Redesigning Your Life from the Inside Out
Form Follows Feelings:
A Four Step Guide
Step 1: Clearing
On the inside, “clearing” means to stop the treadmill of life and give the mind a break from all superficial distractions. We check in with our daily choices to make sure they align with our desires, and with who we are. “What is important and meaningful in my life, and how am I positively expressing that?”
In the same way that changing a seating arrangement shifts the energy in a living room, we also need to clear our thoughts and rearrange our emotions to create deeper awareness. The added value of clearing is that it creates a clean slate and additional space for the next beautiful transformation! It’s up to each of us to redesign the life we lead, into the life we “desire”, regardless of where we are on life’s path. “Who do I want to be? How can I just be happy with who I am right now?” These are questions to consistently ask and answer from a place of awareness.
Coach Betty recommends taking 30 seconds of complete silence at least 3 times a day to start the process of clearing out the mind and discovering what lies beneath the surface.
The first step of the “outside” redesign process is to clear the room of all the existing furnishings. Yes, it’s absolutely necessary to do this! Take everything out of the room. This includes artwork, furniture, lighting and all accessories. Most people think they can skip this step and just start moving their furnishings around. However, clearing the room completely provides you with a fresh new perspective that is no longer attached to the way the room looked before.
Start by removing the smallest items first and finishing with the largest. As you move items out of the room, it is a good idea to place similar items together in a designated “holding area.”
Grouping items into categories makes redesigning the space much easier, and allows you to see the room’s common themes expressed through artwork, collections, and family photos. You can also organize items according to types of finishes, for example wood, ceramic, crystal, or iron.
Whew! The mind gets cleared, and the room gets cleared…it feels better already.
Step 2: Assessing
Everyone carries a defining uniqueness. We all have strengths, and experience moments in which our magnificence shines. It’s true for every single person. In the same way that we resonate with natural focal points in a room, we also resonate on the inside with our innate attributes. Imagine the positivity we each contribute to the world when we are living and BEing present with our inner strengths. Building on what works well in life is not only more fun, it also attracts an abundance of opportunities. BEing with our individual magnificence actually realigns the planet as a whole back into harmony. As Marion Williamson says, who are we Not to be brilliant, talented, gorgeous and successful???”
Clearing the room of clutter gives you a new perspective; you now see a space full of possibility, and can assess its architectural highlights. Notice the windows and other sources of natural light. From what direction is light shining? What are the natural and created focal points in the room? What positive feature makes it unique — for example, a large picture window, a fireplace, or a bank of windows. The purpose for identifying the focal point is to anchor the main conversation area, which helps determine where to place the largest piece of furniture. This is also a good time to examine the angles of the walls, and how they connect with the floor to determine the shape of the room. Is it L-shaped, rectangular, or square? After assessing the space and shape of the room you can determine a seating arrangement for the furniture that is most conducive to conversation.
Step 3: Discover
When working with clients, we incorporate an exercise called the “wheel of life” into the work, which assesses the current balance of how things are flowing. The wheel provides a visual perspective of the current state of affairs, and assesses your satisfaction within various areas of life, such as work, family, money, health, social life, etc. Once you see the shape of your individual wheel and its life patterns, you can target which patterns no longer serve you and can be released, and which patterns need to be altered or changed to better support you. “What old grudge or resentment can I release?” So many discoveries emerge, without even leaving your home!
Before returning any furniture back into the room, it’s time to “shop your home for treasures.” The idea of shopping at home may sound like an oxymoron, but it’s actually a great technique for transforming something “old” into a fresh look without spending a lot of money. So search your attic, basement, and storage areas for objects you may have forgotten about or overlooked.
After shopping the house, start your redesign by bringing back the largest piece of furniture (for example, the sofa) into the room. Try placing the sofa at different angles, or set away from a wall, which can make the room feel more spacious. Placing a large piece of furniture in a different position can dramatically change the room’s focal point and energy. Next arrange smaller furnishings around the focal point to create your seating arrangement. Experiment with trial and error, and try out L-shaped or U-shaped arrangements, depending on which is most conducive to conversation given the shape of the room. Open up to the arranging process, and let it be a dynamic one. Keep making changes until the room looks and ‘feels’ right. Remember form follows feelings…
Try on new perspectives. We all resist change, and yet every day we encounter an ever-changing world. Come on ladies, get away from that wall and step out into the room. BE the focal point in your life!
Step 4: Illuminate
How do we light up inside? It’s easy to tell when a woman is feeling her beauty because she glows from the inside out. She radiates magnificence and it shows. Ironically for most women, stepping into our own magnificence is our deepest fear However, we join Marianne Williamson in believing that when we let our lights shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same Come forward in your natural power to manifest the beauty within you and your surroundings. This will contribute positively to the planet and allow you to feel in harmony with it all.
In redesign, we often repurpose a piece of furniture; for example, the use of an antique trunk as a coffee table. We can do the same in life — change direction and repurpose our talents and life patterns to create a new style whenever we choose. We are only limited by our imaginations. When we consciously design our lives around the unique and beautiful beings we are on the inside, the world sees our internal “wow” factor. And the world is dying for that to come forth!
The final step in redesigning your external space is to add lighting and personality to the room; let the space speak volumes about the people living in it. This is accomplished with family pictures, heirlooms, and unique collections arranged artistically. For example, pick up a piece of artwork or an artifact off the floor, and try hanging it on the wall. The artwork is featured in a new way, and the wall increased its visual appeal.
Lighting, along with color, is a key factor in setting the mood of a room. The ideal arrangement includes three lights placed in a triangular pattern throughout the room. Position them close enough to furniture groupings so that lighting is equally distributed in the space. Use different types of lighting — table lamps, floor lamps, ambient lighting, up lighting, down lighting. Mirrors, when strategically placed are also a good source of light when reflecting a nearby lighting fixture.
When we consciously design our lives around the unique and beautiful beings we are on the inside, the world sees our internal “wow” factor. And the world is dying for that to come forth!
So there you have it… 4 easy steps.
Clear, Assess, Discover and Illuminate your home and your life and you will feel the peace, passion and pleasure you deserve. May you find it now!
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