Hello!

Happy February! To me because its still so early in the year, Happy New Year too :)

Today's article is inspired from personal experience and an ongoing conversation with fellow organizing friends. So how on earth does filling up your cup have to do with organizing your home??? AND what is filling up your cup? When I began on this journey of intentionally filling up my own cup that is exactly what I asked: WHAT (very frustrated) is filling up your own cup??? And how do you do that? For those of you that have heard this phrase before and understand what that means, yay! For those of you that are as frustrated about this concept as I used to be, the following are some ideas and resources, along with my personal understanding. Much love <3

So what is filling up your own cup? Another way to say it could be self care, the act and commitment of being self loving, doing things to make your self happy without the participation or permission from anybody else. At the beginning of my (conscious) journey, I thought that love was "you make me happy, I make you happy;" but I was continually let down, and this did spiral downward, to a very painful emotional state. When I learned about "filling up your own cup" either from Lisa Nichols, or Teal Swan, and began to practice, I found myself feeling much more fulfilled, and less angry at the friends and family in my life for "letting me down". This can spill over into all areas of your life, especially how organized your home is or not. Personally it did affect how "clean" my home was and how much energy I had during the day.... to clean my place was an item on my to do list. I can say that when you continuously do not get to the things you want to accomplish, checked off, it does eat at you, for a couple reasons. One - things have physical energy. When there is mess or clutter, that is a physical manifestation of stagnant energy which drains you weather you are woo woo or not. The other - is self judgement, who knows what the story you have in your head is, but I know mine, was along the lines, of I am not a successful adult. Its hard to describe because it literally doesn't make sense when I try to remember my automatic thoughts. These thoughts of self judgement are incredibly draining. For you, it could just be simple a matter of you not having enough time, and having an organized home is not the top priority. The effects of not filling up your own cup can be endless, and so can the various things to fill up your cup. So I would encourage you to pause right now, and look at your typical habits and how it contributes to your happiness level.

Pause
Take a moment to reflect on your self.
How is filling up your own cup or not affecting you?
What can you do to fill up your own cup even more?

Here are some ideas that could start you in the direction of filling your own cup for more life <3
Try an experiment where you commit to this practice for at least a week, jot down anything you notice.

1. Take time to prepare a delicious and nutritious mean, sit down and savor it.

2. Spend time outside. Enjoying the view of nature and getting natural sun light does something to the chemicals in our bodies and brings us back to alignment with health. I wish I could site the sources, but its been stated in so many different professions, from psychology, societal domestic violence, prosperity and abundance practices, spirituality, health... Just try it and notice how you feel.

3. Meditate. If you think you don't know how to meditate, go to YouTube and look up a meditation video of any time length you desire and try it out.

4. Yoga, or walking can be a form of moving meditation.

5. Do something creative. If you think you are not creative just scribble on paper, that is extremely gratifying. Sometimes I love to just color the paper a particular color, to experience that color, its very fun :) That is also using color therapy.

6. Take a nice bath.

7. Get a massage.

8. Get a haircut or a make over! These feel like massages to me.

9. Read something uplifting or funny.

10. Watch or listen to something funny. Listening to comedians has definitely pulled me out of low spells.

11. Call a friend.

12. Clean your house, hire an organizer, a house cleaner, or set a timer.

13. Exercise, just move, if its too cold to leave the house put on some music and rock out, or check out my favorite YouTube dance channel Revfit. Physically getting your blood moving gives you more energy, and helps your blood to deliver nutrients and clean out waste.

14. Drink more water, if you think you may be chronically dehydrated use a water tracking ap. I thought I was fully hydrated, and decided to try out an ap, just to test myself, and I was falling short, that meant I was chronically dehydrated. It made a difference!

15. Ask your self: "what can I do right now to fill my cup?"
"what can I do right now that would make me even happier?"
"what can I do right now that would make me feel loved?"
"what would make me feel even more fulfilled right now?"
Any other question that feels good to ask will work. Make sure its an action that you can do that second. This is perfect for when you are feeling indecisive. You can apply this to which way you drive, what you eat for dinner, what you choose to buy at the grocery store, how you dress that morning...

16. Write "I love you" or some other affirmation on your water and/or on your mirrors, especially our bathroom mirror. I have "I love you" decals on my zero water filter and my bathroom mirror, I love it!

17. If this concept is frustrating or overwhelming, I recommend the book "Shadows Before Dawn" by Teal Swan. This book helped me quite a bit. You can buy it on Amazon, and probably Barns and Nobel.

18. What is something that you love, but never find the time to do? Do that first thing in the morning.

19. Fake laugh, I'm sorry laughter is such wonderful medicine. Just talking about fake laughing is making me laugh. Fake laughter can be just as good as the real thing. I dare you to try it with some friends or family, and see if you can keep from laughing hysterically.

20. Let it all out, write it out, talk it out, or punch it out. Find an outlet you enjoy and let'er rip!

So you've read the entire article this far and you are wondering what filling you cup has to do with organizing? Well Organizing, 9 times our of 10 is not about the stuff. Usually its about something else going on. While it may be overwhelming to address the actual issue head on, it is MUCH easier to build yourself up so that you have the strength to deal with the core issue. Organizing is interesting though, on one hand our things can trigger something we may have been avoiding but also simply clearing the physical clutter and, getting your house in order, in a way that best supports you, can be such a bug weight lifted off, that your entire life gets better. I have seen this in my own life, and in the lives of several clients. And that is what I love about organizing.

So here's your your best life, where your are so full that you are overflowing, and can help but give!
Love, Jessica

Hello!
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Many times in our homes, and lives we want something... different... you know that excitement... umph... You know what I mean :)  That is often how so many of us feel when we want out home or lives to be different, better.  Its hard to define, or maybe even just hard to admit.  I do believe that our home is the first place to affect our lives, but also has the biggest impact.  Which is why I find interior design and home organizing so important.

When finished organizing the clients closets we decided to incorporate some feng shui elements as well.  Since the location of the closets were close enough to the things she wanted to emphasize in her life, we chose pink hangars for one area, closest to the love, marriage & family corner, and black hangars closest t to the career wall, which in this studio is a sliding glass door.  These simple changes immediately brought a lot of joy and satisfaction, and eventually some happy changes into her life!
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When we are looking for change in our lives, the best place to initiate that change is in the home, by incorporating some feng shui elements, you guide the flow of energy to enhance the areas of your life you are looking to enhance.  Feng shui is an ancient Chinese philosophy about the best way to guide energy through your home.  The flow of energy is directly tied to the flow of your life.  Stagnant energy leads to a stagnant life, energy leaks lead to feeling rushed or drained.  So our aim is to let energy dance in our home.  Feng shui is a very evolved philosophy so for this article I only brushed lightly on the colors relating to the bagua map and an easy way to incorporate some elements into your home.  Even how to interpret the map can vary, but the most basic way that I like to read the bagua map is as shown in the picture below.

Hope sharing these ideas bring some inspiration to you!  Contact Jessica​@laranjainteriors.com for more!
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