Mind, Body, Home: Transform Your Life One Room at a Time (25 page)

site is necessary. But it should be considered a temporary solution, not permanent. Of course, storing items is not always a bad thing either. It certainly can serve a useful and functional purpose. However, it should be done
consciously
. Be mindful of each item you are storing and why.

The more in alignment your subconscious mind is with your conscious

mind, the more in alignment you will be with your true self. If you feel stagnant in any area of your life, then letting go of some items in your basement is a great start. Holding items from the past keeps us in the

past. When you let go of items from the past, it creates space for new energy and new memories to come into your life.

Mind Body Home Connection:
Basement

• Do you have a full basement, partial basement, crawl space, or slab?

• What are you storing in your basement?

• Are you storing memorabilia from your past? Is it from happy

times or not-so-happy times?

• Are you overwhelmed with the amount of stuff in your basement?

• Are you storing other peoples’ stuff ? If so, why?

• Are you storing “just-in-case” items? If so, is it a realistic contin-gency?

• Are there items that you would like to get rid of ?

Main Level

Every home has a main or primary level on which most of the activ-

ity of everyday living takes place. The main floor is usually the floor into which the front door opens. One exception is split-level homes. In a split-level home, occupants are often conflicted in life and feel torn in two different directions. Nevertheless, the floor that gets used the most—usually containing the kitchen and living room—would be considered the main living floor. For a single-story home, all living spaces
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are located on the main level. Because the front door enters into the

main level, it is the floor with the most active, yang energy. The main floor is closely aligned with the 3rd Chakra, our power center.

The main living floor represents our present state of consciousness.

It is a reflection of our day-to-day life and personality. In
The Book of
Secrets
, Deepak Chopra says, “It’s possible to scan someone’s personal space and fairly accurately discern if that person is satisfied or dissatisfied with life, has a strong or weak sense of personal identity, is a conformist or nonconformist, values order over chaos, feels optimistic or

hopeless.”15

You could walk into these areas of a stranger’s home and immedi-

ately tell a lot about that person—from the décor style to pictures on

the wall to the orderliness, or lack thereof. If someone were to walk

into your house, how well would they size you up? They would prob-

ably have a pretty good idea of your personality, genre of occupation, and general demographics. Simply by looking around your home,

someone would have a pretty good idea of a day in the life of being

you. It is the most reflective of our personality.

Because the main floor represents our present consciousness, it

should have optimal energy flow. If the energy is obstructed, then you

may find yourself running into blocks throughout your day. Obstruc-

tions can include such things as a bad floor plan, poor furniture ar-

rangement, or stuff that just needs to be put away. A floor plan where rooms easily flow into each other is ideal. Even if your floor plan has a good flow, you want to make sure your furniture is not disrupting it. To check the flow of your living space, walk continuously through it as if you were the wind or energy coming through the front door. See what

type of pattern you make and if you have to awkwardly change your

direction due to walls, narrow hallways, furniture or any other décor

items in the way.

Also notice if there are areas or even entire rooms within your living

space that are never utilized. If so, this is an aspect of yourself that you are underutilizing. All parts of your home should be accessible and use-15. Deepak Chopra,
The Book of Secrets
(Harmony Books, 2004), 29.

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able. Just like your body, each and every part should be in full working condition. Otherwise, there is a block cutting off the oxygen, or energy flow, to that area.

Mind Body Home Connection:
Main Level

• What is the typical state of my main living spaces? Clean or cluttered?

• Do my main living spaces represent or express my personality?

• Do I like being in my space?

• Am I embarrassed, proud, or indifferent of others seeing my space?

• Is there too much furniture to the point where it’s difficult to

move around?

• Do my living spaces seem too sparse—in need of furniture or

décor items?

• Do I love every item in my space? Are there items I no longer love or use and can get rid of ?

2nd Floor

As we climb upstairs, we step into our higher states of consciousness.

In multi-story homes, the bedrooms are usually located on the second

level, while the more public spaces are on the main level. In this case, the floors separate active, daily living from relaxing, private living. This is a great arrangement that helps set clear boundaries between active

and relaxing spaces and also between public and private spaces.

Having bedrooms located on a separate floor from the everyday ac-

tivity of the home will promote a more restful sleep. The active en-

ergy stays in the public spaces, not in the bedroom. In feng shui terms, the active spaces would be considered
yang
in nature, while the quieter, more relaxing spaces would be considered to have more
yin
energy. Because the second floor of the home is logistically less accessible to the public, we can express our private side more freely—whether that is sleeping, getting dressed, making love, dreaming, or even meditating. These are activities that are more in tune with our higher levels of consciousness.

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When we dream, we are accessing our subconscious mind, but also

communing with our higher self and perhaps even traveling into other

realms.

For those who live in a single-story home or loft-type space with no

second floor, then the bedroom(s) would be the closest equivalent to a

separate space. In such cases, it is best to create adequate boundaries between the public and private spaces. For typical single-story homes, this is usually accomplished with a hallway leading to the bedroom spaces.

However for an open loft or condo space this may be more challenging.

