If you’re feeling run down but you can’t pinpoint why, if you moved into a new house and everything seemed to fall apart, or if everything feels stale, this episode is for you. I’ll be visiting with Amanda Gibby Peters about how the practical and metaphorical applications of Feng Shui can lead to major changes in your life.

If we don’t take charge of our environment, our environment will take charge of us. Even something as simple as keeping a vase of flowers in the house can freshen up the space and start to move the energies in a more positive direction. If there’s something we’ve been putting off because we feel like we don’t have time to deal with it, the actual cost is that it wears on you over time and makes every facet of your life harder.

Start small. Any progress is progress. If you try to tackle too many changes at once, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. The key to real change is feeling successful, so do that in tiny, incremental steps that you can keep up with. Remove resistance that’s in the way of the things you want to be doing.

Amanda Gibby Peters is the voice and visionary of Simple Shui™ — a modern-day, mission-driven, love-based practice of Feng Shui. She’s been teaching Feng Shui techniques and tips for over a decade, witnessing the breathtaking life transformations of her readers and clients. She has a background in communications (she used to work on the Hill!) and has been called the “Martha Stewart” of Feng Shui. Her superpower is making complex, ethereal ideas tangible, fun and life-changing!  Her work has been featured on Architectural Digest, My Domaine, Food52, Lonny, MindBodyGreen, Well + Good and Amazon. She was recently named one of Instagram’s “Best Feng Shui Accounts” by The Spruce for her vibrant and innovative influence on creating positive spaces. Amanda is Dallas-based with an international clientele, where she lives with her husband, twin daughters, and their rescue dog, Ruby.

Amanda will be offering exclusive packages to my clients to compliment their nutrition and lifestyle coaching work, and I also highly recommend her book Simple Shui for Every Day: 365 Ways to Feng Shui Your Life, and her latest online course, Become Your Own Feng Shui consultant.

Simple Shui | home page

Instagram: @amandagibbypeters

If you’re looking for support in reaching your health goals, schedule a free 30-minute Coffee Talk here to see if we’re a good fit to work together.

Connect with me on Instagram @joliverwellness! DM me the words “Nutrition Edit” and I’ll add you to my close friends list, where I share exclusive content. You’ll be the first to know about upcoming programs and early access to my waitlist.

Music credit: Funk’d Up by Reaktor Productions

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Hello and welcome today my guest is Amanda Gibby Peters.

Amanda is the voice and visionary of Simple Shu, a modern day, mission-driven,

love-based practice of fun shui.

She's been teaching Feng shui techniques and tips for over a decade, witnessing

the breathtaking life transformations of her readers and clients.

Her work has been featured on Architectural Digest, My Domain

Food 52 Lonnie Mind Body.

and good and Amazon.

She was recently named one of Instagram's best fun shui accounts by the spruce

for her vibrant and innovative influence on creating positive spaces.

Amanda is Dallas based with an international clientele where

she lives with her husband, twin daughters, and their a rescue dog.

Ruby, I had so much fun talking with Amanda about how fun Al can influence

your health habits, productivity, and even your food choices.

She shares lots of juicy tips, and I think you're gonna love this episode.

So enjoy and let's dive.

Hey Amanda, I'm so excited to have you here today.

Welcome.

Amanda Gibby Peters: Thank you for having me.

I'm excited for this conversation.

Thanks for joining me today.

I'm super excited about it.

And there's so many questions I have for you and I know that this is gonna be a

really beneficial episode for everybody.

And so yeah, let's just jump in.

I'd love for you to tell me a little bit about yourself and

how you got into doing fun.

Ate in the first place.

So that's a great question.

And it's a little bit of a lengthy story, so I'll shorten

it for the sake of our time.

I actually came into fun shui as a huge skeptic.

I, had moved to a new, to us home with my husband and our, at the

time, three year old daughters.

And a lot of stuff just started falling apart.

We were really stressed.

Things that had been problematic all of a sudden seemed to be just nine at us.

And I immediately thought, Oh, it's just the move, big life

change, that kind of stressor.

But after about six months, I was at my wits end and I grabbed a book and I just

thought, whatever I see is my answer.

And it opened to fun shui.

And when I read it, I thought, This is so silly because I've

just moved to a new home.

How can my home be causing all of this?

Right?

I didn't understand NG Choi at all, but I took it as a challenge and I thought,

At the time, blogs were really big.

So I was going to try functional and write about it and probably

show everyone how it didn't work.

that was my thought when I started it.

And you know what I really love about that is I am so able to see

people where they're at when they're skeptical or they have their own

resistance to it, or they're like, This doesn't make any sense because

off the page a lot of times it doesn't.

But once you get into conversation with someone and you start realizing how much

practical common sense, this really, comes from, it's a lot easier to wait in.

So what happened to me was I just started making changes that were

within reach that made sense to me that I could stay consistent with

cuz I didn't want to flake or not, be sort of academic in my approach and.

, it wasn't that anything changed immediately, and that's something

that I will offer people all the time.

Shui is not transactional.

It's not like you do something today and then tomorrow or

this week, big life change.

But what I did notice is as I was making changes or being more mindful

about what we were doing in our home, our house started feeling like a home.

And I was intrigued to do more.

And within, I would say a couple month period, maybe a few months, we did

have some really big life changes.

Ones that I could either just stack up as, Oh, this is a coincidence, or I

could acknowledge something was going on.

And that's eventually where I ended up.

I was like, Okay, I don't think I wanna be so skeptical anymore.

I'm really curious what's happening here.

And so I became the student and that's what got me on this path.

That's really cool.

Can I ask what.

I mean, I know whenever we move, obviously we've got boxes,

we've got things going on.

We haven't necessarily found a home for everything yet.

But when you were in that space, were there specific elements that

you were like, Okay, like this is stressing me out, or hey, maybe just

this idea of moving things around with fun shui could actually help.

Was there anything like that for you that could have just figured,

Amanda Gibby Peters: I think triggered you?

Yeah.

I think what it was our, like nothing felt right and I couldn't put my finger on it.

so initially what I thought it was, and I think a lot of people make

this mistake is I thought, Oh, my furniture's all wrong for my house.

I don't have the right things.

And it was a logical.

Assumption because we had moved from a much smaller home.

We had lived in Utah previously, so we had a small little home on the mountain

and then we moved to Texas where the homes are big and the ceilings are tall.

And so it looked like I had a bunch of Dollhouse furniture in my house, right?

And so it did feel off like, if you came in, it wasn't pleasing to the eye.

So I thought, now we gotta replace all the furniture.

I was thinking it was all, physical.

But as I started learning about Feng shui, I'd always been someone in

touch with intention, but I didn't understand environmental energy so much.

Like any more than like, oh, you might go into a room after someone's had

an argument or something's happened and you consent something's off.

I didn't realize that was a 24 7, 365 thing.

And so in, yeah, that's a fascinating idea.

Yeah.

And so all of a sudden I started making these connections, like, Oh, my, things

are saying something about me, but not like what sort of design trends or

magazines or now today's social media leads us to believe, like it really was

a reflection of my interstate, and it was also the energy that we were steeping in.

And so as I started to read and study and try to figure out

like, untangle these knots, like what is this functionally about?

I started realizing there was something else at play.

And one of the most fascinating stories about my journey was the, there were

a lot of aspects of functionality that felt a little too big of a leap for me,

you know, because I had just graduated with my master's in communication.

I was, planning on going and getting my PhD.

I, you know, I like very much Proof, logic, things that made sense.

Yeah.

And so this was like waiting out into the unknown for me.

And one of the things that I came across was this concept of space

clearing, clearing the energy in your home that felt really.

Weird, but I was like, Okay, I'm just gonna do it right.

we're trying everything, so we might as well throw this into the mix.

And I did this whole ritual through our house.

It was fantastic, genuinely felt really great.

But it was a couple weeks later running into someone who casually mentioned, Oh,

I knew the people who lived there before.

How are you liking the.

and I was like, We're kind of getting used to it.

And then she just casually mentioned that the people who had previously

been here were so unhappy.

They had so many issues, you know, in their marriage with their, you know,

just juggling kids and work and money.

And it felt like all of a sudden, oh my gosh.

