The Music Box – A Journey in Love and Healing

Welcome back my joyful, relaxed friends! Have you been making a point of allowing yourself the odd special moment to relax and daydream?

Looking back over all the blog topics I’ve posted so far, we’ve come a long way together already. And I have touched upon some really profound topics for joy and healing.

As promised when I started this blog, each topic has been something that has had a truly profound effect on my approach to life. And each topic is much more than a “I’ve read it once, so that’s everything it had to offer me” subject.  I have only touched on the foundations of these GEMS, but each has worked for me again and again, like peeling layers gently back from an onion.

Now, while I prefer not to delve into the past as my joy is in the present, today I’d like to offer you a slightly deeper peak into my personal journey so you may better understand what I mean by the ‘layers of healing’. From this, I hope it will help you more easily contemplate your own happy steps to even greater joy.

So, let’s get straight into it - the layers of healing, joy and clarity. I have selected a story from my Feng Shui healing, as it’s a fresh topic for us here, and this was quite interesting  to experience.

As I alluded to in last week’s post [Feng Shu-what?!], cleaning up my home following Feng Shui principals completely changed the energy flow in my home to something bright, vibrant and beautiful. It also helped me feel brighter, more vibrant and more beautiful within myself.

While reading Karen’s book I initially started my decluttering with the obvious items. I got rid of clothes I’d never worn, never liked, would never wear again or that didn’t fit. I threw out anything in the kitchen pantry that was out of date or that was something I would never deliberately feed myself again. I organised cupboards and found logical homes for items I had purchased that had just drifted around the surfaces of my home and had never been given a real place to live.

I did two rounds of such 'superficial' tidying up. Each round left me feeling lighter and more joyful in mysterious ways.

In the second round I also let go of some old furniture whose energy no longer belonged with me. If the furniture had no use here, or energetic baggage, it had to go. One item of particular interest was the old bed of a deceased, beloved relative.  It was amazing how much courage it took for me to let it go. I’d kept wondering if I didn’t need someone else’s permission to make such a choice. When I realised how absurd that line of thinking was, I let go of any misguided guilt, and just let the bed go – I donated it to charity.

I thought I would be done after all that, but I’d had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that there was something else here that didn’t belong. I opened by bedroom cupboard one day and suddenly saw it. Hidden in plain sight, just below eye level in the cupboard by my bed, was an old, broken music box. I hadn’t even seen it in any of my prior cleans, so deeply was its energy embedded within me.

This music box had been a gift from a precious family member, who died not long after giving it to me. Before she passed away, I accidentally dropped the music box from my bedside table and chipped it slightly. We were all devastated at the minor accident because it was a high quality music box. Years later, it fell off a table again and broke a little bit more. Several years later I’d dropped it again, and all but completely broken it. Every time I’d damaged the music box, my heart would hurt, and it had felt like I’d lost my family member all over again. And somehow, I’d collected all the broken pieces of the music box and kept them together, with me, for many more years.

 In essence, I’d kept a broken music box, filled with memories of love and gratitude, but mostly grief and GUILT, for over 20 years…

The bed that I gave away had also originally belonged to the same relative that gave me the music box. Despite having cleaned that very cupboard at least twice, I never even ‘saw’ that old, broken music box until the bed was gone. It was like the real energy sticking point only became visible once the big, obvious energy diversion was removed.

Where I’m leading with that story is that life, and healing, is always a journey. Every step is profound, but if you stop there, you may be stopping short of freeing yourself from something that truly needs healing.

I feel so much more peaceful now about my deceased family member, and all my still-living relatives and friends. Letting go of that old music box was like giving myself the permission to let go of the grief and guilt I’d been hanging onto. Once I’d let the heavy feelings go, all that remained was love, and happy memories.

Everyone’s journey is different, and the GEMS that will resonate with you may differ from those that have helped me. You’ll know within yourself if a topic resonates with you or not. If ever you are curious about something I have written about, I’d love to hear from you – post your questions and comments below this post. And if you’ve discovered something stress relief and relaxation related  that you are interested in and would like me to write about, please tell me about it and your question. It would be my absolute delight to explore completely new topics together with you!

Have a beautiful week.  In love and light, be peaceful.

Annalise

Feng Shu-what...?!

It’s Ma-ma-ma-ma-Monday! Hello!

Last week I made an allusion to energetic clutter in what crowds our media these days, and that got me thinking. “Clutter…!”

A few months ago I discovered an awesome book called “Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui” by Karen Kingston. I want to share a bit about her teachings here today, but first, lets check your foundations!

While Feng Shui is a reasonably commonly used term these days, I still wanted to check you’re familiar with what it actually is. So here is a dandy definition for you (from Google)! J

(in Chinese thought) a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (chi), and whose favourable or unfavourable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings.

