Is it time for a space clearing or house blessing? Yes!

Space clearing can include adding flowers to your home to freshen and brighten it.

Recently I have been helping clients with space clearings and house blessing and farewell ceremonies for their homes as they prepare them for sale.  It is a reminder to everyone how connected we are to our spaces; how we love them and they, in turn, shelter, protect and express who we are at our deepest levels, even if we are not aware of the relationship!  A space clearing and house blessing ceremony brings that important relationship to the forefront and the ceremony is profound — for all of us.  Space clearings can be done for many reasons, however, and they are always a great idea when change is approaching, happening or happened — which, honestly, is just about all the time!

Space clearings and house blessings are part of many traditions around the world. They involve physically cleaning the space, setting loving intentions and choosing the clearing and blessing tools that resonate with the participants. Space clearing and blessing ceremonies honor and embrace all spiritual and religious belief systems and can include the specific prayers, symbols and rituals that are meaningful to the participants.

Space clearing and House Blessing ceremonies are often done for the following:  

Prior to putting your home on the market for sale. This powerful ceremony has resulted in creating action for my clients – offers and contracts.

Moving into a new home or office. This space clearing ceremony is an auspicious way of clearing the space of the energy of the “old” homeowners or office dwellers and introducing the new owners to the space. This is sometimes done when there is negative energy felt at the closing of the sale.

Before and after the arrival of a child, the leaving of a child for college or other endeavors, parties of any kind – engagement, marriage, holiday and birthday celebrations.

Spring cleaning or at any equinox change.  (At the time of this posting our summer equinox is just around the corner!)

Space clearing can include adding flowers to your home to freshen and brighten it.

Illness, trauma, an accident, argument, divorce, foreclosure or death.

It is such an honor to work with my clients to help them create their own personal ceremonies. Each one is unique and offers a profound release.  Recently I was interviewed by Aly Semigran of The Lucky Blog, a nutrition and healthy living blog, on how to cleanse negative energy from a home.  Read more here to get some additional ideas on how you can do it, too!

https://blog.luckyvitamin.com/home/how-to-cleanse-negative-energy-from-your-home/

Interested in a feng shui retreat?

Your year ahead is an open road.

Looking for a weekend retreat where you can learn about feng shui and running a heart-centered, spirit-led business? Sedona Rocks! Retreat might be just right for you. Read on.

I love it when clients and workshop attendees ask how they can get started to learn more about feng shui, becoming a practitioner or adding feng shui to their skill set as an interior designer or other environmental or energy healer. I send them to the Western School of Feng Shui for information on the certification program, to read the blog and join us on our public Facebook page. And, of course, I give them a list of my favorite books (under the last question in the FAQ).

Now, I have something additional to offer: a Western School of Feng Shui weekend retreat open to heart-centered, spirit-led entrepreneurs and potential business owners to connect with other like-minded feng shui practitioners and environmental and energy healers!

Women at retreat
Women connecting at a retreat.

Sedona Rocks! Retreat

Sedona Rocks! Retreat is happening June 1 – 3, 2018 at Las Posadas of Sedona in Sedona, AZ. This 2 ½ day retreat includes content-rich workshops on running a feng shui practice or other heart-centered, spirit-led business practice, time to connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs or would-be practitioners, shared meals, yoga and hiking in a beautiful setting. Tuition is $547 and includes all workshops and evening programs, Friday night reception, Saturday night dinner, and daily snacks.

Interested? Let’s talk! Contact me directly to learn more, lwgrillo@thrivingspaces.com or 303.882.7275.

 

Who are you? Look to your stuff for the answer.

I remember when I was 18 my mother told me about a workshop she’d attended on “consciousness raising.” She explained the exercises they went through and one that was particularly illuminating for her. She said the group leader asked them all a question she was going to ask me. I had been half listening (I know, I know, that was rude, but in my defense, I was 18 and probably thinking about graduation or my boyfriend or what I was going to wear to Saturday’s cookout). In short, I didn’t know how serious this conversation was going to become. So I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Sure.” She sat up in her chair and leaned in toward me and asked, “Who are you?”

I swallowed. She had my full attention now. This was a question I had been dancing around because I was at a jumping-off point in my life. Finishing high school, on my way to college, deciding if I was going to break up or do the long-distance thing with my then boyfriend, generally feeling petrified and thrilled and anxious about everything. I couldn’t speak. Instead, I burst into tears. I had no idea how to answer her question.

Today — if I could be the wise age I am now but in the body of my 18-year-old self — I would have said to my mother, “Let’s head to my bedroom and take a look at my stuff to find out who I am.” What would we have seen? A madras bedspread. Posters of Paris and Cary Grant. Books on Calculus and Marcus Aurelius. A Joni Mitchell album. Embroidered jeans. A bulletin board covered with photos of my friends. My stuff knew exactly who I was: a romantic bohemian and wannabe Francophile who loved math, folk music, philosophy, and her friends. That pretty much nails it.

My 18-year-old wanna-be Francophile self.
My 18-year-old wanna-be Francophile self.

We surround ourselves with what is important to us, and we do it instinctually. One of the tenets of feng shui is that our environment mirrors our consciousness. In other words, if we want to know who we are, all we have to do is look around and see what we’ve surrounded ourselves with. Our things reflect “who we are” at this moment in time. Stop for a minute to look at your space and everything in it. Is your stuff telling your story? Is it a story you’re happy with? If you want to change who you are, start by changing your environment.

I practice and study and share feng shui to help my clients understand the power of their stuff — and the power of changing and moving their stuff to create a new story for themselves, if a new story is the goal. Changing and moving your stuff with intention is a powerful way to begin changing your life.