Like that's exactly what we inherited when we came into the home.

And so the things that were going wrong weren't necessarily us.

It was the energy that we stepped in.

And I explain to people, it's sort of like slipping into someone

else's shoes and trying to just navigate through the world, right?

Yeah.

It's like a different experience.

And so that's, that for me was probably one of the more profound moments.

And luckily it was early on in my journey because then I started seeing, oh, this

is so much more than just what we see.

This is so much more than just moving our furniture around.

This is the conversation people need to have in their

hands.

That is so cool.

I love, I love hearing stories like that too, because it.

It really is such a palpable energy when you walk into a space and you

get that vibe one way or the other.

Right?

Yeah.

And I think that that's just that sixth sense thing.

It's sort of that same thing that we have innately where you can

feel someone watching you or you can feel it someone's behind you.

Something odd like that.

Like we, it's a real sense, we just tend to write it off because it seems

a little woohoo maybe, or esoteric, and we just don't really tap into that.

But it doesn't mean those things are any less active or real or

present just because we can't see it and it's not really obvious to us.

Yeah, so I think that that's fascinating and I really I love it.

Another episode down the road that we're gonna have is someone talking

about energetics and quantum physics.

And this is all very intertwined, so.

It'll very much go somehow.

Yeah.

Cool.

So I'd love to hear about, first the ritual that you did initially

that made things shift for you.

And then I'd love for you to share just a little overview

of, you know, what FEA is and

how it works.

Yeah.

So initially there are two things, and I talk about this a lot.

One of them a lot on social media and in all, you know, the different

spaces and places you find me.

So the thing that I did initially when I decided, Okay, I'm gonna prove.

That functionally doesn't really work.

I started buying fresh flowers for our house because it, it

was associated with wealth.

Money was a huge issue for us.

It seemed like we came here and even though things were supposed to be

less expensive, somehow money was coming in, but going right back out.

And so there's this idea that if you are in the presence or you, you know,

sort of cultivate the consciousness of abundance, then you too will then

attract abundance into your life.

So that's why I went with the fresh flowers.

Also because I could pick them up at the grocery store, so it kind of

was like an accountability partner.

I couldn't like skirt out of it.

So that was the initial ritual I did.

And like most people, I.

Sort of had a grudging attitude toward it, meaning I was like, It's

too expensive, it's not worth it.

There's no special reason to do this.

Like all of the excuses we use and what I've learned over the years is the very

thing that we want is usually the thing that we resist allowing into our lives.

So we just don't look that closely at the excuses we're using.

God, That's so true.

I made friends with the grocery store people and just said, Tell

me what days your fresh flowers are coming in so I can get them.

So they'll last the longest.

And then I always wanted to know what was least expensive, and that was my on ramp.

So that was the.

Ritual that sort of became the connective tissue.

Right.

And then in terms of the space clearing you know, what I did was

I went through our entire home and, and this is on my blog so people

can find this, but I went through my entire home and cleansed the energy.

You know, there's sort of a template for doing it, loosened

it up, then cleared it out.

I worked with a smoke bundle at the time, and then I went back through the

space and based on the functionally map, I said intentions for us.

I said them out loud in each area of the map, sort of reprogramming

the space, claiming it.

So it was r so that it was aligned with who we were and what we were

forecasting instead of what had been sort of left behind residually.

I

love that.

And when we were doing that at the moment, did it feel kind of.

or were you like, so you today it's so, it seems so ubiquitous.

Like people, like, it's so funny how many people are holding a smoke bundle

on TV and like, Oh, I've gotta clear the space, I've gotta clear the energy.

But honestly, this was like 2007.

This was not something that you just went to the store and found, or you

could just, you know, you've gotta think Facebook was just coming to life.

Instagram didn't exist.

And so it was really one of those, Yeah, like I was going to the

mystical shops and trying to find different things to work with.

And I did, I, I was way outta my comfort.

But because I went there and did it and not only had the, Okay, something

has shifted in the space, like I can't deny that it feels differently and

then, you know, sort of the proof of it a couple weeks later running into

someone who just casually and randomly starts this conversation with me.

Yeah.

I was like, Okay, I get it.

I get this now and, and it was honestly one of the things that I pushed the most

when I first became certified because I thought, how many people are living

with energy that they're negotiating or managing, that's not theirs, you know?

Right.

It just felt like such a powerful thing to offer people.

Right.

This different way of looking at what they're dealing with and maybe

it wasn't even theirs to deal with.

That's so

beautiful.

I, something that I tell my clients frequently is identify.

What is your own stuff and what is maybe your parental baggage or baggage from an X

that they put on you, Something like that.

And then do this visualization around, like actually like handing them back their

luggage and saying, This is not my baggage to carry anymore . And you know, again,

it feels silly sometimes initially, but I think that there really is so much of

that in, it's very pervasive in our lives.

And yeah, we don't tend to think of it in our spaces the way that we do, you

know, maybe on a psychological level.

Right.

So yeah, that's really powerful.

That's really cool.

Yeah, well we also think a lot about

cleaning our feed, right?

Like following people who feel good not following people, you know,

who don't make us feel as good.

We think about the, what we put in our bodies.

We think about, you know, the different products we use, but

we don't think so much about like the quality of conversations we're

having in our home, the media.

We're watching what we bring home with us from the world.

And this isn't absolutely, you know, I don't want people to break out into like

this need for, you know, over cleansing, but just being mindful that just like you

dust and vacuum or sweep and you know, clean your home, you want to energetically

clean it too with some sort of consistency so that a lot of that everyday life

that can start to build up is able to sort of be released and refreshed too.

Yeah, exactly.

It's just another form of detoxification and a different area of her life.

You know, a lot of the work that I do surrounds.

Detoxification on a physiological level.

And yeah, again, not being paranoid and being terrified of all the things that are

potentially bad for you out there in the world, cuz you would drive yourself crazy,

but just doing what you can in your daily life to kind of mitigate your exposures.

And so I think this is just another form of that, in another aspect

of our lives.

Yeah.

And your home is on a.

It's always in the backdrop, right?

So the thing I think that people, you ask me, you know, what fun shui is

and you know, my favorite description of it, I have a couple, but you know,

when you translate it, it really is just bringing yourself into alignment

with the energy of fortune, right?

Like Fung is win, Shu is water.

Wind represents energy, water represents fortune.

So you're, this practice is bringing yourself in alignment with the

energy of fortune, but not fortune.

The way that it has sort of been capitalized on, like, you know,

money inheritances quick, you know, wins, that kind of stuff.

It's everything that creates cultivates allows you to have and live a good life.

So everything that you feel necessary, and it's different for everyone, you know,

but everything that you feel necessary would fall sort of under that umbrella.

So when you start to think about your home, these four walls in a

roof you are under its influence.

all the time.

Yeah.

And if you're not a little mindful about that, that can work against

you as much as if you're deliberate about it, it can work for you.

Yeah, absolutely.

Very cool.

So, when it comes to our health, obviously this is what the sun test is about,

and we're talking about, you know, all aspects of our health beyond the

scale, and diving into ways that we can really kind of optimize our wellbeing.

So how can punctually make a difference for our health?

For better or worse?

Obviously it can have an influence on our stress.

I know that I'm someone that's very sensitive to my surroundings, and if

there is clutter that will stress me out, sometimes I won't even realize why I'm

feeling edgy and I'll look around and be like, Oh, I, I really need to clean this

room, or, you know, There's one room in my house right now that's kind of ending

up as a catchall because we haven't had time to really purge and, and clean and

organize, and I just don't go in there.

Like, I just subconsciously avoid it.

So we know it can, you know, feel stressful if our space isn't, in

a organized state or whatever.

But when it comes to our health as a whole, talk about that a little bit

and how, you know, this can influence us not just on a mental health level,

but physiological and, and everything.

Yeah.

So, I mean, that's another great way to look at fun shui is your

wellbeing is under the influence of your surroundings, right?

And so one of my favorite exercises to take people through is to look at your

space, go to a space that you really love.

. And it can be a room, it can be a corner, it can be a shelf,

it can be a side of the bed.

But just describe what you love about it.

Think about what you really love about it, you know?

