Imagineering Notes

A client just asked me, "From a Feng Shui perspective in design, where would the recommended plants go in the design to maintain the energy flow?"

My reply started out with the most important consideration of all, one that gets overlooked frequently, which I'm also going to share with you below.

Living with plants is good for us in so many ways: they clean the air we breathe, offer beauty, reduce stress, and just plain make us happy. 

In the practice of feng shui, the shapes of plants and leaves and the way in which they grow also hold symbolic meaning and embody different types of energy that can encourage health and balance in specific areas of our lives.

When we are in offices or studies and we desire growth and energy in our business or education, plants that grow quickly and have an overall upright thrust to their growth will support our efforts. When we are working at a desk, seeing the strong, straight, lush growth of a lucky bamboo plant inspires us to also thrust upwards with determination. It is easier to work steadily with focus when we are sharing our space and breath with this fast-growing grass.

Plants that have spikes or thorns have strong protective energy and can be used when there is a vulnerable place where you desire protection, say at a backdoor or secluded rear window. Sitting in the kitchen in the evening feels safe and sound when the rear of your house is swathed in rose bushes and a row of street-smart cacti line the windowsill.

When we retire to the bedroom, plants that have heart-shaped leaves and grow in a draping shape, like philodendrons, encourage romance and rest.

But none of those associations are the most important thing to consider when deciding which plant to place where in your home or office. 

The most important thing to keep in mind
when taking plants under our care,
is that they are living beings. 

We are inviting living beings to share our space with us and committing ourselves to nurturing them. Their health and vitality is our primary concern in their placement. Plants always need to be placed where they want to live and grow.

But we don't have to move into a greenhouse in order to keep our photosynthesizing friends satisfied. Many varieties of house plants do quite well in low light, even fluorescent light. A plant specialist knows light and temperature requirements for different types of plants so when plant shopping, talk to the staff about where you would like to put plants (you can even show photos) so that they can help you select the best roommates for your accommodations.

And speaking of accommodations, how is your home or office feeling these days? Are you inspired, thriving, growing, blooming, lounging languidly, loving life? Or is your space giving you yellowing of the leaves and no fruit?

Feng shui is a 4,000 year-old art, science, and philosophy that helps people encourage a healthy, balanced life through the intentional design of the spaces we inhabit. I've been a practitioner of the Black Sect Tantric Buddhist School of Feng Shui for about ten years and it has helped me consistently up-level every area of my life.

BTB Feng Shui focuses on the psychological connections between our minds and our spaces and their influence on each other. The practice involves internal visioning work, intentional adjustments to our living environments, and mindfulness of our emotions, how our spaces influence them, and their role in shaping our lives.

My clients have used feng shui to encourage new careers, clarity and focus in business, attracting romantic partners, and encourage healthy living habits, among many other things. [By the way, we are all always perfect and whole, and capable and worthy of happiness in every situation - but things can always get better!]

If your home of office needs a little more help than just the leafy kind, you can have a free feng shui phone mini-consult (around 45 minutes). All you have to do is fill in your info here -> [Click Here]

Let me know a few times that would work for your schedule. We'll set up a call and if you like, you can even send me some photos of your space beforehand so we can get specific in our chat!

I've never offered free mini-consults before, so I'm kind of excited to get to talk to you about feng shui. Click -> HERE <- and let me know you're feeling it too.

Wishing you warm sun on your face and flowers in your vase,

Ginni Stiles
Life Designer

Like my facebook page ->HERE<-

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Are you working your buns off trying to achieve success, feeling drained, like there isn't enough time, and like your efforts aren't paying off the way you want them to? You're not alone.

Everywhere I go I see people rushing, pushing, crazy-busy. It's as if we have convinced ourselves that if we aren't speeding through life, we aren't trying hard enough. The problem is, going longer, harder, faster doesn't get us ahead. The most powerful force that gives us great rewards is something you connect with without WiFi!

But before I share the secret of this amazing power inside you, I want to share a very personal story with you - something you may not know about me.

For decades, I have struggled with depression and anxiety. (Those of you who know me well may find that surprising because I usually have a major smile going on!) I was even told at one point that I would have to take drugs every day for the rest of my life if I wanted to feel "normal." I didn't accept that as truth because it just didn't seem right.

