Very Very Fine House
Hope you're well and that you had a happy Thanksgiving at home. As much as I missed my family, the homebody in me loved being home. I was born a leg-clinger, so I can easily find comfort in what's most familiar. Cocooning feels good.
I grew up in the 70s, when my mom's bell bottoms gave me plenty to cling to and the pack of Marlboro Reds in my dad's shirt pocket were cool. My mom stashed a couple menthols in the kitchen cabinet for her girl talks with our across-the-street neighbor, Rosemary, who dressed in bright paisleys and had yellow Aqua Net hair. Her husband, Sam, was equally stunning in his red silk smoking jacket and pipe to match. This is us, for real.
As a little introvert, I would play kick the can and Barbie with kids in the neighborhood, but I would opt for more alone time playing in the woods or jumping the fence to sneak off to Garrity's, our local convenience store. I could spend hours rolling down the hill in the backyard or flicking bugs on the driveway. I also liked to clean and once announced to my sister that I wanted to be a cleaning lady when I grew up. I would straighten my drawers or shoo the family out of the kitchen to clean up after dinner. When I was done, I invited them back in to see the Windex sparkle in real life. I've been told, cleaning as a kid was a way for me to control my environment. I think that's true and feel grateful to have instinctually known that quiet and space create calm inside. Noise and clutter only added to my timid angst.
On New Year's Eve 1979, my dad threw the last of his cigarettes into the fireplace, and my mom reduced salt and pushed Grape-Nuts for a healthier house. I enjoyed Steak-umms for a protein snack, and for dinner it was cube steaks sautéed in a sizzling garlic butter that mucked up our stove I'd just cleaned.
As I grew up and outside myself, the busyness splattered throughout my life mucked me up. The stress we live with today far exceeds what our bodies are designed to handle. Family, friends, work, homes, finances, cellphones, social media, food, your own health, a pandemic, hopes, worries, the news. It's a lot. A sensitive energy absorber, I'm keenly aware when too much energy enters my stratosphere. Send in the bell bottoms to hug please! Having grown up with that connection to self and a penchant for cleaning, I instinctually knew to calm down I needed to clean up. Much like we clean our kitchen every day, we need to do the same for self. Muck up, clean up, repeat. Clean food cleanses parts of us, but you also need to clear the energy that you take in from outside too. Given my past, I'm certain my journey led to me yoga and health coaching, so I could learn how to clean up MY house. I want a spacious, airy, bright house to live in and cleaning it up daily is a labor of love. When you're clean and connected, you know that the most beautiful home you have is inside. Turns out by teaching people how to go deep within and straighten things up, I ended up actually becoming the cleaning lady I always wanted to be.
Please join me on my next "cleaning job," my Online & Recorded 5-Day Deep Cleanse, 12/6-12/11, $125 per household. The busier you are the better - this is healthy living in real time. Learn more below or click here to sign upnow to get your shopping list this Thursday.