So basically, if you strategically design the layout and positions of objects in your home,  according to the rules of Feng Shui, the energy in the space flows better. And as the energy in your home represents the energy in you, good, clear, free flowing energy in your home means the same for your body/mind/soul! Sounds good, eh?!

Below is a diagram of the basic bagua (each cell). This grid is roughly how Feng Shui works. This grid can be applied to your whole property, to the home structure itself, and to each individual room. It is possible that the more cluttered some corners/bagua of your home are, the more likely that area of your life is cluttered too.

Karen's basic bagua grid is ever so slightly different to the one pictured above, but it is 90% the same too!

Reading Karen’s book was fascinating for me.  On commencing the book, I’d considered my home to be reasonably tidy (though potential guests always had to call ahead to enable me to get the living areas ready for public presentation!). But as I read the book, I started to get itchy fingers, because I suddenly understood there were some things in my home that really didn’t energetically belong here anymore. It’s hard to explain the feeling, but it was very clear in how it affected me.

So I took 2 carloads of old clothes to a donation bin, gave away an old bed, sold a cupboard, and rearranged some stuff. Interestingly enough, once I was clear about what I really wanted (getting these things out of my house), it was the easiest and most satisfying cleaning I have ever done. I honestly enjoyed it. And the way my home felt afterwards was incredible!

Imagine walking into a dark, dank building that just has this oppressive energy. Now imagine walking into a bright, well ventilated, airy space – the sort of place that just uplifts your energy by standing in it.

That is roughly how drastically the energy in my home changed after this round of cleaning. My home had never been oppressive in feeling, but it just felt so brilliant afterwards that I wanted to sing and dance around my home (and did I ever!).

Amusingly, I did this big clean up a couple of months ago. Sitting here, writing this blog post, and imagining how great I felt tidying each bagua of my home – I’m suddenly wanting to do another round! It felt THAT good! And so much has changed for me and my life since that last clean out, perhaps the time is right?!

I do have one CAUTION for this recommended reading though. As you read the book and get more and more motivated, you may end up cleaning into the night. I know of a few people who have read this book (yes, including me) and then gone hard-core (in delight, of course), in cleaning their homes, until the wee hours of the morning...

I’m a big advocate for plenty of rest – so make sure you don’t clean ALL NIGHT! J

Have you ever tried looked into Feng Shui? Karen Kingston’s ‘Clear Your Clutter’ is a brilliant first step into a fascinating art, and its fun, easy reading.  If you are at all interested, I totally recommend finding yourself a copy to read. And she doesn’t just talk about clutter in terms of dust collecting objects in your house, but you’ll have to read her book to find out the rest!

And with that, I wish you a delightful, joyful week, full of love and laughter.

In love and light, be peaceful

Annalise

Freedom to Dream

Hello my beloved friends!

Guess what?! This week marks my 21^st Monday post in this blog! And we’re still going strong! Woohoo!

Thank you for your ongoing support in reading this blog, I love and appreciate the time you commit to reading each post that interests you. And I enjoy the dream that some of my own gems of wisdom are helping you realise your own beautiful gems on this journey!

So to celebrate the landmark, let’s mix things up a bit this week – and start with the GEM!

Give yourself permission to dream :)

So often these days we fill up our time so much that we don’t allow ourselves the time to sit back and have a daydream. Do you ever manage a lazy Sunday morning anymore?

Too often now, when a dream manages to slip through the cracks in our stress and emerge into our conscious mind, we immediately begin squashing the idea with words like “impossible”, “impractical” or “improbable” so "it’s not worth the time thinking about it".

But did you know? Happiness and health is all about letting go of your perceived ‘reality’ and just looking for joy in the moment! In the world where media is now full of sensationalised topics designed to stress us, playing and dreaming are great ways to get away from all that unhappy, energetic clutter. Of course life is all about a healthy balance between dreaming and doing. Doing is very important too.

I think of it a little like this:

Doing/Being is food for the present, as you do what needs to be done in the moment for your own happiness (and by flow-on affect, for the happiness of those around you).

Dreaming is food for the future. Our future is a delightfully blank canvas, and we alone are the painters of our destiny, so why not deliberately start painting an easy-going, happy picture?

My premise is based from the Law of Attraction. If we spend all of our time focused on our present reality, that’s all we’ll ever know because we’ll just keep attracting the same experiences. If we allow ourselves to stretch our mind to all the delightful things that we would like to happen in the future, we create doorways and windows from where those delightful dreamt experiences may enter our lives!

And remember, being humble in your dreams is not necessary. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. The only ‘hurdle’ in the way is that first you need to truly believe in your own worthiness. And yes, you are absolutely worthy!

