Your call to action – Tuesday, Feb 5th at 7 p.m.!

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Sara
A few weeks ago I saw New York Times best-selling author and well-known spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson speak inPalm Desert,California. She was amazing – probably the most grounded, clear, consistent, passionate speaker I have seen. At the end of the truly inspiring talk, the person next to me leaned over and said “She was fabulous and I really believe all of this, but what do I do now?” I understood exactly what she meant.
For years, on my personal quest for happiness, I found many powerful “personal growth” tools, but, sadly, very little to help me know what to “do”. That’s why I created my HouseHeal teaching – to give people (including me!) an easy, practical way to integrate powerful universal principles into daily living and become truly, deeply happy. When people tell me that my book HouseHeal: Transform Your Life through the Power of Home has profoundly changed their life, it reminds me how important it is to take this teaching out further. So I am reaching out to you.
If you are looking for change in your home and in your life this year, join me this coming Tuesday, February 5th at 7 p.m. EST for a free teleseminar with insights and inspirations to help pull you into action at home. You will be glad you did…in fact, your life may never be the same!
 
Be sure you are on my email list (www.househeal.com) to receive details shortly on how to join the call – and reserve this Tuesday at 7 p.m for YOU.

 

Shopping locally for home improvements.

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Sara

We are in the midst of some home improvements right now, and I am having a lot of fun shopping right in our local neighbourhood. Our painters Gus & Chris grew up nearby and buy their paint from  owner-operated (as the name implies) Peter’s Paints a few blocks away. Our dining room chairs are currently being reupholstered at Princess Perfect around the corner from our house where Lisa Jo, the owner, is keeping a close eye on things for
us. We found our vintage rosewood dining room table (small enough for euchre
but opens up to seat 10!) at Studio Pazo down on Queen St. E., where owner Leo has been very helpful and patient through our many visits.

Last week we ordered beautiful custom-framed mirrors from Tim & Lillian at Frames and Pictures where we get personal service, unbelievable quality and great prices. Yesterday, I was at family-owned Carpet Mill to look at carpet samples for our stairs (our current stair carpet of course now pales next to the new paint!). And the list goes on.

Shopping at small businesses close to home is not only easy, it feels good.  I love adding to the local economy – money is meant to move around. It’s healthy for everyone. A recent study in Salt Lake City, Utah, found that the local retailers put back roughly 52 percent of revenue back into the local economy, compared to 14 percent for the big retail chains. That’s a big difference. If you want to find out more check out  http://www.pvlocalfirst.org/economic-studies – some important stuff.

There is a place for big retailers too – I still shop at Home Depot (got our light fixtures on-line from http://www.homedepot.ca/ – delivered to the door!) and Canadian Tire for lots of things, but making an effort to support local retailers as much as possible just makes sense. Along with the local economic benefits, there something heart-warming about being
called by name when you walk in and knowing that you are helping business owners to make a living doing what they do best.

What can you add to your local owner-operated economy? Get out and have a look! There are some great businesses out there with great products and services for you to discover!

 

 

 

Know what to do at home? You might want to think again.

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Sara
Years ago when I was a corporate meeting planner I designed a group activity in which participants were put into small groups and told to create a short skit to illustrate the principles they had learned from speakers that day. When the groups took the stage, some were hilarious, brilliant and engaging, and some fell seriously flat.  I discovered afterwards that the groups who had been brilliant had welcomed input from the professional drama coach I had hired to go group to group, and the ones who bombed had said to the coach “No thanks, we know what we’re doing.” Funny, huh?

I re-created that activity several times, and the results were the same each time. The people who welcomed coaching performed HUGELY better than ones who thought they knew what to do.

I find the same now with people and their homes. The people who think they know what to do and try to do it by themselves miss something really important. The people who believe that all they need to do is to de-clutter and re-decorate miss the point. What I teach goes far deeper than clutter and décor.

HouseHeal is about learning to live from a place of love and beauty, every day. It’s about recognizing that your home is a powerful place to practice being kinder and more loving towards yourself and others. It’s about ackowledging your natural power to create a beautiful life for yourself in every way, beginning at home. It is about living with love, beauty and ease, naturally.

The concept is easy to embrace but trust me, it takes practice. To live it, you need support. We all do. So here is my invitation to you:

Your Invitation for Fr*ee Support and Coaching: I am offering a fr*ee teleseminar this coming Tuesday evening, July 17th at 8 p.m. EST until 9.  Sign up now at www.househeal.com. For one hour, you will have the chance not only to hear insights directly from me on how to create a beautiful, love-filled home with ease,  no matter how much time or money you have, but you will have a chance to personally ask questions, live. Mark your calendar now – you will receive the dial-in (phone or web) details before the call. If you like, you can e-mail questions to me ahead of time to sara@househeal.com.

