3 easy ways to bud a new perspective this spring
The first signs of warm weather always brings about a sense of fresh excitement, a clean slate, and lighter energy after the tense and bundled-up winter, like I’m emerging from my cocoon and ready to experience the world again.
With this new energy it can be tempting to start big spring cleaning projects, but we don’t always have the bandwidth to declutter our entire homes (stay tuned for next week’s blog on why that is). So, if you’d like to build upon your new-found pep instead of totally zapping it all in one afternoon under a pile of clothes, try these three simple activities to bud a new perspective:
1.Clean the windows
From a feng shui perspective, the windows are the eyes to the home. Whenever you’re wanting to ‘see things more clearly,’ ‘gain a fresh perspective,’ or ‘see what’s coming your way,’ get out the squeegee and let the insight in.
Psychologically speaking, removing the dust and grime from your windows allows more natural light to come in, which helps us regulate our sleep cycle, improves our mood, and boosts our productivity.
2. Move 27 things around (temporarily)
This is a commonly recommended exercise by SimpleShui, and it really doesn’t matter which 27 things you decide to move. Rearrange your kitchen drawers, your living room sofa, the art on your walls, your toothbrush. The point is to disrupt your mundane activity, which in turn interrupts your mundane thinking. For some time, you may say to yourself, ‘Oh right, I moved the dish towels over here.’ ‘Hmmmm, maybe I do like sitting on this side of the room.’ or ‘Actually, this gives me a better idea for organizing my toiletries.’ When we introduce flexibility in our thinking, we can open our minds up to new opportunities, strategies, and perspectives. Keep it in its new spot for a month, after which feel free to switch up again or return to its original place. ‘Why didn’t I try this earlier?’ you might say about both your at home seating arrangement and about responding to your work emails. And why 27? It’s a lucky number in feng shui, and it’s big enough to make an impact.
3. Take down half the decorative objects (temporarily)
Another recommendation from SimpleShui, you can pick just one room to do this for starters. For more ambitious folks, remove even more. When we feel something is missing or needs refreshing, we often believe we need to add to what we have, when more likely, it’s all about removing the old that no longer serves us. Don’t worry, you don’t have to make any permanent decisions here and you don’t have to keep your shelves bare forever. Like the suggestion above, this is a temporary exercise to allow yourself space to welcome in the new, and test out how it feels without some of these items. Decorative items can carry a lot of emotional energy - some of them are heirlooms, souvenirs, photos - things we connect with on a deep level. Once in a while, it’s good to get some space from these attachments and evaluate how they add to or detract from our life. After a month, replace only the items you missed.
I’d love to hear if you tried any of these and what you thought - reach out to me at @aligned_ambience on Instagram!