And if you wanna do this and really get the win, you know,

pause here and write that down.

And then what I ask people to do is go to a space that you don't like.

So you know the room you just mentioned, and you can say it's a catch all.

You know, we're super busy.

You can sort of describe

the

way it feels, what you think of when you know, you

pass it as you put something else in it, and sort of describe that.

And the big reveal here is that when I have people do this, I'll

have them remove the name of the space and replace it with I am.

Mm.

And so your home is always a reflection of you.

And so the great thing about this exercise is you have a.

For what you love now, what feels good to you, sort of some

guiding principles, if you will.

And then the space that you don't love is an opportunity to tune up the quality

of energy that you are living in.

Right?

This is a really great way to start to practice fun, Al is to

look at things metaphorically.

There's a great quote or definition that I came across when I was

brand new to fun shui and Barry Gordon, I think is the name.

He was a, he's a physicist.

He said, You know, fun shui is the intelligent use of environmental

metaphor, you know, and so's

say one more time.

I love that fun.

Shu is the intelligent use of environmental metaphor.

Mm.

So when you start to think about how you want to feel, and again, this

gets so nuanced because everyone has different ideas, if they're being honest.

, you know, And not trying to sort of carbon copy what society tells

us, but what is healthy for you?

What feels good to you?

Right?

And finding ways to represent that in your space, because again,

you're steeping in this influence.

So programming your space in a way that reminds you, speaks to you, and encourages

you to hold to those intentions.

That's the way that you use it to trigger the opportunities and the

results that you're looking for.

So when it comes to health, that's a really big way to do

it is where are you settling?

What are you tolerating?

And it can be clutter, but it can be a lot of other things too.

Right.

And I say that because I think sometimes health can be, I'm so exhausted.

Okay.

Then go through your house and figure out where your house is wearing you down.

Mm-hmm.

. A lot of times it's things that we've just put off that we

think we don't have time for.

, but the actual cost is, it's wearing on us every single day.

Yeah.

Sapping at energy, you know?

Yeah.

And if we just took care of it, maybe it would take a couple hours, maybe

it would take a whole weekend, maybe it would take longer, but however much

time it would take probably isn't, as long as it's been allowed to sort of sit

there and a road away at your energy.

Right?

Yes.

So that's one thing I'm

laughing because for us procrastinators, that's . Mm-hmm.

. Amanda Gibby Peters: Yes, I know.

Yes, I know.

And you know what's interesting, procrastination.

I, I have a lot of clients who do that.

I think it's another form of perfectionism.

Absolutely.

It's like we think, Oh, I can't do this until it's going to be exactly right.

And so again, we put feeling a little better.

for that perfect moment to feel totally better with,

which is actually bullshit if we're honest with ourselves.

Right.

That doesn't exist, . Yes.

Yes.

It's the little upgrades.

It's the little mm-hmm.

moments.

But here's, you know, like speaking specifically about clutter, and I don't

mean clutter just for sort of those of us who think hoarding, I mean clutter,

anything that is not of use of need or that you love sort of just getting a pass,

a layover in your house, is that as you move things out, as you move things to

a space where you can appreciate them, however things need to be shifted or

sort of, you know, rearranged you open.

A different way for energy to pattern through your life.

And this is why, you know, all of the shows that have been so successful

lately, like, you know, the home edit, Marie Condo, Queer Eye, even when the

minimalists were out, all of these shows why people get so evangelical about it.

Because when you move things, you are literally changing your life.

You're changing the way you see things, you're changing the way you feel.

And so by just moving things around, even if it's just a small section of

your home, you're gonna get that win.

So I, I will tell clients, and you know, readers on the blog and the

socials just go for a little bit, a little better is a little better.

Yeah.

. Jeannie Oliver: Yeah.

Yeah.

And I can, and I build momentum quickly.

Exactly.

Yeah.

That feeling of success.

It's motivating, it's energizing.

You want more of it.

It creates that positive feedback loop in the brain.

Right.

So, Totally.

Yeah.

And since I've been chatting with you and getting to know you, I have had more

fresh flowers in the house and I now, I don't have them right now cause I just had

to toss out my old ones who are getting funky and I cannot wait to go pick up more

because it just brightened up everything and not just visually it just felt good.

Yeah.

So that's

Amanda Gibby Peters: where I'm starting . Yeah.

And

actually that doing small purges with things around

Amanda Gibby Peters: around and That's so good.

The kitchen, like opening up energy.

Think about just, I mean you're, you deal with the body.

Mm-hmm.

. So allowing things to flow is exactly what you're trying to create through your home.

Yeah.

And then what is going to invigorate.

That flow, and that's what fresh flowers do, right?

So we'll take supplements, we'll eat things that are high in

antioxidants or you know, whatever, more fiber, like whatever it is

to just sort of optimize our body.

That's what you're doing in your home.

You're optimizing your environment.

And studies show over and over that the spaces we're in affect

our brains and our bodies.

And you know, we all know that our thoughts have so much control over how

we feel and we get kind of stuck there.

But you know, when you start thinking about that influence and then how your

feelings are driving your mood, your behavior, your decisions, which are

driving your outcomes, you start to go, Oh, my space kind of does matter a

little bit more than you know, I think.

And we need to be a lot more conscious about what we're letting

in our space, Meaning, mm-hmm.

, you know, I think this became really clear over Covid where.

Before that people have been so focused on the aesthetic, like, I've gotta

have magazine lifestyle pictures, everything's gotta look a certain

way, I've gotta stay on top of trends.

And while that hasn't gone away completely, Covid made a nice amount

of room for comfort, real comfort to come back into the conversation.

So what actually makes you feel good instead of what

will make other people think?

You feel good.

Yeah.

Big distinction.

I love it.

Reality

versus the highlight reel.

. Amanda Gibby Peters: There you go.

So speaking of

that, you know, a lot of the people that I work with are pretty

high power professional, mostly women.

I've got some guys in there, but mostly women.

And you know, when we're talking about optimizing our space, I wanna talk

about some specific areas in our lives.

But you know, since you mentioned kind of optimizing our space, when

we're talking about optimizing.

energy specifically because I think that's a huge, probably the biggest complaint

that I hear from potential clients is that they wish they had more energy.

They're having these energy dips throughout the day.

They don't wake up feeling rested, like they're pretty spent.

Yeah.

And stretched thin by the end of the day.

And so how about before we move into specific areas of the home, what are

your thoughts about professional space?

So some people are working from home, but even if it's an office area

that they're working at the house, whether it's their dining table

or if it's an actual office space.

Mm-hmm.

, what are the biggest things that they can be aware of or think about as far as fun?

Shu for productivity, energy, mental

clarity, creativity, et cetera.

That's a great question.

So I'm gonna do a quick plug here.

I'm gonna give you three answers, but I'm gonna do a quick plug.

I just released a new freebie for people who sign up for my newsletter

and it's how to functional your office.

It's like a 14 page magazine.

So it has a lot of really great ideas.

The I'm all over that first thing that I encourage people to do if possible.

I get, not all spaces allow you to do this, but is to sit in.

And I'm gonna explain why, because there's, again, this

is a common sense thing.

Command is, I want you to think sort of mafia boss mentality.

You have something solid behind your back and you can see anyone

coming into your space, right?

So if you think of an executive's office, you know, you're, you're saying sort

of the high profile people, a lot of times their offices are reset up this

way, but a lot of people when they're at home aren't working in those spaces.

Or they've got like a desk up against a wall or they're just trying to,

you know, take whatever is available and over covid, totally fine.

We did with what we could, but here's why I think this is so important.

And it has a lot more to do with how you feel than it has to

do with looking like the boss.

When we have our back to the door or we're not fully able to see who's coming in,

who's approaching, what happens is our subconscious through no choice of our own,

we're just wired this way, is on alert.

and it's like, okay, I gotta stay attuned to anything that might be

coming outta nowhere, might be coming up behind me, might, you know, come

around the corner and I not see it.

Now again, I said at the beginning, is not transactional.

So a day, a week, a month of this is not gonna be a big deal.

But if your subconscious is hovering on high alert day after day, month

after month, year after year, that's gonna have some inflammation, right?

Like you are going to feel worn down.

