Space: Is Your Space Energizing or Draining?
April 2, 2014 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Is your space pleasant, comfortable, and workable or does it create stress? Are items easily accessible? If you are left-brained (analytical), are things stored vertically or behind closed doors? If you are right-brained (creative), are they stored horizontally or within plain view? (A.k.a. piles) These left-brained and right-brained preferences have been shown to work well with the work styles and organizational styles of each type of person. Where are you on the continuum?
Figuring out how to adapt your systems to fit your style will relieve both stress and lost items, and earn you more time for fun. Do your desk accessories accommodate these preferences? What is the color of your space, what type of furniture is in that space, and how is it positioned in the room? The key here is “organize to energize”. We save valuable time, energy, and mental frustration when we are more organized and working with our brain-hemisphere preference.
Research from the National Association of Professional Organizers suggests messy professionals waste up to six weeks per year (over one hour per day) looking for lost things. Does your space project a positive image for you or your organization? Seek out furniture, accessories, and storage devices to help you instead of hamper you in getting yourself organized. Write down what your ideal work or living space would look like and let that be a guide to what needs your attention to work towards that idea.
Using full-spectrum or natural lighting can increase your energy and productivity by 25% over fluorescent or incandescent lighting. Studies in hospitals, schools, and businesses found that fluorescent lighting could sometimes give people headaches or irritate them with the buzzing and flickering, and also annoy the eyes with its unnatural glow. Those who can work or live with more light from the sun or with full spectrum lighting which better mimics the sun will have more energy.
A HarvardUniversity study confirms this fact that the impact of light on the eye improves attention focus and energy production in the brain. Other studies have also linked the body’s hormonal and biochemical balances with sunlight and darkness as it relates to our personal energy. Moderate exposure to sunshine helps boost our immune system and our body produces vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Healthcare professionals have known for years that patients who get fresh air and sunshine have a better attitude and improve better than those who don’t. Those with Seasonal Affective Disorder or the Winter Blues have a sensitivity to lightness and darkness. Those living near the Arctic Circle must contend with the light situation in other ways such as wearing light masks to improve their energy.
Take inventory of your space. Is it filled with light and beauty? Beauty in any form is intoxicating. Surround yourself with beauty to raise your spirits. Be mindful of what you see in your home, your office, or out your window each day. Create your world so you see scenes to delight your eye and rid your environment of unsightly obstructions. Place a birdbath outside your window, hide your air conditioner with potted plants, hang stained glass in a window with a dreary view, collect great art, or display the art projects your children or grandchildren made for you. Live beautifully.
Interior designer and philosopher Alexandra Stoddard has several super books on living a beautiful life. How are you contributing to the beauty in your life? What do you see out your office window or kitchen window? How can you improve upon your surroundings or interior spaces to improve the beauty? What can you do personally to improve your own beauty because you are part of other people’s environment? Adult learning theory states that we learn better and are more productive when we are in pleasant surroundings. Take a look through fresh eyes at your surroundings and make some changes to bring in more beauty and enhance your vital energy.
Organize to Energize: Making Room for Abundance
December 4, 2008 | Posted in Living Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
I’m thrilled to be interviewed on the radio talk show Dollars and Sense on 94.9 FM WXRJ or wxrj.org in the mid-west hosted by my good friend, colleague and Professional Speaker, David Lewis and his co-host Cranston Sparks on the topic of Organizing and Energizing Your Life to Make Room for Abundance.
David and Cranston, both successful businessmen, host a weekly show on the topic of finance, success and living a prosperous life by sharing their insights and interviewing thought leaders in their fields. Making sense of making dollars and all the ways to bring success into your life is what they bring to listeners near Chicago and around the country. More details can be found at the radio station site or at DavidGLewis.com.
We discussed how our outside world reflects our inside world and if there’s a mess in our space, there’s likely a mess in our minds. We need to get clarity inside before we see clarity and cleared closets, desks and spaces outside.
The universe doesn’t bring abundance to chaos and if you can’t handle what you already have, then the universe will not be bringing you any more. So get going and get organized and systematized according to your style and preferences. What works for you.
How do you know when you need to get more organized or that you need to make more room for abundance?
1. You are frustrated with bottlenecks in your life
2. Your office, desk, closets, drawers, bedroom, kitchen and car are overflowing with stuff you trip over or dust around and it creates some anxiety
3. You keep losing things, misplacing items and can’t seem to find what you need in a timely manner – you waste time looking for stuff.
4. You are getting feedback from your partner, colleagues, friends or those you live with that your stuff is getting out of control.
So clean up your space, clean up your act and clear the way to make room for abundance. It doesn’t hurt that you can jumpstart your abundance by finding cash in your closets and selling things online or at yard sales etc.
What is overflowing in your life? If everything is overflowing outward, prosperity can’t flow inward – create a space for things to flow into your life on every level. It can start with changing your mind, cleaning off your desk, your calendar or clearing out your closet.