Nevertheless, it is important. Try separating the space by using a different wall color for the bedroom, an area rug, or window dressing to slow the energy down and create a more yin environment.

Where Should Your

Home Office Be Located?

With so many transitions in the workplace, more and more people are

working from home. Unless it is a newer home, home offices usually

take the form of a converted bedroom. A home-based business taking

space on the second level has a different energy than one on the main

level (and especially in the basement).

Offices located on the main level have more yang energy and gener-

ally feel more accessible to the public. Whereas, home offices located

on upper floors are more introspective and work better for writing,

healing, or creative-based businesses. Whether an office is located to-

ward the front of the house or back of the house is also a consideration.

A home office toward the front of the home will lend to a business

being more extroverted and seen in the world; whereas a home office

located toward the back of the home will be more inward and yin in

nature. My current office is on the second floor and at the back of the home. I find myself having to work at coffee shops often in order to

counterbalance the yin energy of my office due to its location.

Having a home office in the basement should only be used as a

last resort. There is a subconscious correlation between being situated higher up and feeling important. The penthouse apartment is a classic

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example, as is sitting in the “catbird’s seat.” An office in the basement will lead to feelings of inadequacy. It will also be difficult to move the business forward. It may bring up old insecurities from childhood as

well as negatively affecting work performance.

I often come across male clients who have their home office in the

basement. They seem not to mind it, until I start asking them ques-

tions. In one case, my client, Tom, said he loved working in the base-

ment due to its privacy. He then mentioned suffering from headaches

on a daily basis. It was no wonder since the space had no natural light, only fluorescent lighting.

Situating your office on the main floor or higher will give your work

or business the priority and importance it needs to survive and thrive.

Attic

When I think about the energy of attic spaces, I can’t help but think of Chevy Chase in
Christmas Vacation
. Because Chevy Chase’s character was accidentally locked in the attic, he spent the day watching old family movies stored away in an old trunk wearing his mother’s clothes to

stay warm. This is indicative of the energy of attics. It almost always involves our relationship with our ancestral family members and the

belief systems accompanying them.

Because the attic is the highest floor of the house, it symbolizes our

higher consciousness, specifically our spirituality and connection to our higher Self. The attic is related to our 7th chakra, which connects us

with the Divine, Source, or God. While the basement represents our

subconscious, the attic represents our super-conscious. The attic is the container for those thoughts and beliefs hindering you from expanding your horizons and reaching your highest potential. Such hindrances

are usually rooted in family patterns that have been handed down over

generations. Not coincidentally, both the basement and attic are areas

where we store items from the past and may even interchange the items

we store in those areas.

The attic is a common dream symbol. In a typical attic dream, the

dreamer may be observing old items in the attic or family members

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may appear in the attic with us. You may have had a dream at some

point of being in an attic. If so, it was most likely at a time when you were re-evaluating your beliefs or spirituality. Perhaps you were breaking the mold within your family ancestral roots. At some point in our

life, we usually start to question the beliefs that were passed down to us.

We make a determination as to whether certain beliefs are still in alignment with us, or not. They could be rooted from childhood, societal

standards, or even our ancestral DNA.

Items stored in the attic may be directly related to a family connec-

tion in the case of inherited items or family photos and memorabilia.

Or the attic may contain items with no direct family relation, but in-

stead represent belief systems or patterns passed down. An example

is Christmas décor, which is commonly stored in the attic. Christmas

decorations are a symbol of a deeply rooted belief system, not to men-

tion a two thousand-year-old religion. A few years ago, I contemplated

whether I really wanted to have a Christmas tree at Christmas. Growing

up in the Bible Belt, it was customary to just go through the motions of putting up a Christmas tree and celebrating Christmas every year. Once

I made the conscious choice to have a tree, it no longer seemed like

a hassle or an over-imposing tradition. The power is in the conscious

choice and awareness of what and why you are storing certain items.

Even if items stored in your attic do not have a familial or spiritual connotation, those items may still be blocking you in some way. Think

of items stored in the attic as weight bearing down on you. Those items are a heavy energy that can weigh on you to the point of causing headaches, breathing issues, or feelings of claustrophobia. If you have storage space in your attic, take inventory of what you have stored away.

Notice how it differs from the stuff stored in your basement or other

areas of your home.

It is not uncommon for people who have experienced paranor-

mal activity in their home to have it come from the attic space. I have worked with several clients with this scenario. It is not coincidental that in all cases they had items stored from their past that they were unnecessarily hanging onto. Areas with negative energy attract more negative or stagnant energy.

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If you have ever lived in or had a bedroom in a built-out attic space,

you most definitely experienced a spiritual transformation while liv-

ing there, or a deepening of your spirituality. With only a six-inch deep roof between you and the heavens, your dreams may take on a different

quality. For anyone who already tends to be a little spacey or need more grounding, it is not advisable to sleep or work in an attic space.

Mind Body Home Connection:
Attic

• Does your home have an attic? Did your previous home have an

attic?

• Do you know what is in your attic?

• What types of items do you store in your attic? Why did you

choose the attic as opposed to other storage areas to store those

particular items?

• Are there items stored in your attic that you no longer want or