I learned how I could change my internal state - how I was feeling, my emotions, and my outlook - without taking medication, and without succumbing to "the blues" anytime they crept up on me. I learned that my internal state is not the same as my external reality; and more importantly, by changing my internal state, I could actually change my external reality.

Not long ago, I was in a real emotional funk. Aside from feeling low, I noticed that none of my marketing efforts were paying off. I just wasn't getting the responses that I usually get. I knew something was really off. I could have gotten depressed and lost hope. I could have thought, “See, I'm doing all this marketing and not getting anything from it. This business model must be flawed. I'm never going to make it in this economy. Maybe I should just give up and go get a job.” (Does any of this sound familiar?)

Instead, I knew that the problem – and solution – lay within me. I woke up on Monday morning and guess what I did? I stayed in bed! But not out of depression and hopelessness – I stayed in bed for the first hour of my week doing a visualization that connected me with the positive emotions that I needed to feel to propel me into my designed future. By the time I got out of bed, I had completely changed my emotional state and brought a completely different me to the day.

And you know what? 45 minutes later, my phone rang and it was a new client who was very excited to start working with me because she had been referred to me by a delighted past client.

Here's a text message I received from another client after we did a visualization together:

“Thank you for your help and guidance today. I really needed it. That was about as low as I had felt in a long time, but it felt very cathartic. I got several phone calls today for potential work! It's all about the energy. Thank you thank you thank you.”

I want to share this Emotional Visualization technique with everyone I can. Using your body, emotion, and mind and seeing yourself in the past, present, and future, you can powerfully connect with the excitement and positive emotions that will sling-shot you into the external reality that you desire.

Can I share this Emotional Visualization technique with you? Click here to select a time and I will give you a complimentary phone session:

Take me to the future!

What will you create in your tomorrow? (And what will tomorrow look like if you don't make a change?)

I hope this message inspires you to stay in bed! Lie on the beach! Soak in the tub! All while placing yourself firmly in the future you will create, and feeling that, “Hell Yeah!” feeling.

If you would like a free session with me to see how this Emotional Visualization technique works, all you have to do is click this link and select a time:

I'm ready to cry, “More, More, MORE!”

Talk soon, you reality rebel,

Ginni Stiles
Life Designer

www.spacemagick.com

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Maybe you can handle organizing the pile of papers on your desk with ease, but then there's the basement... or the attic... or the garage... or “The Junk Room” that once was a home office or guest room and now looks like a self-storage unit after an earthquake. It's been years that you've know those places need attention, but it might be years more before you can bring yourself to face them.

No longer! That junk isn't paying part of your rent or mortgage, is it? Why should it be taking up all that square footage of your space? Maybe you're even paying to heat and air condition the space where that clutter is squatting. That's YOUR space – take it back NOW! (Hint - It's actually not as painful as you think it's going to be when you follow the tips I'm about to give you.)

If you made this project happen, you could pull your car in the garage, or put away the holiday decorations where they really go instead of leaving them on the stairs to the attic. You could work efficiently from home with everything you need at your fingertips and keep your dining room table open for dining. You could have a guest overnight (wine and Scrabble, anyone?)

Or you could just let the clutter keep creeping and squeezing you into less and less of your own home until you're walking down a path through each room and eating your meals on your lap. (It's your choice; I won't judge!)

Why is clearing clutter SO HARD?!

It's just a bunch of junk, why do we hate to go through it? Why do we feel drained when we look at it? Clearing clutter forces us to impose structure on a whole lot of random things that are hard to think about. Our mind has to jump from one though to another as we pick up one thing then another and think about each one. And we have to make decisions. Deferred decisions. Making decisions is extremely mentally tiring.

Gathered from years clearing the worst clutter nightmares side-by-side with my clients, I've compiled a set of techniques that will help you tackle your “shame room” without developing post-traumatic stress disorder. These are tried and tested tips that you can use to succeed in taking back the territory you lost. I call it this set of techniques...

