shift your energy, shift your life
moving things around
I believe that if someone wants to change the energy in their life, one pretty simple starting point is to move stuff around in their home.
There are many different spiritual and cultural traditions that believe this. For example, feng shui is all about the arrangement of your environment and the influence on life force (qi). One of my current interests is shamanism, and in many Indigenous traditions, one’s physical space can be cleared or healed, just like the body.
Here are a few examples of how I’ve put this in practice:
- Clearing stagnation after injury. I had a friend who had broken her leg and was spending much of her time at home on the couch, and sinking into a depression. When I came over to spend time with her, I could immediately tell the energy in her living room was stagnant. It took a little convincing, but my gift to her was to open the windows, vacuum the entire area, shift some of the items around (like books off the floor, rearrange the pillows), and finally, sage the space. The change in her mood was immediate. Some of it was likely from being cared for, but I also think it was from the fresh energy in the space.
- Resetting with a pantry purge. Same thing when a family member needed to start a new diet, I took almost two full days to clean out and re-arrange all of the food in the kitchen. They were holding on to a lot of old sh*t! Like unopened condiments from the 2010s, racks of expired spices, and containers of frozen leftovers that were never going to see the light of day again. Having all of that clutter is mentally draining, because it looks like the cupboard is full, yet there’s nothing to actually eat. A fresh start begins with the new energy of seeing plainly what is actually there.
- Shifting the scene of stress. I have a friend who was incredibly stressed out at their job. They worked from home, and every day they experienced a knot in their stomach before waking up. They had a home office in the basement and a guest bedroom upstairs, and I suggested switching the two rooms. It seemed daunting, because the bedframe needed to be taken apart and moved downstairs, so they hired a person to help. This was a way to send a signal, internally and externally, that they were ready for a new approach. And since then, they’ve actually been excited to work in their new space.
As I’m looking at this list, I realize this might be easier to do for others than for oneself. Starting this project of publishing a post every day for 30 days is one way that I’m trying to shift my energy of being seen, and as I’m typing this, I realize there is also an opportunity for me to mirror this shift in my physical space, too.
I probably have at least 30 boxes in my garage that need addressing (ERK). Can I start by *opening* a box a day? Not that I have to do something with it, but at least face it? Can I create some momentum and support myself energetically?