My poor mother was astonished that she’d made me cry. She leapt from her chair to hug me and apologize. We clung to each other for a sweet moment. Life was changing, as it does and is supposed to. My bedroom changed, too. My parents first turned it into a guest room, then an office, and then an art studio. Each transformation expressed the new life they were living in their house without me.

Who are you and who do you want to become? Your house, your office, your bedroom — your space — is expressing the answer now, and it can help you create a new future.

Feng shui before and after: the “room of doom.”

You probably have one—a closet, a desktop, a room—the spot you shy away from, the place you hate to walk past, the door you don’t open unless you must. In my work as a feng shui consultant, I’ve learned from my clients that these places have names, usually not very flattering:

“The dead space”

“The clutter magnet” or

“The room of doom.”

In feng shui, every space in your home—whether it’s a closet, a laundry room, or a desk—has equal value and purpose. All are made up of vital energy called chi, all are connected, and all are constantly changing. Which means that your “dead space,” “clutter magnet,” or “room of doom” is vitally connected to the other spaces in your home, and it affects the harmony and energy of the whole. This can be a difficult concept to understand because it certainly feels like some of our spaces are more important than others.

When clients grimace talking about their unloved space with the disparaging name, I know we’ve hit on an important trouble spot. In feng shui, we call this “finding the splinter.” My job is to help my clients figure out how to remove the splinter.

My clients April and Rob Schmidt are homeowners with a “room of doom.” They are interior designers and builders by profession, and their home, which also serves as their office, is beautifully arranged and decorated in the mid-century modern style. And while they have spent time and energy renovating their other rooms, they weren’t sure what to do with the room that served as both a pantry and laundry area. Here are some “before” photos.

The room was dark with open pantry shelves and not enough storage.
The room was dark with open pantry shelves and not enough storage.
Lack of storage and old machines the clients didn't like added to the "doom."
Lack of storage and old machines the clients didn’t like added to the “doom.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The room hadn’t been painted to match the rest of the home, they didn’t like their washer and dryer or the open pantry shelving, and they wanted a space separate from their professional office to keep track of miscellaneous paperwork.

My recommendations included painting the room white to match the rest of the home (white represents the Metal Element and is associated with the Helpful People & Travel area of the Bagua), purchasing a new washer and dryer, clearing space for a desk and bulletin board, replacing the open shelving with closed storage, and displaying artwork that represented their love of travel.

And, equally important, renaming the room!

Here are the “after” photographs, shared by my clients, of their new laundry and pantry area. I hope they will inspire you to treat your own unloved space with new respect. When you do, you’ll feel a new connection to it, you’ll end up spending more time there and you’ll experience change and movement in a new direction in your life. When we love our spaces, they love us back!

The desktop is a work space and folding area.
The new desktop is a work space and folding area.
New W/D!
New W/D!
The closed shelving hides the pantry items and allows the eye to rest on what's important to the residents.
The closed shelving hides the pantry items and allows the eye to rest on what’s important to the residents.
Artwork depicting their love of travel hangs of the wall above additional wall storage.
Artwork depicting their love of travel hangs on the wall above additional wall storage.

Create a 2016 Vision Board using Feng Shui

As you’re cleaning your home for family visits and putting up holiday decorations, I invite you to cull old magazines, maps, calendars, travel brochures, postcards, and picture books and save them. Why? So you can go through them later to select images for creating a personal 2016 Vision Board.

A Vision Board is a collection of images that represent your hopes, goals, dreams, and thoughts for a period of time—usually created in preparation for the New Year. The images are mounted on a poster board or corkboard and hung in a place where you can see them every day. Vision Boards are proactive, intentional, and fun. A Vision Board is a powerful communication tool that you can use to speak to your subconscious. Why do you want to do this? Because the subconscious is where your beliefs, feelings, and thoughts reside and ruminate. And, it runs the show!

Snapshot of a Vision Board
Snapshot of a Vision Board

Who makes Vision Boards? Anyone who wants to plan their year. Anyone who isn’t sure about their path and wants clarity. Anyone who wants to dream big. Anyone who is brave enough to ask for what they want.

Why make Vision Boards? To co-create the life you want in the coming year (yes, you are co-creating your life with your subconscious). Oh, and because they work!

How do you make a Vision Board? Read on.

When you’re ready, go through the collected materials you’ve been saving and remove the pages that have photos of people, places and things that strike your fancy for your future. Give yourself several hours/days to do this when you’re feeling positive. Keep your images together in a folder until you’re ready to mount them.

Then use Feng Shui organizing principles – the Bagua, Five Elements and Yin/Yang balance — to design your Board. Feng Shui uses the seen world—our environment—to help us connect with, understand, and change the unseen world—our thoughts, feelings and beliefs. Vision Boards and Feng Shui go hand in hand using images (the seen) to help us create a vision of the future (the unseen.) With Feng Shui guiding you, you can make sure to balance your vision board for 2016 with work, rest and play.

Come to my workshop, Create Your 2016 Vision Board Using Feng Shui, on Saturday, January 9, 2016 from 1:30 PM–4 PM at the Schlessman Family Branch of the Denver Public Library in the upstairs Community Room. I’ll explain the Feng Shui organizing principles and together we’ll make our Vision Boards. Bring your images in a file folder and I’ll supply the rest of our creation tools: poster boards, scissors, glue sticks and additional publications for perusing for photos.

The workshop fee is $25. Upon registering, each attendee will receive a how-to-get-started list, an outline for the workshop, and a personal phone call to answer any questions about the activity.

If you’re interested in participating, email me at lwgrillo@thrivingspaces.com today!