Clutter Clearing Advanced Tactical and Survival Skills:
Notes from the Trenches

1. Schedule the time with yourself

Anything we want to accomplish has to get scheduled. Why do we only keep appointments with other people and not ourselves? Keep the appointment with yourself to clear out your clutter. Set aside a few hours if possible, or just a little bit at a time. Be consistent and schedule plenty of time to get the project done. Schedule according to what time of day you are best at doing this type of work. Some people do this better in the mornings, some in the evenings... follow your natural rhythms and you'll be more efficient. If the temperature has a strong impact on the area where you are doing the clearing (attics, garages, etc.), pick the appropriate season to tackle the project so that you will work comfortably.

2. Set the stage

When you are getting started with your session, designate and label a place (bag, box, pile, etc.) for the following: TRASH, RECYCLE, DONATE, GIVE TO SPECIFIC PEOPLE (INCLD. GIFT/RE-GIFT), KEEP SOMEWHERE ELSE, KEEP HERE. Have plenty of trash and recycling bags handy to keep moving. Keeping a marker, labels, and tape handy is also a good idea. You might have a designated basket or box for clutter clearing supplies that you keep in the room you're working in.

3. Create Atmosphere

Set a time to take a break and set some sort of timer. Playing a CD gives you a natural break timed at the end. Play music, or talk radio. Avoid having a TV on because the video will distract you and you will stop working to watch. Burn incense and/or candles. Turn on lights. Open windows if the weather is nice. Make the space as pleasant as possible for you to work in.

4. Get Started

Pick a target. Maybe you are going to work on the paint area, or the area to the right of the door. Whatever your goal, make it small and manageable, and something that you can focus on to keep from getting lost in the mess. Pick up one thing at a time and make a decision about which pile it goes into. If you really get stuck, don't stand there holding the golf clubs for 20 minutes. Put that item in a REVIEW pile and move on. [When you are done for that session, you review the items you were stuck on earlier. Once you see what you got rid of and what you have left, you will have a more clearly defined context for your decision and it will be easier to make a decision on that thing.]

Knowing that you have that undone project looming drains your energy and pushes you to escapist activities: watching TV, drinking, overeating, going out of the house all the time. What would your life look like if you had that spare room back? If you came home to an organized, clean garage instead of a landfill? If you knew your memorabilia was stored safely and in a way that you could find it when you wanted it? What would you do with your life if you no longer had that clutter monkey on your back? Would you play guitar? Write poems? Start a new business?

Go get started! Discover for yourself the energy you will unleash when you no longer have the “someday” clutter project casting a shadow over the rest of your life. This set of techniques might be the key for you to unlock the potential that awaits you.

If you find that you need more help, I'm here. Email me to set up a complimentary Clutter Release Conversation where I take you through a process over the phone that will give you a specific realization that brings total clarity to the situation and a new mindset that will help you feel differently about feeling organized and in control of your life.

Now go grab those trash bags!

Ginni Stiles
Life Designer

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So many of us live with clutter in our lives: on our desks, in our closets, drawers, cabinets, on our computers... We live in an almost constant state of overwhelm. Well, I've been helping people clear their clutter for ten years now and I have come to an upsetting realization: Clearing clutter doesn't work. I've realized something profound about the nature of clutter - something that will allow you to live without it for the rest of your life - and I'm going to explain it to you.

I've loved helping people clear off their messy desks, purge their overstuffed closets, clean out their pantry cupboards... the list goes on. We spend a few hours, attack the problem area, get it all edited and organized, find responsible outlets for the discards (sale, gift, donation, recycling, trash), and step back with satisfaction to appreciate a job well done. It's rewarding work. Clearing clutter releases trapped energy, so both my client and I often feel rejuvenated more than exhausted at the end of the work. So what's wrong? Why do I think clearing clutter doesn't work?

Because it keeps coming back!

Here's Sue's story...

Sue is not happy. Her job stresses her out. The people there annoy her and she doesn't feel respected. She isn't interested in or challenged by what she does there anymore. She doesn't dare leave her job though, because it feels secure. She is divorced and has been seeing her current boyfriend for two years but she isn't sure where that is going. She would like things to move forward and start living together, but they seem to be in a holding pattern. She's been carrying around an extra 20 pounds for about 10 years now and her weight is slowly climbing.

Sue struggles with anxiety and depression. She often feels guilty about what she eats, but she is usually so rushed that she can't manage to eat healthier, or she just wants to eat something yummy at the end of a hard day so she scarfs out on really bad (but delicious!) treats. She likes to get together with her friends for happy hour after work. They have a really good time and she feels like she can totally relax and enjoy herself when they are out drinking and laughing. Her problems disappear for a little while.

