I walked sleepy-eyed downstairs, heading for the kitchen for breakfast. I glanced into the living room. EVERYTHING WAS DIFFERENT. 

I went to bed, and the furniture was one way.

I woke up, and it had all shifted.

No, the house wasn’t haunted.

It was my mother who was haunted. 

Whenever she got upset, i.e., had a fight with my dad, she regained control by doing something physical she COULD control, such as moving the furniture around.

This happened several times during my childhood, so I recognized the pattern. Mom must have stayed up late, getting her frustrations out by moving the furniture. 

We had a lot of big, heavy pieces, but she had a technique that enabled her to move the furniture all by herself. She lifted each corner a bit and placed it on a towel, then pulled the towels where she wanted the furniture to go. It was very effective, and I still use that technique today. 

But what really happened when she moved the furniture around was that she could change the pattern of the energy flow in the room and herself. She could shift from a negative state into a positive one because she focused on something she could change. 

That is exactly why I am in the midst of the 27-day, 9-item-a-day detox challenge. I am clearing out energy that is clogging my development, stifling my growth, and limiting my potential. 

That sounds like a lot, but the truth is this works. 

By changing my environment, I am changing how I am in the environment.

It is just like the Jim Rohn quote: You become like the 5 people you hang out with. You also become like your environment. So, if you want your life to be different, you have to make things different. 

When I pull open a drawer and discover it is empty—spacious and open, I feel energized. When I pull open a cluttered drawer and have difficulty closing it, I feel the opposite: out of control and frustrated.

When you feel unproductive, become aware that you’re procrastinating, and feel frustrated, choose one area you can attack— a drawer, a bookshelf, or a countertop, and clear it out. 

Try it and see if you don’t feel your energy shift. 

Report back to me here.

To tell you a bit more about my mom, she has Alzheimer’s and lives in a memory care facility. She STILL loves to organize things. She goes through the two closets in her room and organizes all the pants, tops, and sweaters together. The problem is one closet has her roommate’s clothes, and the other is hers, but she doesn’t get that. 

When I visit Mom, she often complains that her pants are too stretched out or that her belt isn’t working. It turns out she is wearing her roommate’s pants because her roommate wears size 16, and my mom wears size 6. Must be really hard on her roommate!