Because really what starts to happen is you've got part of you that's paying

attention to keep you safe, and then part of you that's trying to do work, you know,

move through whatever you are focused on.

And so there's like this decision fatigue that starts to happen.

Mm-hmm.

because you are trying to manage two different things.

Whereas if you're facing where you can see people coming into the

space, you are fully engaged with.

Whatever it is you're working on, because you know, if someone comes in,

you can see it, you can handle that.

You take this into the metaphorical sphere of fun shui, and what that

really represents is being able to see opportunities so that you can take

advantage of them as soon as they appear.

But it's also being able to see problems before you know they get past you.

And so there's a lot of common sense and then there's a lot

of sort of functionally win.

And I bring this up because again, I've been doing this for so long.

This is one of those things that people like to think is optional.

And again, not all spaces cater to this, so I get that.

But if it is something you can do, it makes a huge difference.

And I'm thinking mostly energetically, like all of the

opportunistic wins, fantastic.

But just how you feel day after day.

The other thing I would say, two other things that I'd say

are great for an office space, like just how you feel is clear.

Your desk, and it doesn't have to be every day, but when we have a lot

of things on our desk and we don't take the time to sort of clean up and

organize and prepare the space for us the next day, it, it tends to yield

a lot of unnecessary drama, right?

And it doesn't mean drama necessarily with the people

around you, but just how you feel.

And again, think about like that drip, drip, drip, drip, everyday exposure.

You know, eventually it's gonna wear you down.

And then the other thing, because we're all so tech, Connected.

We're just, you know, we're all getting screen burn every single day.

Having fresh plants, or at least a plant on the desk is such a fabulous

way to increase productivity, you know, kind of help absorb some of the

energetics coming off of the devices.

But it also lowers blood pressure.

You know, it's just a great thing to have a fresh plant.

If you can't do fresh FO will work too.

But having something in that space that, you know, brings in mama nature, right?

Like, you'll hear people talk about biophilia.

You know, this idea that having nature in your space.

And it's because when we're in sync with nature, our wellbeing thrives.

So those are three things that are pretty simple to do.

You know, without a lot of right.

Like, you don't have to, it doesn't need to be cost exhaustive, you know,

other than moving some furniture around, probably not that much effort either.

Awesome.

Yeah, I love that.

Yeah, it's.

I have an office here in the WeWork space, and it is set up like that.

Like I have a wall behind me and then we all have, you know, glass doors and my

clients have set across, you know, from me so that they don't feel like they're

on display, but I can see whoever's coming down the hall who's coming out.

Yeah.

And aside from just having an office space outside of my home so that

I don't have the typical daily distractions that I do at the house

mm-hmm.

, I

am so much more productive when I'm here exponentially more.

And my energy is always better.

I'm more alert.

It really does make a difference.

And also I'm just, you know, I don't have stuff piling up on my desk,

everything here like I would at the house.

But I do need to bring in the, the fresh plant because I've been

working at home so much more.

Since Covid started.

So I'm not here every single day, so I worry about them dying , but

maybe that's something that I have that's a portable plant that I

bring in with me a couple times

a week so it doesn't die when I'm aware.

There are a lot of plants that are super forgiving.

You know, like Z Z plants and snake plants.

A lot of them are super forgiving.

If you can just water them a little bit at the beginning, you'd be

surprised how long you can let them go.

So there are, I think, as long as your space lets you have plans.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

And for those of us too, I think, who are in an office regularly,

there are now so many cool floral delivery programs that are really affordable that

they'll bring you something, a beautiful arrangement, you know, once a week on

a Monday, and then they'll take out the old one and they're reusing the pot and

composting the dead flowers or whatever.

It's, so I think

that if that's something that I love that it's best.

Yes, I would say to everyone, if I could nudge you to do

one thing, that would be it.

. Cool.

Okay.

Buy yourself the flowers, everybody.

So energy levels in general.

Is there anything that you wanna add when it comes to that that's specific?

Cause I wanna talk about to our bedrooms and how it affects our sleep.

I mean, I always tell people like, create a sanctuary in your bedroom.

Mm-hmm.

. But I think, you know, obviously you can give us a more detailed explanation

of, you know, what does that mean?

How can you create that energy in.

your bedroom so that it does feel like this place of rest.

You know, we always tell people, reserve your bedroom for sleep and sex only.

Don't work in your bedroom, don't watch tv.

Don't spend a bunch of time like sitting, you know, on your

tablet or your phone in bed.

Like, try to reserve those for other rooms so that the brain isn't associating

the bedroom with work or anything that's gonna make you anxious or restless.

So what are your thoughts for that?

Because obviously sleep has a huge influence on our energy throughout

the day, and we want people waking up rested, ideally, and sleeping soundly.

So what are the Yeah.

Big tips for, for

bedrooms?

So everything you just hit on Absolutely.

Like the star attraction of the bedroom needs to be the.

Not the tv, not the Peloton bike, you know, not any of that stuff.

If you are able to have the bike somewhere else or any of

the workout equipment, great.

I know again, over quarantine, people had very specific, you know, like everyone

was working ho at home and so, you know, some people set up shop in the bedroom

and that, and in those situations, or even kids who, you know, school

from home, I say, Okay, then just at.

Work from somewhere other than your bed.

Mm-hmm.

Like maintain that as precious space.

Right.

Don't invite the whole world into bed with you.

All right.

Yeah.

But in terms of like the tv, I know that that can often

create resistance and I get it.

People love it.

It's a nice way to self-soothe.

At the end of the day, it's a great thing to fall asleep to, but

it is emanating its own energy.

And so if you're someone who has trouble sleeping, it's actually disruptive.

It's kind of like alcohol.

You know, alcohol makes you feel tired, but then it actually will wake

you up in the middle of the night.

The TV can be the same disruption.

And so instead of like, take the TV out right now, I will encourage

people, cover it up, see how you sleep.

A lot of times if you have that conversion of getting a few nights

of really good rest, you will want to move the TV yourself.

So you're right, like the EMS and that kinda stuff.

But a few other things that I would recommend that I see.

We love to have all the things by our bet.

We have all the lotions and the potions and the essential oils and the, you

know, all the books and all that.

I don't do anything like that.

All the things, I dunno what you're talking about, right?

I know , I know the healthy types.

I, I get it.

And you know, this, this, this better version of ourselves, right?

And we're gonna eventually use it, but tonight I'm too tired.

Right?

But all of those things generate their own noise.

Mm-hmm.

. And so it's great to do an edit like once a month.

What am I actually using?

What am I actually needing?

Like, where can I create open space?

You know?

Something that I'll, I'll say often to my clients is luxury really

is what you can afford to do.

, right?

Mm.

I love that.

What can you let go of here to create some open space so it's less distraction,

less noise, less interference.

And I would say the same thing about what we keep in the room.

So whether it's on the dresser or if we have chairs or a couch in

there, or even stuff under the bed.

Start being mindful about what you are letting share that space with you.

And then something.

That I'll say that I think en you know, interferes with good sleep and

feeling energized is this monochromatic palette that everyone loves.

You know, just the really pristine white and not knocking it, it's gorgeous.

I love it.

But when you understand color from the perspective of functional, specifically

the five elements, you know, white is a little bit more of a demanding

color and it can make it really hard to shut down the mental chatter.

So sometimes when people reach out to me and they're dealing with a lot

of anxiety when they're having a hard time sleeping, I'm like, How can we

bring in like a few darker colors?

Cause if you think about what dark does, it absorbs, it pulls

you inward, it kind of quiets.

It's about being reflective.

So it's not about getting rid of a palette you love, it's about balancing

it out and really playing to it in a way that caters to again, Vulnerability

cuz that's what a bedroom is.

It's like you said, sleep.

It's sex and it's stillness.

Right?

Where we go to be alone with our thoughts or to meditate or to sort

of, kind of think through something.

That's what that space is designed for and that will really

help allow you that balance.

That's so cool.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, I definitely agree with that and I see that in my own life.

And especially when you talk about clearing the bedside table.

That's a big one.

I'm so guilty of that because I always have like six, seven books every once.

Yeah,

I do too.

I'm, I don't want people to think I'm perfect.