Ultimately, you have nothing to lose by taking a moment here or there to sit back in a patch of warm sunshine, close your eyes and daydream about something nice. The feeling of wellbeing that will come from that moment will be enough to make that moment worthwhile!

My one caution with this is that you start with daydreams that are easy and enjoyable. For instance, if you are struggling to pay the bills, dreaming of unlimited finance is fantastic, but only if it doesn’t stir up fear or stress in you. The key of this exercise is making sure you feel JOY. Starting light is easiest. Imagine some ‘everyday’ thing that you delight in, like walking in a beautiful garden, watching an Aurora, a butterfly landing on your outstretched finger, or whatever delightful moments pop into your mind. Just sit back and enjoy a delicious, guilt free moment of joy. :)

And if you still need some more convincing that you are worthy of your little and big dreams, then turn face to face with the person who can help you with that – yourself. Jump back in front of a mirror, or any time you see a mirror, and allow yourself to feel love and gratitude for the beautiful person that you are. Tell yourself how much you love yourself. How grateful you are for this life. How grateful you are for all your skills, talents and gifts. And that you believe in yourself.

If you are new to this blog, and are not familiar with mirror work, please read my early post titled “Inner Dialogue – What Do You Say To You”. In there I introduce Louise L. Hay and her revolutionary ‘mirror work’.

In happy and easy going dreams, and joyful day to day actions, have a delightful week.

In love and light, be peaceful.

Annalise

Standing Around....?

Hello!

Guess what?! It’s Monday! What an awesome day! J

Did I manage to pique your interest in Yoga last week? And really, who doesn’t want to be able to refer to themselves as a “Yogi”?!   *LOL*

Let’s continue on our exploration of physical activity for stress relief and physical balance. This week, I want to address standing desks/workstations.

Have you ever tried standing at your desk for any expended period of time? How did it go?

About 16 months ago I tweaked my back very effectively, and sitting all day at my desk became intolerable in my old office chair. In desperation I elevated my entire computer workstation on massive boxes and liked it so much I've worked standing up ever since. Impressively, despite working on them for >6 months, the boxes held up well, but such constant contact on cardboard really dried out the skin on my hands and arms! Early this year I finally managed to talk my office into buying me a VARIDESK (the boxes had reached their limit), and I’ve never looked back.

I am the only person in this office that stands at the computer, and I am regularly asked, “How can you stand up all day, don’t you get tired?”

Getting physically tired is actually the BEST thing about this style of work. Back in the days when I was trapped in my head and consumed in a world of stress (and sitting at a computer all day), I would go home at night with my brain bleeding out my eyeballs, only to have to go to the gym to thrash out all the physical energy that had built up as stress and tension through the day. Sound familiar…?

The very first thing I noticed after I made the shift to standing, was when I went home at night after having stood all day, my fatigue felt more…. Natural. I was now both physically and mentally tired at night, and all of a sudden my sleep patterns changed. I could fall asleep more easily because there was a healthy balance of physical and mental fatigue! It also kept my metabolism more active throughout the day, awesome benefit!

As a brief, shameless plug for a product that I have really learnt to love, the VARIDESK is a great invention. It is fully height adjustable, so if you feel a bit under the weather one day, you can easily lever your workstation back to desk level and sit down (rather than juggle everything as you pull all those boxes out from underneath!). The only thing is that there is no space on the VARIDESK for anything other than your computer, so make sure you have another surface at standing height that you can write on if needs be. J

Now, when talking about standing in the same spot for an extended period of time, there are some considerations you are wise to address.

1.       What you stand on.

2.       How you hold your posture.

3.       What you wear on your feet.

4.       How much you move around as you stand (keep on movin'!).

5.       What height you set your keyboard and monitor(s).

Working at a fabulously makeshift workstation for so long, I got to experiment with all of these points in weird and interesting ways.  By the end of last year I was wearing sneakers to work every day and standing on a ‘fatigue’ mat. I also did some research about ideal monitor keyboard heights for optimised comfort and safety. I won’t go into the full details of that ergonomic spectrum here, as I am (as usual!) more interested in the feet! J

Standing all day being mindful of posture, and in what I considered to be quality supportive shoes, I got by most of last year. Until one day a few months ago I decided to allow myself to look a bit rougher in the office, and I kicked off my shoes and socks completely. And now I never want to go back!

All modern shoes have additional padding beneath the heel, so the toes are always sloping down slightly. What I have found is that this slight angle causes a fatigue in my leg muscles and feet that can be quite acute and I end up yearning to sit down.