All are welcome – tell your friends and family they can sign up too at www.househeal.com.

Next Thursday in Toronto:  If you live in the GTA you are invited to an Open House at 592 Danforth Avenue in Toronto next Thursday, July 19th from 7 to 9 p.m. I will be there with my award-winning book HouseHeal: Transform Your Life through the Power of Home, and answering questions in-person. I will also be showcasing some beautiful brand new hand-made beeswax candles made by a friend’s son. Tell your friends and family!

Upcoming Classes: Next week I will announce my new schedule of HouseHeal into Practice classes in Toronto – truly life-changing…..if that’s what you are looking for!

Until then, live with love and beauty every day – inside and out!

 

 

 

Summer is a time when most of us just want to relax and take it easy. At the same time, it is often when we hold out hope for having the time to get around to things at home. Perhaps you have a list of projects you would like to get to this summer? Here’s a secret: time is never the obstacle to getting things done at home. Really, it’s not. When you are ready for change, you find the time – any time.

You may have experienced it – even if you have an entire week free to dedicate to “getting things done” at home it doesn’t matter if you are not prepared emotionally.  Try all
you want, give it your best shot, but taking on things at home is never pleasant or productive unless you are ready. Getting things done at home is always about your state of mind and your readiness to see what is your choice and within your control. Everything is energy and unless your personal energy is a match to what you want to create at home (beauty, order, peace, love, comfort), your home will not change.

So here’s my suggestion for summer: Give yourself permission to do nothing beyond normal daily care and maintenance at home. Remove the feeling of pressure. Let yourself bask in the feeling of knowing that everything is perfect order, trust that life can feel easy, and that all will be done in perfect time. Let go of the little voice of judgement in your head that tells you that you need to be active and productive. Relax. Think kind and loving thoughts about yourself. Have fun. Let go.

Here’s the thing: when you are really ready for change, even if you try to relax you won’t be able to stop yourself from getting into action. When you are ready for change you experience the joy and liberation that comes with shifting the energy of your home through physical work, and are able to take action with ease. When you are ready for personal transformation, taking on projects at home is as healing as a vacation, perhaps even more so on some levels.

So this Summer, relax. Let go of self-criticism….and see what happens. You might be surprised at how good what happens in your home feels…even if it is nothing! Ironically, learning to feel “good enough” while doing nothing might be just what you need to propel you forward!

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Sara | Leave a comment

Just 5 minutes a day changes everything!

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Sara

Did you know that 5 minutes a day is enough to make a huge shift at home? Five minutes of focused daily activity is enough to expand your awareness and appreciation of order and beauty, and begin reducing your energetic tolerance for “stuckness” or chaos. Everything is energy, and as your energy shifts, things in your home will shift – naturally.

Every day, at least once, see how much you can accomplish in a 5-minute push. Use a timer to get you started. Maybe you can make your bed and clear off your bedside tables. Maybe you can refresh your bathroom – give the counter and sink a quick wipe, and purge a couple of stale shampoo bottles, change the towels and empty the garbage can.  See how much you can tidy in your entrance area, maybe pick up papers and straighten cushions in your living room, or wash a few dishes and wipe the kitchen counters. Select a well-used area of your home and go for it. Notice your thoughts, and keep it fun.

As you develop the habit of cleaning and tidying in short daily bursts, you will begin to create a progressive “new normal” for yourself. The turning point comes when you are cleaning up more mess than you make each day, almost without trying ….and begin looking eagerly for more to take on!

Getting things done at home is not always a matter of self-discipline; it is about aligning energy so that action comes easily. One of the biggest mistakes you can make at home is to try to do too much at once. Take one step at a time. ..starting with just 5 minutes.  As you shift the energy around you, bigger projects will follow naturally.

Finding the courage to take on what’s at home.

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Sara

This is a note I sent out this weekend to my “graduates”. It will be more meaningful to you if you have read my book, but even if you have not read the book yet, there is lots here for you. I wanted to show you how the work goes ever deeper, and to help you to see that everything you do at home, everything you think, is important. Here is the note:

I received a long  note yesterday from someone who bought my book last Saturday, telling me that  she started to read the book and work through it. She said she is finding that as she looks around her house she is getting stuck in judgement, and then in feelings of irritation and despair. Then, in the next sentence, she continued “and then I keep going back to the place of possibility and action.” Eureka! She went on to
tell a story about cleaning out a kitchen cupboard while her kids were eating breakfast, and what a huge breakthrough it was for her. In just a few days of getting the book, she already is catching herself in despair and able to shift her thoughts and move into action. Isn’t that beautiful? That’s how powerful
this work is. And Awareness (all three kinds!) is always the first step.

