the week tally each person and choose the winner by determining who had the least points for that week. This will help to create a gap between the “I need to have it” and the actual act of purchasing the items and bringing them home. It will also help you to know how many things you are bringing into your home each week.

Mastering mindfulness can be as simple as playing a game that helps you develop a new-found awareness around specific things. If you need help finding your gap, click here to schedule your discovery session.

Happy Soaring!

XOXO

photo credit: coe-onlinetrainingcourses dot com

Did you know there is a simple way to change your inner and outer mood? In the natural rhythm of life you can find yourself in a cycle of high energy or a depleted lower energy. You might also find that at one point your home is completely aligned with where you are and where you want to go, helping to cultivate your hopes and dreams. However, over time, this can change leaving you feeling stagnant and drained. There are many reasons why this can happen and many ways to create a vibrant new inner and outer space. The good news is that often times the interior realm of the mind is intricately connected to your exterior environment. Making subtle changes in your home can inspire a renewed sense of joy, optimism and love of your life and home. Let’s look at a simple solution to begin designing your best home and life!

It has often been said that our exterior environment is a reflection of one’s internal world. What is happening on the outside is a mirror to what is going on inside. Interesting the converse has a huge impact as well. Your exterior environment can support and nurture or drain and deplete you. If you are sensing that your home isn’t supporting you it is time to make a change. Often times by the time we notice that we are being negatively impacted a looming project lays ahead be it clearing mounds of clutter, needing to tackle to-do projects in every corner or noticing that your décor is 30 years past it’s prime. Let’s look at one simple tip to help you begin to move stagnant energy and uplift your home, harmony and happiness.

Although I have been in the design industry for almost two decades, helped 100’s of realtors stage homes to sell quickly and been in 1000’s of houses, I am still amazed at what a simple can of paint can do to uplift a space!

Paint can transform a room or house almost instantaneously! This happens both aesthetically and energetically!

Here are some BEFORE and AFTER examples of a project Home in Harmony is just beginning to work on. I can’t wait to show the full reveal but wanted to give you a taste of what a little paint can do!

A room can go from “Blah” to “Ahh” with a new color. Especially if the colors you love have changed over time. Take a trip around your home and tune into whether you truly resonate with the colors on your walls.

Recently I was reading one of Doreen Virtue’s books on Angels. Being a proponent of space clearing (energetically cleansing the space in your home to remove toxic, stagnant or negative energy) I was interested to read Doreen’s view of clearing and cleansing a home. She recommended some of the standard methods of dowsing, burning incense or asking the Angels to assist in removing any misguided energy. I was surprised that she also suggested painting a room as a viable option. I love that she gave this simple solution! To this day, it amazes me how a little color change can re-invigorate a space.

Tune into your home and decide if it is time for a little lift. Are there areas that feel like they have lower energy? Maybe a little color change will brighten your room and uplift your mood!

If you need help in giving your home and mood an uplift click here!

Happy Soaring!

XOXO

Are you feeling overwhelmed? I can totally relate! Here’s what I did to overcome the overwhelm…

At one point this week I felt that panicky feeling in my stomach that felt like my insides were beginning to do somersaults.  Have you ever had that feeling?

Home in Harmony has a lot of fun and exciting stuff going on and I have been connecting and interviewing a bunch of great experts for the Home in Harmony Master Class that we will bring to you in just a few months. We have also had multiple design and Home Showcasing projects to manage.  And, on the home front we are off to Italy in just a few days because one of my girls was asked to play in the World Hockey Tournament in Bolzano. While all of this exciting stuff is happening I have been managing the process of the demolition, construction and insurance with our current home which sustained major damage this winter because of the ice dams and heavy snow load. Virtually the entire home has to be taken apart and put back together. The snowball effect of what this means can seem daunting… managing contractors, insurance adjusters, moving companies, storage facilities.  All while trying to find a place to live in an area that doesn’t seem to have rentals that can accommodate a family of six.

I can truly say, I understand what it means to not feel like my home is in harmony!

That being said, I also realize how critical it is to manage the overwhelm! First, it is imperative to mobilize and move into action to move through this experience and get to the other side of the overwhelm. Trust me, there is “the other side”. Knowing this keeps me moving forward.

Taking time to take a few breaths is also critical. At one point recently I was forwarding emails that were supposed to go to my business manager to my husband. His gentle reply of, “Hi Love, Is this something I need? I love you.” Was a fabulous reminder that when you are moving to fast, it can actually create more work because you are not doing things well which in the end creates more overwhelm.  I then forwarded my email to my business manger letting her know what had happened and she sweetly and firmly said, “Hmm, I’ve been thinking about you and all you have on your plate. Maybe you should take some time to sit down and have some tea.” These lovely people were there to remind me that it is critical to take moments each day to breath deeply especially when you are feeling the impact of a dizzying amount of stress, commitments or overwhelm. We all go through periods in our lives where we experience this. It is how you approach it that can help you either move through it or stay stuck. Let me share a few simple solutions to help you to overcome your overwhelm.

1. Look at the big picture and create a goal around it. This will help you envision where you hope to go. It will give you the needed momentum to keep taking each needed step to move you forward. For me, my vision is of our family enjoying a beautiful Christmas in a fabulous kitchen that I have created. I can see the smiles, hear the laughter and feel the warm fire from the hearth. This vision carries me and moves me through the feelings that begin to rise up in the pit of my stomach. What is your vision? Find it, feel it, connect to it. It will pull you through.

2. Compartmentalize the different areas that are creating that sense of overwhelm. Is it related to your personal life, professional life, home space, kids’ activities or clutter? Look at each area separately and create a system for each. Do this by creating goals and task lists that are manageable. Take one small step each day to cross off these tasks that are related to the goals in each area. Make them small enough that they are manageable but big enough that you feel like you moved the needle.

3. Take time each day to take a deep breath. (The more of these moments the better.) It actually helps to lower cortisol levels in the body, which can help you think clearer. This helps you make better decisions that will be more effective and efficient.

It is a natural part of living to have experiences arise that can create feelings of overwhelm. Implementing strategies and simple solutions that will help you be more effective and efficient will help you move through your day with more ease and grace. Begin by sitting down with a cup of tea, taking a few deep breaths and writing out your vision of your ideal life. This will help you overcome the overwhelm.

PS… If you would like help in overcoming the overwhelm in your life click here for a complimentary Success Strategy Call!

Happy Soaring!

XOXO

Image Credit: Heena Pattni