I have stacks of that and I will totally be transparent when I start a new project

or when there's something really big, like I need to show up for something.

That's when I'll get really serious because I don't want

other voices interfering with.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a good,

So it's a, it's a give and take for me too.

. . Jeannie Oliver: Good to know

. Well, you know, it's funny cause we go to hotels and we travel or if we stay in

a beautiful Airbnb, something like that.

Yeah.

I think that one of the most relaxing things is that there isn't

just a bunch of shit everywhere.

Like, Yeah.

And it's not necessarily just a lack of clutter because sometimes you go in those

places and there are, you know, sculptures and books and all kinds of things.

But it's something about the way the space is used and it's not overly.

Taken up, you know, it's, it's kind of like graphic design is that way too.

If you have enough white space, it looks better, it feels

better, it's easier to read.

So again, I think this is just pervasive in every area of our life.

And sleep is such a huge thing.

I mean, during sleep is when our brain detoxifies, that's when we

are actually repairing muscle fiber.

We're burning fat like we are healing.

There's so much work that our body is actually doing during sleep.

And if our energy is being siphoned off by these other things, it

diminishes our ability to really do all those other functions optimally.

So those are awesome tips.

Thank you for that.

I'm excited to especially clear off my bedside table.

We're pretty good with the other things.

Like I'm just not someone that can sleep well with tv.

It's too stimulating for me.

Yeah.

But I know a lot of people use that to, to fall asleep too, so.

Covering.

Yeah.

And honestly practical if,

if people have like Fitbits or anything like that, I had

this really cool experience years ago.

I taught at the Dallas Design District.

I, some of their you know, the designers have to get, you know, like take

classes every year just to sort of stay, you know, cert not a certified,

but what is the word I'm looking for?

Accredited.

And so I taught about, you know, the different spots in

the home and what it meant.

And we talked about the bedroom and I mentioned the tv.

And you know, of course, You always have some people who like us, we don't have

a TV who are like, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then other people are never Right.

Right.

So, a couple weeks later, this designer reached out to me and she's like, Hey,

I was at your class and I wanted to tell you, I had a client who I mentioned this

to, so she covered her TV up and her Fitbit, every time she covers her TV

up shows that she gets better, longer sleep than when her TV's uncovered.

And I'm like, There you go.

Now see, I could sit there and say, You need to get rid of your

tv, but why not let Fitbit do it?

Right.

So I'm always like, just try things out because if it's

gonna work for you, you'll know.

And if it's not, then move on.

It's not for you.

Come back to at another time.

Exactly.

And here's a huge plug for these trackers, you know, that we can wear.

I wear an aura ring and I absolutely love it.

It has completely transformed my sleep in recovery and I, it's been a great

tool for me because I can see daily data on how different choices affect me and

You know, just having my bed made every day or yes, you know, whatever it is,

like different things that I'm doing.

Obviously for me, you know, I'm tracking my exercise and my nutrition, so depending

on what time I finish eating at night or if I had a glass of wine or something that

day, I can see all of that data in real time, like how that's affecting my sleep.

So I think that that's a really good tool, especially for interview.

Any of you out there who are struggling with sleep not feeling rested,

you know, struggling with energy, consider using one of these devices.

I love the aura ring because you mentioned emf.

You can actually turn this onto airplane mode as you sleep and it still

collects all your data and you just sync it up next thing in the morning.

Then you can turn it back on airplane mode all day long if you want to.

You're not gonna miss anything.

But it's not, again, an additional source of these electromagnetic fields

that you're exposing yourself to.

And, you know, one of these things doesn't emit a harmful amount of

that, but we don't have a lot of data showing how much is harmful.

We just know where we're getting it from all angles.

Right?

Our wifi, the neighbors wifi, if you live in an apartment building, like you've

got all of this stuff and then your tv, the remote controls, like all of the

sources cumulatively, can be problematic.

And we've seen those be damaging to people.

So that, I think is something to sort of be aware of and mitigate in your life.

But the, the trackers are great.

I think they're very, very helpful.

Yeah.

So anything else you wanna say about the bedroom before we move on?

No, but here's what I will say.

This will actually intrigue people.

So, you know, one of the things that people will reach out to

me for is like, something is not happening for them, right?

Whether it's like something with their work or you know, their relationship

or, you know, there, there seems to be a lack and I can tell you know,

just by going in their bedroom if they prioritize themselves or not.

So your bedroom speaks so much to the relationships you're in,

in general, but certainly the relationship you have with yourself.

And if you're not prioritizing yourself in your bedroom, and again,

this is not meant to be like you have to go spend a ton of money and

you have to have your dream bedroom.

It is about taking care of what you have to take care of.

But if you're not prioritizing yourself in your bedroom, then it

tells me that you are more worried about taking care of everyone else.

Mm-hmm.

. And that's how you step out into the world.

And you know, unfortunately no one's gonna come around and

say, I wanna prioritize you.

Right.

Like you have to make that.

Yeah.

You know, the first thing that's on your to-do list every day.

So I think a bedroom, because it bookends our days, right?

It's how we start the day.

It's what we wake up in usually, and it's where we go to sleep.

It is having that steady influence.

And so by just making that statement with how you choose what gets to be a bedfellow

in your room really has a lot more bite I think, than, you know, we probably would

assume.

Yeah.

Agreed.

Very cool.

Okay, so.

The next one, let's talk about the kitchen, because this is a big one.

It's another area of our home that's often very central.

We spend a lot of time in there.

Everyone sort of congregates in the kitchen and you know, obviously for

my people, the people listening, you know, nutrition is something that we are

prioritizing, we're trying to prioritize.

And you know, one aspect that I'm always trying to help clients with

is helping them sort of streamline food prep or have things organized

in a way that makes it more fun and pleasant and easy for them to mm-hmm.

set themselves up for success, right.

And many of my clients are living, you know, here in the city, in Seattle,

they may not have a huge kitchen space.

So what are the biggest things that we can keep in mind in our kitchen?

I think kitchen is, Kitchen.

Well, from a functionary perspective, it is considered a power spot.

You know, we look at the front door being where you welcome energy into your life.

We look at the bedroom, how you prioritize yourself, and then we look at the kitchen

in terms of wealth and health, right?

So these all, all, you know, these areas all matter a lot when we're sort

of assessing the energy of your home.

So when you're talking about health and wealth in the kitchen a couple things that

I notice, one, a lot of times we spend.

Too much of our time eating out or bringing food in, and we're never

actually stoking the stove or the oven.

And that is considered the hearth of the home.

You know, the stove and oven are so tied to prosperity and fesa.

And the reason for that is there was this belief that, you know, if

you had the ability to feed many mouths, then you must be prosperous.

And so because the universe saw you prosperous, it would provide you more

opportunities to stay prosperous, right?

It was also that you could feed your family.

They would be strong and healthy.

They could go out and earn money and bring that home.

And so you have all of this symbolism that ties back to the kitchen.

And so much of the time we don't actually use our kitchen, right?

We don't use the stove, we don't use the ovens.

So, you know, whether it's trying to call in a partner or bring in more

abundance, crack open those cookbooks, , , you know, get to know your kitchen.

I also think the kitchen is a sneaky place for clutter, right?

Like we hold on to way too much, or we over accessorize.

We have all the gadgets that we think are gonna make a life so

much easier than we never use them.

Right?

And, you know, when you think about abundance, I want you to think of, you

know, abundance is something that a.

Right.

So it's not something that you just get, because if you get

it, you wanna hold onto it.

So you've gotta have room to receive it.

You've gotta be able to hold onto it.

And when our kitchens are sort of suffocating from too much stuff, all

the spices, all of the gadgets, all of the, you know, all of the things

that we're being told we need and want and must have, we don't have

room to actually receive what we want.

And, and something you touched on a minute ago about how we love going to the Airbnbs

or, you know, sort of like the nice hotels and there's not a lot of clutter.

One of the things that I've noticed over the years of doing this is

that people really want, it's not all the things that we want.

We want more space and we want more time.

Yes.

And so we get into this interesting negotiating with ourselves about, well,

if I let this go then, and we start future tripping, But what we really want is

over here, and the very thing that stands in the way is all this stuff that we're

clinging to, that we're insisting on.

Mm-hmm.

