You know how some days you feel that good flow? You are more energized. You get stuff done. You clean the fridge. And finish your filing. You look in the mirror and like what you see. Your kids don't argue. It's like for a moment your stars are aligned in a perfectly straight line.
And then there's the flip side of those days ....
The days when everything seems too hard. Life is hard.
I'm writing this post for the hard days.
We all have days when we feel stuck. If we allow it, these days can lead to weeks and sometimes, even a full year gets lost. I've had a year like this. In fact, I've had two.
A few years ago our family went through a tough time financially. We moved Countries, our business crashed, we lost our home, my husband was diagnosed with Anxiety and Panic attack disorder. I know now that I was suffering from Depression. There were weeks were I only left home to pick the kids up from school. I locked myself away inside my own home. And all of this happened in the same 24 months. It was a long, tough two years.
Somewhere in the middle of those dark days I remember thinking that it was never, ever going to get better. But it did (You can read a little more about our story here).
What helped us the most was simply deciding to live our life on our terms. It started with a conversation late one night and led to us taking small (super small at the start) steps to help us regain control.
When you are feeling overwhelmed and lost, it's hard to know how to get unstuck. And it sucks. It takes all of your energy to get through your day doing the bare minimum, let alone adding something new to the mix.
The thing is, there is Magic in Action. Even the smallest action sparks something inside you. I like to call it Hope. And it is the opposite of feeling hopeless.
If you are feeling stuck, I urge you to give this strategy a go.
Move 27 Things. This practice of Feng Shui is a simple yet surprisingly effective method for getting you unstuck. It's a series of 27 uncomplicated Actions designed to reignite the energy in your body.
Move 27 Things: How this Works
On a day when you feel particularly stuck, choose 27 things in your home to move.
Ok, so it doesn't need to be your home, it can be at work. But for me, my home has the most amount of emotion attached to it. It's where I spend most of my time, so it's a logical place for me to start.
There are no rules. You don't even have to clean under the object you pick up.
You can even put it back in it's old place if you can't figure out a better place to put it.
Or you can throw it away and use this time to rid your life our clutter that doesn't serve you.
Or clean underneath it.
Or give it away.
Or fix it.
Just start by moving one thing. And repeat 26 more times. And yes it needs to be exactly 27 things. Because that's point. When it comes to Feng Shui the number 27 has energy.
Why it Works
The basic act of moving our body is sometimes all we need to create a shift in our emotions.
Taking positive action creates momentum in your life. Small steps can lead to bigger changes over the long term.
As we move the 27 things, we have an opportunity to think about the importance of the objects surrounding us. We get to declutter our home in a subtle, stress free manner. Decluttering your space can lead to a less cluttered mind. Distractions, even small ones, pull on us in unconscious ways. It drains us of our energy to create and grow and diverts our attention from the people and things that matter.
When you are ready for the next challenge try this one: 200 Things to throw away.
As you clear out, clean up or simply move the objects surrounding you. Notice what surrounds you, not because you love it, but because you just haven't questioned the purpose of having it around.
Letting go of things that carry negative or old energy strengthens your ability to move on from old emotions, ideas or feelings that no longer serve you. You create an opportunity for new thoughts to catch hold and allow room for the valuable things in your life to grow.
27 Ideas on What to Move (or clean or throw away)
I thought I would include a few ideas on what to move - just some things to get the ball rolling. Feel free to make your own list or make it up as you go. You can go bigger or smaller. The idea is to rid yourself of anything that doesn't serve you anymore.
Just don't stop until you have moved 27 Things.
1. Stand in front of your closet. Look at the clothes in hanging in the space. Touch each piece. Remember how you felt when you last wore it. What do you want to take into the future with you. Discard anything that does not fit that vision.
2. Take a look at your bookshelf. Take out old books whose messages don't speak to you anymore. Donate or give them away to someone who could use them. Make room more to come.
3. Open the medicine cabinet. Throw out expired vitamins or medicines you no longer need.
4. Look inside that messy kitchen drawer. Do you need 5 spatulas?
5. Throw out that cracked coffee cup you keep reaching past.
6. Unscrew the broken light bulb and replace it with a new one.
7. Replace old photos with ones of the family as they are now
8. Open your pantry. Throw out the crappy foods that don't nourish your body and those of the kids.
9. Repot the house plant in your living room to give it space to grow, or
10. move it to a new place in the house.
11. Clean the fruit bowl in the kitchen and fill it with fresh fruit.
12. Take out the slow cooker for dinner tonight.
13. Put the old towels in the wash basket and replace them with fluffy clean ones.
14. Open your underwear drawer. Throw away anything that doesn't fit or make you feel beautiful.
15. Clean an item that's dirty.
16. Place some woolen blankets in the lounge for night time snuggles.
17. Light a candle.
18. Change the position of your bed.
19. Change your sheets.
20. Move a mirror to somewhere else in the house.
21. Get out the good china and set the table for dinner tonight.
22. Put some flowers in a vase.
23. Clear everything off the kitchen bench top (this adds up really quickly)
24. Put on some music you haven't heard for a while
25. Change the Cover on your Bed
26. File or throw that stack of paper clutter.
27. Put a book you've been meaning to read next to your bed.
-->> Click here to Download these Gorgeous 27 Things to Move Cards. I have completed a few to give you an idea on how to use them and I have included a blank set of cards.
Simply print out on paper (or card stock like this for a more solid feel card) and write down 27 things Things to move. Make this activity into a little game that you can even play with the kids. Simply pull them out and use them whenever you feel a little stuck.
