HOUSE THERAPY: Your house is not a HOME?

Who am I? I know, it’s a loaded question, but really who are you? Are you neat, tidy, messy, whimsical, conservative, traditional, weird, eccentric, creative, handy, troublesome, bossy, uptight, informal, environmental, old-fashioned, romantic, sentimental, simple? Really. Figure it out. Are you more concerned about what others think – neighbors, friends, family? Or are you self-assured and confident in your own choices? And believe me — the two do not go together. Then look around and see if your home is a comfortable place for you to experience those aspects of your true self that you are finding while remembering all along that the human brain is completely capable of re-creation, or more simply put, You can change with the caveat if you really want to.

What do I need? Yes, really, form does follow function to create a truly brilliant home that works for everyone. It happens naturally and easily once we get out of our own way and put to rest our own beliefs in the “shoulds”. I should, it should, we should – get those out of your vocabulary when you are working on creating HOME and get to “I need” “I feel” and “I want” —  even “I love".

What techniques work for me? Tidying (or Kondoing, from the book by Marie Kondo, as it has been dubbed by others), Feng Shui, Geomancy, and all the other LIFESTYLE resources and choices made popular during the past few decades have some good things to offer if you are interested. The thing to know is that they mainly facilitate your awareness of space and how you use it, but they are not a one size fits all remedy. If you’ve had any experience with Feng Shui (and I assure you I have and I worked with Sarah Rossbach, the woman who introduced the practice to the U.S., way back in the 80’s; did you know there is even a “Dummies” version?) then you will have found out that there are many different styles or schools with a whole bunch of ideas and esoteric methods or remedies. The main thing to take away is this >>> IT’S ALL ENERGY. That’s basically what we are as human beings. We are energy, everything is made of atoms which are moving around all the time etc., etc. Your intuition is your best friend. Develop it.

Get rid of or fix what is broken, surround yourself with what brings you joy, make it functional and easy to deal with so you aren’t wasting your time and energy.