. So I just recommend going through your space and being mindful

of do you really use this?

Is this something that's serving you?

Do you have something that already serves this function or this purpose?

So, you know, working with your stove and your oven, having sort of a, you

know, an assessment of what's taking up space and is there room to receive?

Like literally is there room, Do you have open pockets of space in your kitchen?

Because that is sort of a catcall to abundance.

And then I would say the last thing is just prioritize fresh, especially when

we're trying to be healthy, So, mm-hmm.

, when I will encourage people to buy flowers, they're like, Well, I

don't even know where to put them.

Put them in the, , the kitchen screams, you know, wealth and abundance.

So what a great thing to bring in there.

I love to have fresh oranges out on the table.

They're really symbolic and punctually.

They speak to like, you know, the good life.

But whatever fresh fruit you'll eat, you know, keep it out.

But having something that is providing you that really yang or young

energy is going to help you start to feel more motivated, It's gonna

help you with that follow through.

It's just gonna be that little bit of lift that over time adds up.

So those are three things that I would strongly recommend for the

kitchen.

Awesome.

I love those.

I did the bowl of oranges thing.

I first heard that from you and it really is, it's cool.

I mean, it looks nice.

You don't really think, Oh, okay, it looks nice.

Again, you say it's cumulative, you know, so I think it's kind of as we

chip away at these things and try different things we'll find what

works best for us and what's doable.

And again, it's not about perfection and doing all the things all at once.

I mean, so many people that I work with are very type A and they're sort of

all or nothing personalities, right?

And that's something that we work really hard on as far as mindset goes to start

understanding and embracing the fact that success lies in the gray area.

It's never usually all or nothing.

It's embracing the fact that perfectionism or perfection in general is a myth.

It doesn't exist, . It's not a thing, it's not real.

And that if you can approach things and just know that hey, even if I do it

imperfectly, I'm making some progress.

I'm growing and it's good, it's good enough, and you can build on that.

And it gives you that, like you said, that motivation, right?

Mm-hmm.

people.

I think we all believe the myth that we're like either super motivated

all the time or we're just not.

And there's people that must be just motivated all the time and like, no,

you know, fitness, eating healthy.

I mean, even as a nutrition and fitness professional, do

I eat perfectly all the time?

No.

Am I always motivated to do it?

No, but I'm way more motivated now, more consistently than I used to be.

It just took time and patience and work and growth to get to the point

where it's like, more often than not, I'm motivated, but I still have those

days when motivation's in the tank and I need all the help that I can get.

And so, you know, the kitchen is the way to do that.

Like set yourself up for success, have these things that are energy boosters

that make it a space that's more approachable and fun, where you're

more likely to take the time to make something really healthy and good

for yourself even when your energy is

low.

Yeah.

Well, and I'll say this too, I think that cuz I have a lot of type A clients as

well who are like, Tell me all the things to do and all the things is the clue.

Right?

And I'll try the one because I find when we sort of tackle something like

it's a checklist when you're talking about life transformation, that's

something yourself up for disappointment.

Exactly.

Because it, it suggests that you don't trust one or two of

the things to work on their own.

Mm-hmm.

. So it really lets desperation into the conversation.

And for me, I'm like your co-creating with your home.

The work that I do, I want you to see your home is this living, breathing partner.

It wants you to succeed.

And the way to do that, the, the most efficient way, let me say

to do that is make one or two.

Let the energy change you're steeping in it.

Let it influence you so that you feel a little better, you're on a bit higher

ground, and then you can come back to the list of things and see what resonates

with you from there, because when you feel better, you're gonna see things

a little bit differently, and so then you implement maybe another change two,

and that starts to change your space and then you benefit from it, and then

again, a little bit more higher ground, and it just keeps going from there.

That's the latter that I want people to get on because I find that when we

do all the things, we're exhausted.

But more importantly now, we're not available to even noticing what's working

and what's not, because we've done too much and we're not really receptive.

Right.

And so there's no mud, there's no win.

Yeah.

There's no win.

Trying to be like, I did it all.

I won the marathon.

. . Jeannie Oliver: Exactly.

Yeah.

If you haven't read it and anyone listening, I highly recommend

the book Tiny Habits by BJ five.

Yeah.

He ends up the behavioral research lab at Stanford.

Such just a lovely, humble person.

And his audiobook is great too.

He narrates it.

It's really good.

But that's his whole premise is that we don't form new habits

necessarily by repetition or time of repetition, but by feeling successful.

Right.

Or having that, that positive kind of emotional feedback when we do something.

And if we can create these small enough goals, we can feel successful

and then we can kind of build on.

And so I think that this is that same concept.

You know, just start small, pick something that feels doable, like

go for the low hanging fruit first.

Yeah.

Maybe that's buying a bag of oranges and throwing 'em in a pretty bowl.

Whatever it is.

You know, start small and then add on as you're able and just chip away at it.

Versus trying to jump in with all fours and do everything all at once,

which is just a recipe for failure.

So, yeah.

That's great.

Other spaces, So here's one that I'm super curious to hear your thoughts about.

Mm-hmm.

, a lot of us are working out from home now since Covid.

Mm-hmm.

and I, I don't live close to a gym.

I live like a full 15 minute drive, which at half an hour round trip

for me if I'm gonna go to a gym.

So that is enough of a hurdle that I won't be consistent with my workouts.

So even before Covid, we set up a little, you know, we have

a home office slash gym, and.

That's a great way for me to stay consistent because it's

right there, I can do it.

So I was really lucky to have that set up already, but I know for some people

this is still a pretty new thing to have their workout space within their home.

And sometimes, and often it is a smaller space, it's a multipurpose space.

So what are your thoughts around that?

Because obviously it's that, you know, motivation piece again, like we wanna

feel motivated and energetic enough to get the workout in to actually do

it, which then, hey guys, guess what?

You're more energetic when you actually exercise.

So yeah, it can be this nice snowball effect.

But what are your thoughts around home, home

workout spaces?

So, I mean, I think they're great as long as they're not in

the bedroom, if at all possible.

Right?

Because again, it's just that, you know, it's just that influence

of, you know, you should be doing this or you've gotta do this.

And that's not, I mean, not all of us just love working out, right?

Like there's an effort required.

So having that out of the bedroom, if possible, best case scenario

however you set it up, you know, it has to work for you.

Everyone's spaces are so different, and you're right, a lot of times

it's sort of relegated to the least used spot or a small spot

where it feels the least intrusive.

So, you know, as long as it's being used, you know, it's when you go into the

workout spaces and it's got like the dry cleaning over it or you know, there, it's

just sort of become a rack of some sort.

Yes.

, Yep.

Yeah, that then I'm like, Let's talk about this.

Why are we holding on to this?

And then the other thing I would say is in terms of motivation, and this is, you

know, kind of going a little bit more advanced into a functional conversation,

but you know, one of the things that we work with are the five elements.

And the element would, is associated with like breaking new ground, new

goals, new beginnings, fresh starts.

It's that energy of spring.

So having.

In the space could be really helpful, but anything that is sort of associated

with the element would, would also work.

Well.

I have a lot of that on my blog, so I, you know, we don't need to go

through the whole list here, but that would be a great thing to check out.

I would also say in terms of motivation, you know, because exercise is you

know, associated with this element, even just having like your workout

clothes sort of laid out for you, like really preparing yourself for success

so that you follow through with that.

All of those things are really great.

You want to, again, create the invitation, create the inevitability of it, is really

what, you know, I would say I would focus on for that space more so than

like where it was located outside of the

bedroom.

. Tell me what you mean exactly by creating inevitability of it.

I mean, just like link it into another behavior that morning or routine of some

sort, or it is like when we're in the

presence of our goal, right?

When we're really committed to something and we create the least amount of

interference, or we clear up anything that stands between us and following

through, there's a good chance that if, because I, I do think that when

we set an intention, there's always a flickering second or moment where

it's like, Okay, you gotta do this.

Mm-hmm.

. And it's whether we show up for the assignment or we

give ourselves a pass, right?

Like there's that moment.

I, I genuinely believe that.

And it's okay.

Like a lot of people are like, Nah, I'm gonna pass.

I'm not feeling it.