Her house always feels messy and out of control. She usually has at least one load of clean (maybe even folded) laundry that needs to be put away, but the closet and dresser are so crammed that it's hard to find places to put it all. She has a spare bedroom that she uses an an office, but she doesn't go in there all that often because her desk is piled with papers: unopened mail, papers that need to have something done with them, stuff that just needs to get filed, receipts, and somewhere in there is that name change document from her divorce that she needs in order to straighten out her electricity account, but she can't find it.

Sue wants to lose weight. She wants to go to the gym regularly after work but she never seems to find the time. She wants her house to be clean, but she can't seem to stay ahead of all the work. She wants to have a neat desk and an office she can use, but there's so much to be done in there and it feels too overwhelming to even start.

Sue finally decides that she will work with a professional organizer and calls me to come out one Saturday and clean up her office with her. We work for about three hours and we get her desk totally cleaned off, her papers filed, and the things she has to do are left in a nice neat pile on one side. Even the name change document surfaces! She feels great about her office and is looking forward to staying on top of her papers from here on.

But it doesn't work out that way. Six weeks later, her desk look worse than it did before she worked with me. She still hasn't sent the name change document in to the electric company and now she isn't sure where it is again. She is embarrassed and ashamed to let her boyfriend see what happened to her desk after she hired me to come help her. She doesn't tell him, but she has me come out again and we get her desk cleared off again and she tells him that she did it herself. Ugh.

What went wrong? I made a big mistake when I helped Sue. I worked with her on her clutter – and her clutter was not the problem!

Here is what I've realized about clutter:

Clutter Is the Mess Your Mind Makes.

Clutter is like the wake that a boat makes in the water.
The rush of your life out of control is like the speeding boat that leaves the wake behind it.

Clutter is like a huge pimple on your face.
The confusion in your mind is like the cheese fries that gave you the pimple.

Clutter is like the flies that swarm around a pile of garbage.
The constant state of chaos and overwhelm that you live with every day of your life is like the pile of garbage that keeps growing, rotting, and attracting flies.

The mistake I made when I tried to help Sue (actually, Sue is not one real person - she is many real people) was that we worked on her clutter and not her mind.

The secret to ending clutter in you life
is to end the chaos, confusion, and overwhelm
that leave clutter in its path.

If you can successfully master your life so that you are living consciously in each moment, you never build up the back log of deferred decisions that become clutter. You truly live clutter-free. If you don't master you mind, you are forced to react to solve the problems that have mounted because you didn't deal with the issues when they first arose. Your life quickly starts to pile up over you, ahead of you, on top of you.

Now I work in a completely new way with people who are ready to master their lives and end clutter forever . I have a new 20-30 minute process that I can apply to anyone's specific situation that helps them get the clarity they need to release clutter from their lives.

The foundation of these techniques is based on these three things:
- A specific realization that brings total clarity to your situation
- A new mindset that helps you feel differently and stay completely in control of your life
- That realization and the new mindset, together work to help you consistently be organized, feel calm, and totally master your life!

People who live clutter-free have peaceful minds, better connections in their relationships, better health, and satisfaction in their life's path. The alternative is an unending treadmill of letting papers and other “stuff” pile up, having it drive you crazy, then spending hours struggling to purge and sort all the old business that wasn't dealt with at the time it entered your life.

I hope that this insight I have shared with you will kick-start you into a completely new way of living.

If you want to work with me on clearing up you mind (and let your desk keep itself clear from now on), then schedule a complimentary Clutter Release Conversation with me. We'll identify your challenges and literally change you way of living in less than 30 minutes. (And I'm happy to record the call, because really great ideas will come up, and you can have the MP3 to keep.)

Let me know if ending clutter and being organized for the rest of your life is something you'd like to do. Click this link to reserve a time right now. 

Talk soon,

Ginni Stiles
Life Designer
www.spacemagick.com

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We've all been invited to events that we just don't want to go to. Maybe we don't like the people, or we don't feel like traveling, or we have other things we would rather do (even if it's sitting around doing nothing!). And now with social media, we get invited to WAY more events than ever before. It's easy to feel overwhelmed with potential obligations.

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