I had the great opportunity the other night to attend a friend’s workshop. She had emailed me on the spur of the moment and asked if I wanted to attend. Sometimes last minute things work out the best, and I was able to go!
Sara is an incredible person who I met initially as we were buying and selling our houses. Sara was the “Interior Designer” and would stage the house. As I got to know her, I began to realize that Sara was not just a decorator, or an interior designer. Sara was a deeply spiritual person who knew how to help you connect your home and your life in a beautiful and inspirational way.
Recently I have been feeling like I am on a quest to make our “house” feel more like “home”. It will be 4 years in April that we will have been here and I feel I am beginning to understand our home’s personality. I guess I am also beginning to feel our family culture more and more as we continue blending.
So, I bought some great blankets, as I talked about here. A few weeks ago, I also finally put up the photos from our March Break Punta Cana photo shoot up along the staircase. Everytime I look at this wall, I love it.
It reminds me of my kids when they aren’t here and it reminds me of the fun and love we share – all the time. We also did the great big cleanup not so long ago, that I talked about here. So,I have been on a subconscious mission to go from house to home.
When Sara emailed me and invited me to attend her intro “HouseHeal Power Hour” – I jumped at the chance. I knew it would help me on the journey of making my little slice of heaven on earth.
And it did.
The first thing I learned is that your home does not reflect who you are; it reflects how you are.
Your energy, your mental state, how well you are taking care of yourself and how connected you are to who you really are.
Certain areas in your home are more connected to you than others. Sara helps you identify “red, yellow and green light zones”. We all have these zones – the red zones that are painful to walk into, that look and feel like a bomb went off, that make you just feel overwhelmed as you near the zone. The green ones are the ones that are inviting, pleasing and you are eagerly drawn to. You can feel the positive energy flow freely through these areas. The yellow – well, somewhere in between.
I certainly identified with these areas. My office: red zone for sure. Not surprising, that is where I feel most overwhelmed and stressed. Green zones: well, those were hard to identify for me I realized because I sort of feel that I have a lot of “almost green zones” – so I guess, yellow zones in my house right now: many rooms that are almost how I want them.
And it is not just about decorating, although that is part of it. It is about beautifying, it is about tidying, it is about cleaning. It is about choosing things that reflect who you are, what you stand for, what makes you comfortable. It is about getting rid of the clutter that clutters your rooms and your mind too. It is about trying to please yourself and not just doing things (and keeping things) out of obligation.
Another gem I learned was how we need to be doing things from a “place of goodness”. What does that mean? We need to not be doing things out of anger, guilt, resentment, frustration, or pressure. I guess that goes for changes in our home, as well as within our relationships. Lasting changes, genuine changes will only stick if we are doing them from a good place.
Finally, Sara talked about the 3 keys that you must master to create the home you want to be in: awareness (of what is really going on in your home and in your life), a desire (a vision, a plan, a motivation) and willingness (drive, openness, compulsion).
It was motivating to come home and look around at the “zones” I want to tackle. They don’t all have to be tackled now (especially right before Christmas), but in the New Year, there are some small changes I can make that will move a few rooms into nice green zones.
There is so much more to learn, but I got enough for the moment to help me on my house to home quest. More info on Sara Brown Crowder and her magical workshops can be found on her great website HouseHeal.