But if you can follow through and grab a hold of that, and then you have the

space, once you get into it, then it just becomes like, this is who you are now.

Right.

So you wanna remove any sort of resistance.

Yeah.

That might be in the way.

Right.

And there's a lot of different, I mean, there's so many different

ways that that shows up.

You know, like you are, you know, you don't, you don't schedule the time,

meaning you don't plan on it or you schedule time and it doesn't work because

other things are going on around the space, or you don't have the things

laid out and now all of a sudden it's taking more time than you intended.

Like really think through it so that the Yes is super easy to grab onto.

Absolutely.

And as far as just rooms go, mm-hmm.

, correct me if I'm wrong, I would definitely tell someone if they've

got a Peloton for example, which a lot of people do, put that maybe in your

living room in front of your television.

The bedroom or put it someplace where it's in a space where you're less likely

to throw clothes over it and cover it up.

Yes.

And maybe tuck it away.

If you have limited space, for example.

Yes.

I have started a new practice of either stretching or doing body weight

exercises while I'm watching TV with my husband in the evening, because

I realized I was sitting there for like two hours straight on my butt,

sometimes more if it was a weekend and we were just exhausted, whatever.

And I was like sitting that long.

A, it affects my sleep negatively and I can see it my data.

Mm-hmm.

. But my joints just don't feel as good when I'm sitting for a long time.

I feel like it's wasted time and I just feel better when

I'm moving or doing something.

And as someone who has struggled with chronic pain in the past,

like sitting down and doing some stretching before going to sleep,

it calms my nervous system.

I have less body pain.

Like everything is better , everything is better.

Yeah.

So I have this little, it's not a yoga mat, but it's like

a really squishy soft mat.

So that cushions like my knees if I'm doing, you know,

pushups or something like that.

And it sits on the floor in front of our TV now.

It's not always there because I don't like the look of a mat lying on my ground.

Mm-hmm.

. But it's, you know, something that I bring out almost every

evening and I sit there and do it.

And sometimes I'll just leave it out there if we're not having a company or whatever.

And you know, that's a space I'm not usually in necessarily,

or walking through my.

Daily routine until we're kind of at the end of the evening.

We're relaxing now.

So it's not something that's visually bothering me if I have my

mat sitting in front of the couch.

But that just visual prompt of having it there, it's like, Oh, mm-hmm.

, I don't need to sit here on my butt for an hour and a half.

I watch the show.

Like, I can actually get down the ground, do some stretching, do

some, you know, I don't know, core work, leg lifts, whatever it is.

Any other tips around those kinds of things that people can do?

No, I

think you, I think you're exactly right on like, having,

having things where you are going to, I don't wanna say feel provoked.

But reminded, you know, and again, the bigger thing here is really

making your space work for you.

So that's what happens is this is, you just touched on something that's so

important is a lot of times we're like, Oh no, it can't be the living room because

that's the more social area of our home, and we don't want people to judge us.

So we put everything in the bedroom.

And this goes back to what I was saying earlier, like when everything starts

hiding in the bedroom, I know you're putting other people before you, but then

you're hiring people to help you figure out how to stand out or how to be taken

more seriously or how to prioritize you.

And it's like, but it has to start with you.

Mm-hmm.

. So make the living room work for you the way it needs to work

for you, or whatever room it is.

You know?

And again, not everyone has the luxury of extra square footage

to have their own exercise rooms.

So it's like exactly.

Where does this make the most sense?

Yeah.

And, and, and the other thing too is, you know, I know that a lot of people be.

Especially if they have an extra room.

Like let's say they have a guest room, this is so common, and they

are working from the kitchen table, or they're working from their bed.

And I'm like, Why are we not using the guest room, you know, for your office?

And the, you know, the excuse or the, you know, explanation is, well, because

we have company over all right, how often, like, really do the math, How

often are you having someone over?

Because even if it is a hundred nights a year, which is a lot, that's still 265

nights that that space is not being used.

Right?

Right.

And so here you are sacrificing that for the, the company, right?

And so it's about understanding your space and not letting what you think society

or design trends or even the builder of your home dictate for you, right?

Like really making the space help you live the life that you want to live.

Yes, and perfect point because everything that we're gonna

talk about on this podcast, everything that I talk about in my practice is

about making things work for you.

It's not just jumping on the bandwagon because everybody's

doing it, and well work for Susie next door, it'll work for me.

If it doesn't work for me, I'm a failure.

Like all of that nonsense.

It's really about stepping back and going, Okay, there may be elements

of different things that work for others, that might work for me too,

but I'm going to filter things out and readily let go of what doesn't and then

embrace the stuff that does and really personalize this whole experience.

So, yeah, so things for making that point because I think it is really

crucial and I think so many women especially do put everyone else's.

As a higher priority than our own.

And that's how we end up here.

You know, we've put our job first, our team first, our kids, partners, parents,

whatever it may, whoever it may be.

And there are times when that's to some degree in necessity, right?

Although I would argue that self care has to be in place all the time because

if you fry and bring yourself out, like no one's gonna benefit in the long run.

But at this point in our lives and the women we're talking with here,

it's really about going, okay, my self care, my health, my wellbeing,

my happiness is really a priority now.

And it's enough already of putting it on the back burner and putting all

these other things, or telling myself the story that all these other things

are more important, when in actuality what is more important than your health.

Like, nothing, nothing.

So yeah, thanks for bringing that point up, because I think it's a really

crucial thing to reiterate, right?

And for us to just embrace and go, This is not selfish, this

is actually caring for myself.

Helps me to show up better in the world.

It helps me to be more emotionally available for the people who I love and

the things that I wanna do and accomplish.

So I can make a difference in the world and, you know, live my purpose.

Yeah.

Et cetera.

So, yeah.

There's a, when you look at the function I map, you know, and

we haven't really gone into that but you know, you have all these different life

areas that are represented in your home and if you apply this map to your home,

you can sort of read where different areas of your life are represented.

But what's interesting, speaking about that, health is at the

center of that map there.

It's a tic tac toe board.

If you think about, you know, a three by three grid, it's a tic tac toe board, and

at the very middle is the health area.

And it's interesting because you think about it, if you don't have your health,

the quality of all those other life areas that it touches, suffers too.

Yep.

So it is really about understanding that you have to put yourself at the top of

your own to-do list every single day.

It has to be a choice and it has to be deliberate.

Cause people are happy to take your time.

. Jeannie Oliver: Oh yeah, absolutely.

I was telling like your job, like there's no company out there that's

gonna thank you at the end of the day for sacrificing your health for them.

Right.

. Right.

That's, I mean,

that's just it.

Mm-hmm.

. Jeannie Oliver: Yeah.

Yeah.

So I know that we are running long here, but I have a couple more

questions I'd love to cover Okay.

With you if you have time.

Oh, absolutely.

Okay.

So health wise, you may know, I worked in a chronic illness clinic for years and

I worked with a lot of people with Lyme disease and complex chronic illnesses.

When it comes to someone that's maybe struggling with that, where they're

doing all the work, they're doing treatments, you know, they're seeing the

right practitioners, they're working on their nutrition, but maybe there's just.

You know, this next level of health that they're trying to

break through and can't seem to.

Mm-hmm.

, are there any very specific functional practices that those people should focus

on in their home when it comes to just overall healing or anything stagnant when

it comes to, you know, It's something repeating the body's natural healing

process.

So, I mean, there are quite a few things like a lot of super specific things that

I would probably say are best like in a, you know, one-on-one conversation

just so that people aren't grabbing.

Sure.

You know, it's a grab bag.

But here's what I'll say.

One, I would really, and this sounds disconnected, but it's not, I would

really love up on the front door or the entry of your home because that's

where you welcome opportunities, new perspectives, fresh energy into your life.

It sounds crazy, but it, you know, the front door is like your own mouth.

You know, where we take in what we need, Food, water, nourishment, you know,

oxygen, The front door is the same thing.

And so I just think when you're trying to infuse yourself with something new

or refreshed, A little bit of front door love, and again, not anything

that feels overly done, but just like sweeping or wiping down, you

know, the door and the, the hardware.

Having fresh flowers out there, or certainly getting rid of

anything that's struggling, which would then be my next suggestion.