However, no matter how uncomfortable I allow my legs to become while wearing shoes (even top of the range runners like Kayano’s), the pain and fatigue evaporates in minutes when I take my shoes off and go barefoot.  Cool huh? No wonder so many public figures go barefoot on stage!

I attribute it back to the ideas behind what is making minimalist (nude) running shoes like Vibrams so popular.  See my old Special Post about ‘Minimalist Shoes’ if you are curious about my last exploration of this topic.

Now, the message and GEM I actually want to share with you this week, is to encourage you to think outside the box and explore standing at your workstation if you find yourself sitting all day every business day. I hope that by writing about my personal experience and giving you a specific testimonial, you may consider it more seriously.

Also, there is more and more research being released about the physical and mental benefits of standing rather than sitting as you work. Google knows (almost) all, so if you’re curious, have a little look!

So give it a go. Particularly if you find yourself struggling to quiet your hyperactive thoughts when you want to be sleeping, this might be a really great step in a positive direction for you? Certainly can’t hurt to try! J

Until next week, in love and light, be peaceful.

Annalise

Musings of a beginner Yogi

Greetings again my delightful friends (from a snow covered southern island)!

How are you going with all the Gems that have been tumbling from my treasure cave so far – have any resonated with you? I hope you are giving yourself permission to enjoy every day, regardless of what is going on, and reminding yourself every time you glance in the mirror of just how special, worthy and loved you are – so very much!

Continuing down the path of Stress Relief and Relaxation, physical movement is a key part of a balanced lifestyle, and what could be more balancing than something like Yoga? Not to mention that it is primarily practiced indoors. Australia is now in the deep throws of winter so its great to find something to keep moving with indoors. And for my beautiful northern hemisphere readers, this isn’t only a winter exercise – and hey, you may even be able to practice this under the shade of a tree in a beautiful grassy park?!

About 6 weeks ago, on a whim I purchased a Yoga DVD for home practice. I had no idea about Yoga, though people from all spectrums of my life have been singing it’s praises to me for years. As a happy martial artist, and a former Tai Chi mover, I always avoided Yoga for some reason… And at the time, that was perfect, but suddenly the timing felt perfect for me the day I bought this DVD, so here’s my take on Yoga.

The short summary – it is awesome!

I picked the DVD up because I have been fairly inactive lately. I have barely done any martial arts since surgery last year, and through winter I have struggled to find the motivation to go walking. “There were so many other wonderful things I could distract myself with like starting my reflexology business and studying”.

But! Ultimately, strength of body means strength of heart/soul, and vice versa. A balanced life is not really sitting at a computer (or a book) all the time. Our beautiful, intelligent bodies like to move around, and remind us of just how incredible they are!

Now – did you know there are different types of Yoga? I didn’t. As luck would have it, the DVD I picked up (the cover is pictured above) was practicing the Vinyasa style of Yoga. Vinyasa is all about moving with the breath, so is more dynamic than other forms of Yoga. And with deep breathing, it doesn’t feel rushed between poses, and it frees you from having to hold challenging static positions for uncomfortably long times when you are a Beginner Yogi. As your physical strength and balance increases, holding poses becomes much easier.

From my very first attempt at this DVD I could feel my metabolism kick up several gears. I could feel energy coursing through my body that had been dormant for a while, and I felt wonderfully alive. All from doing a short, 30 minute sequence of stretches on my lounge room floor!

Needless to say, I was surprised and impressed.

I don’t practice every day, and often I do just a 10 minute sequence before breakfast to activate my body for my day at work. Days at home I try to step it up and do a 20 or 30 minute session.

I am rapidly falling in love with Vinyasa Yoga, and as I become more confident in the movements and stronger in my core balancing muscles again, I plan to find a class and make this a social experience as well.

That’s actually the really sweet deal with Yoga. If you are a private personality you can gently practice in the comfort of your own home, as often or rarely as you like. If you’re a really social person, nearly every city in this country (might I be so bold as to say the developed world, even?) would offer at least one Yoga class you could attend, then you benefit from that beautiful group energy as well!

While I am revelling in the beautiful energy that Yoga gives me, I won’t be so specific with my GEM this week as to suggest you take it up. It is brilliant and totally worth it, but if it doesn’t ring any bells for you then perhaps going to the gym or walking to dog will suit you far better!?

The real GEM in this is just to remind us all that exercise can seem unappetising when we have been stagnant for a while. But with very little effort, our body will thrive with movement, and momentum can build from there. Going from stagnant to intensive exercises isn’t the only way J

As I say just about every week, be sure that you are first and foremost listening to, and loving your body. But if you have been feeling a bit stagnant lately, be open to trying new things! Who knows, you may find a new passion?!

Until we meet again next week, have a joyful, easy going week.

In love and light, be peaceful.

Annalise