You always have to take that first step into Awareness, again and again. No matter how much you
“get” this work, no matter how much progress you make, no matter how much transformation you experience, ongoing change always comes back to the basics: Awareness, Desire, and Willingness. In that order. There is always going to be the next layer.

I have been struck lately by how much courage it can take to step into Willingness, to let go of fear, insecurity, guilt, sadness, anger, regret, to change your thoughts and beliefs. The drama can all feel so real sometimes, even when a part of you knows that on some level you are making it up. It can also take courage to step into Desire, to be brave enough to say what you want even when you have no idea how it will come to you. Even stepping into Awareness can take courage, to allow yourself to see what’s in your life, and to keep letting yourself to see ever deeper.

Okay, the whole thing takes courage….!

And if you recall Dr. David Hawkins’ work that we talked about in class, and his book Power vs Force, courage on the emotional scale is the point at which possibility enters. Courage = possibility. My own courage shifted forever years ago when I realized I did not want the options in life I saw around me. Suddenly not having what other people had didn’t matter to me and I felt huge freedom. I didn’t have a clue what to do, but I still felt freed. I decided to create what I wanted, to follow what felt right to me, and not worry about convention. It was that courage to learn and explore, and choosing to be my own leader that has led me to a place in life I now love. At some point, we all need to find the courage to trust what we want for ourselves and engage actively in creating it. Now I am preparing for my next shift that I know is
coming. My personal work now is to have the courage to stop thinking so much and allow myself to trust the quiet part inside me that knows exactly what to do. I am looking forward to that because, lately, and perhaps you have felt the same, thinking too much just plain tuckers me out!

The world is changing quickly, you may have noticed. The way I see it, the rapid change in our world change is an excellent reason to stick with the things that never change. That’s why I stick to principles in my teaching. More than ever we need to focus on what really matters. Engage fully in life with love and kindness and you cannot go wrong. My favourite quote from Dr. Hawkins’ work is “Simple kindness to oneself and all that lives is the most powerful transformational force of all.” Remember that statement next time you feel despair, fear, worry, anger or disappointment. Catch yourself, listen to your thoughts – and practice being kind to yourself. And go put fresh sheets on your bed. J

I have started to write the next book….a companion workbook for this one. I am being guided to go into more depth in the “heal” in HouseHeal. We all have to keep doing our personal work…..it truly never ends! But it does get easier. And it is easiest in the safety of your own home.

Sending you lots of love,

Sara

The next Househeal into Practice course starts Tuesday, May 29th at 7 p.m. Register now.

How do you know when you are ready for change at home?

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Sara

When you are ready for change, something inside you gets restless and you start to question. And when you question, The Universe always answers – you just have to know how to hear. Listen to what you are starting to wonder about at home…and notice when the answers show up.

It’s funny the people who come in to a HouseHeal book signing saying, “I can’t believe it, this is exactly what I have been hoping to find!” The reason they find me and my book, is because something inside them was already asking to be guided to what they needed in order to make changes at home. The trick is to recognize the clues and take action. When you are ready for change, and something shows up that is right for you, it feels exciting. Often you feel relief even before anything changes.

The trick is that for real change, you have to be ready. You have to really want it. As beautiful and powerful as my teaching is, it is for people who are truly ready to accept their own influence in their life, beginning at home. With the guidance of the HouseHeal teaching, people who are ready for change are pulled into action at home with excitement and ease. I see people transform before my eyes every course as they embrace the guiding principles, and put the practical tips and ideas into daily practice.

How ready are you for change at home? If you are truly ready, my upcoming HouseHeal into Practice course starting May 29th will take you into a whole new world. The 4-week small group course takes the teaching in my book to a deep, personal level that translates to immediate and meaningful shifts. My “graduates” affirm that life is simply not the same after HouseHeal into Practice – and it keeps getting better every day.

If HouseHeal into Practice is right for you, if you are truly ready for change, jump in and take action now. Register before May 23rd and save $150. Spaces are limited so register now www.househeal.com.

Tell your friends! My next Book Signing is this coming Saturday, May 12th from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. at 592 Danforth Ave., 2nd Floor, Toronto – just in time for Mother’s Day!