Being mindful of anything in your home that suggests struggle.

Mm-hmm.

. Right?

That's such an important thing.

We, again, become very tolerant of our surroundings and it's like,

No, I'm gonna rehab these plants.

I really am, but are you?

Like, I, I want to too.

Right.

But there's a point where clearly you have, you know, you're

beyond your pay grade . Yes.

You know, in terms right now it just needs to go.

Yes.

And it's, you know, and it's, you can thank the plant and let it go.

But you see this like with like landscaping, like what's

happening around the home.

Everyone gets super ambitious in the spring and they plant all the things

and then they don't wanna go out and water or deadhead or turn the soil

or fertilize or do any of the things that's going to keep that energy,

that chi percolating in their favor.

Right.

So that's another thing, you know, when you talk about stagnant

chi, that's a really great way to wake up and energize the space.

Love that.

And then I'd be mindful too, of rooms where nothing ever changes.

Ah, so like, you know, and this can be.

Overwhelm, right?

Like, oh my gosh, there's so much stuff in there and one of these days I'm

gonna have all the energy to conquer it.

But it can also be the room that is so beautifully done.

You know, a lot of us probably went to homes like this when we were growing up

where it's like, oh, no one goes in there.

Like that's the form living room.

Or that's like the formal dining room, right?

Or like even our grandmother's, you know, mine like had the

plastic covering on the furniture.

Right?

Like you have to be so careful where you sat.

Yes, yes.

Like that kind of stuff is going to suffocate she, if it's not being used.

And it can also be the beautiful room that you had the designer do that is

like perfect, but it's kind of lost.

Its wow.

And you don't feel like you have permission to change things around

because you paid so much money for it, or you really loved it once upon

a time, but it's okay still, right?

When we're not moving things around, nothing's.

and when it turns into like a chronic way of living that can contribute

to chronic situations, you know, in terms of our thinking, in terms

of how we feel and certainly in terms of experiences we're having,

that's really powerful.

I love that.

And I think that anytime that we feel stuck, you know, whether it's chronic

illness or whether it's like, Oh, I just can't seem to stay consistent

with nutrition, with my workouts projects I need to complete for my

business, whatever it is, I think that that's a really, really key one.

That's what I'm gonna put to use for sure in my own life.

Yeah, let me say this too, just because I think this is always

such a powerful way to really get it.

I love issuing this challenge to anyone.

When we think that we're not an autopilot, I always say, go into the kitchen.

And move around like the drawers, like put the silverware in a different

drawer, put the, you know, whatever the spices, whatever you keep in the

drawers, just move 'em all around and then notice how many times you go

back to where you think things are.

That is how on autopilot we get.

That is how checked out we are.

And if that is happening in all of your space, is that just means that

energy is moving through the same way in your life every single day.

And when you move things around, it forces you to wake up.

It makes you pay more attention.

You have to be really bright and on your toes and that changes what you see

and what you're calling into your life.

So just those little shifts can

make a big difference.

Awesome.

Okay, cool.

So if there are like just, I don't know, three to five, I know you always do.

You know, your five countdown Yeah.

Lies on Instagram, which I love.

Anyway, just a handful of tips, like if people just want like three

to five ways where they can start taking steps or little functionally

tips, what would those top ones be that people could start out with?

I would say my favorite and because they're super

accessible for pretty much everyone, I would say if you have a front

door sweep, Okay, it is when I first started, you know, consulting and

people would be like, I can't do this or I can't do that, you know, I

was running into a bunch of excuses.

I was like, Okay, if you can do nothing else, just sweep.

Again.

It's that preparation of like releasing what is no longer needed, right?

Mm-hmm.

, but creating a welcoming space for something new, it's really powerful.

And I would say to date, it's one of the top tips that I've shared in terms of.

Feedback and stories I've gotten, just what has happened.

So anytime you're doing something new, setting new intentions, getting yourself

ready for a new week, find a way to stitch that in because that is a really

powerful ritual of just creating and maintaining a little bit of space for

improving what comes into your life.

Another tip, and I've said this already but you know, find a way

to make an offering to your home.

I like to do with fresh flowers, but honestly, it could be like,

okay, every week I'm gonna do something small for my space.

So this week the weather's nice, I'm gonna open the windows.

Next week I'm gonna move furniture around and kind of vacuum or dust behind there.

Maybe I'll keep things moved around or maybe I'll put back, but I'm

gonna just give the space a judge.

Maybe this week I'm gonna buy fresh flowers for three

different rooms in the house.

Maybe the next week I'm gonna have people over so that there's just like

that really big energy in my home.

Yeah.

, but find a way to make these little offerings to your home,

because I want you to think of them like positive cheat deposits.

Right?

And they're adding up in the bank.

Right?

And so what happens is when you do this with consistency in your space, when

life happens as it does functionally, certainly is not an inoculation, it's

not gonna prevent things from happening.

It's that your house can hold you up.

It's like it doesn't, These things don't have to take you all the way down.

Like you, you make a quicker comeback, the rebound is faster.

So the nice things are a really great thing to do.

I'd say when things feel really stale, you know, you're just like, Oh my gosh.

It's just like I'm in this monotonous.

Move 27 things around, that's one of my favorites.

And people love doing that.

And you can get as crazy as you want with it.

You can move 27 things in every room.

You can just move 27 things in the whole house.

You know, if you're somebody who struggles with clutter, you might change it up and

say, Okay, I'm gonna get rid of 27 things.

But the reason we love that is, you know, three is such a

engaging, energizing number.

You know, you'll see designers work with it a lot.

They'll put things in groups of three because it's such an activating number.

And so when you take three times, three times three, you're gonna get 27.

And that's kind of what we're playing with there.

So that is a really great way to wake up the space.

And then I would say, I guess the last thing, if I could tell you one thing to

do, you know, have something in each room.

that you really love, Start there.

Like have a focal point, something in the room that really you love.

And at first, it doesn't have to be something that everyone notices, but

as long as you know you've planted it there and let that start to take up

space and then see what transforms.

Because you don't have to know what all the different areas of your home

mean, but if you start planting love in those spaces, it's certainly going

to infiltrate those areas of your life.

I love it.

It's super practical and um mm-hmm.

. Yeah.

Thank you for that.

Because I know for me if again, like if I allow myself to look at the big

picture of all the things, then I can get too in my head, overwhelmed

cetera, . And so just having.

Cup of little, little tweaks that feel really easy and accessible is so helpful.

So, and lastly, I would love for you to tell us about your book and then I know

you have a new program out, so tell us where people can find you and what you got

going on.

Okay.

So lots of new things.

You're catching me right on the cusp of a ton of new things.

So I would say the best first place to find me and to learn

more is to go to Instagram.

Ton, ton, ton of information over there.

So that is a way for you to sort of see, learn, but not need to

have any, you know, visibility.

You can lurk, you can stalk, you can learn a ton about shui.

And I would say also sign up for my newsletter because that's

another place that I, you know, share a lot of functionality.

So those two places, and you can sign up for my newsletter

at Simple shu s h u i.com.

After that, I would say the book is fantastic.

So just like the tips that we were sharing there at the end.

My book, Simple Schwa, for every day, 365 Ways to Functional Your Life, There's a

tip for every single day that's pretty simple, that's easily digestible.

It was something when I was brand new to functional and I wasn't ready to

start figuring out like this landscape.

What can I do?

Cuz I was enjoying the little things I was doing, but I didn't wanna

have to keep buying more books to figure out more little things to do.

So this is 365 of those and you don't have to do them in order, they're not

time specific, but it's just a great resource if you wanna just dip and dive.

After that, I would say, yeah, I have a six week course that

is launching later this week.

So it's probably launched by the time you're listening to this.

Yeah, yeah.

Where you can learn.

It's basically what my consult process is.

I teach it to you and you function at your own house.

Cool.

And then there are other ways that you can work with me and you can find

those over on my, on my site as well.

And then the last thing is I have a podcast that's probably out by

now when you're listening to this.

It's house therapy.

And so yeah.

So it's another great way to learn fun shui, you know, in the comfort

of your own home and schedule.

So all those places, Lots of functionally for you if you are hungry for

it.

I love it.