You can’t tell by looking at someone.

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Sara

The other day someone told me he was reading my book and really enjoying it.  He then paused and asked me “It’s about more than your house, right?”

I smiled and said “Yes, it is.”

Best Mother’s Day Gift EVER!

When it comes to your home, it can sometimes feel safer to stay in conversations about tidying, organizing and decorating. But the whole essence of my HouseHeal teaching, and the truth, is that your home reflects how you are (not who you are!). If your home is not at least clean and tidy, somewhat beautiful, functional, and filled with a loving feeling, I guarantee you that you are not, at this moment, loving yourself the way you were meant to. It is simply not possible to love yourself and live in emotional and physical chaos at the same time. Period.

I look sometimes at strangers and wonder what they are experiencing at home. I have seen people who look like they have it all together, who are dealing with frustration and overwhelm at home, whether it’s mess, clutter, dust and dirt, repairs not done, stalled renovations, tension, or significant emotional stress. I have learned that you cannot tell by looking at someone what is going on in their world. I have also learned that issues at home are pretty much always a reflection of someone’s self-doubt, self-criticism and not recognizing their own incredible natural beauty and power.

My teaching is about home, yes, but, as people who are reading my book are discovering, it is really about helping you to be nicer to yourself, and to recognize your natural power to create a life that you love, beginning with the details of home.

To get your copy of HouseHeal: Transform Your Life through the Power of Home, come to my book signing this Saturday, May 5th from 10 to 4 at 592 Danforth Ave, 2nd Floor,Toronto!  info@househeal.com

 

Last night blew me away.

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Sara

Last night a bunch of people who have completed the 4-week HouseHeal into Practice course got together to see how everyone is doing and explore what would be helpful going forward. The discussions blew me away. As we went around the room to hear what was changing for people since taking the course, people weren’t talking about paint colours, new bedding and cleaning closets (although they mentioned shifts there too!), they were talking about how much better they felt about themselves, about how life is feeling lighter
in general, and how relationships with the people they love are changing for the better – with spouses, children, and even siblings they no longer shared a home with. They talked about a deep feeling that life is becoming easier and more exciting, especially at home. It was beautiful, magical and real.

So, who are these people who are experiencing such changes through the HouseHeal teaching? They are women, they are men, they are married, they are single, divorced, with children, without children, some students, some professionals, some business owners, some retired, some with lovely homes, some in transition, some financially comfortable, some not so much. What do they have in common? They are all smart, kind, down-to-earth, loving, fun people who want more for themselves, at home and beyond. They are people who are willing to admit that they would like life to be easier, and are open to exploring what is possible and step into their own power, beginning at home. And because they are ready, they are experiencing a transformation at home on a level beyond what is even possible to express in words.

Maybe you are ready for that kind of transformation too? It can be yours for the asking.

 

Finding peace in daily life.

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Sara

This morning I curled up on the couch in front of the fire, with a book I bought some time ago but had never really looked at. Within a few pages I smiled with recognition at the author’s observation as a meditation teacher that even people engaged in deep spiritual practice find it challenging to maintain their connection to inner peace when they step back into their homes and their daily lives. He says “The situation was the same everywhere. The realization was easy; living it was the challenge.”

That challenge to stay feeling good is precisely what I experienced for so many years. If I could take myself to an inner place of feeling safe and joyful, I wondered why those feelings were just glimpses and moments. Why couldn’t life in general feel that good, especially at home?  People talk about home being a place of peace (“home is where the heart is”), but I have observed that, in reality, for many people, home is a place of feeling stressed and inadequate. That’s why I love my teaching so much. Week after week I see people start to understand what it takes to make home a true place of peace, beauty and well-being, physically and emotionally, and it’s like a light goes on. Something beautiful inside people changes, and in time that change is reflected in how their home looks and feels.

I got this note on Friday from someone who finished the course on Wednesday: “I was thinking that your teachings and your embodiment of them are going to produce a seismic shift in my life this year. I really feel much lighter than my usual already optimisticself! And some pretty significant things – which could be called coincidences
but we know they are not – are already happening.” And just this morning from
another person who finished the course last year: “Sara, thank you for teaching us how to get what we want. I learned it, I believe it and it works for me. I will continue to use this magic technique to make changes in my life. Thank you, thank you and thank you.”

I believe that the connection to one’s inner peace does not have to be reserved for moments of quiet reflection, but rather it can become our “normal” place to live, especially at home, and that feelings of being overwhelmed by the chaos of life can become the fleeting moments instead.