Your bedroom more than any other room should create serenity and peace for you.

I wanted to give you guys a couple tips to think about when re-creating, or creating your holistic bedroom space! Below you will find a bedroom inspiration rendering including: specific bedroom decor, and ways to implement wellness in your own space. With some forethought the self-care aesthetic can be easy to achieve!

I love to dream and sleep, and I know as much as anyone how my environment can affect my well being, I want to share with you some pointers that I employ with myself and my clients so that you can create an intentional bedroom design for yourself too.

Self-care means to me that we are cognizant of our inner welfare and make decisions and create environments that allow us to connect back to our inner selves in an environment that supports us.

Maybe right now you are looking around your own bedroom realizing how you may or may not feel like this is your perfect dream sanctuary. But do you know what exactly about this space is throwing you off? Let’s look into what may or may not be serving you together with the following self-care tips for design.

Creating a calm and peaceful bedroom is obviously not a new concept, however I’m going to highlight some tips here that you may not have realized have an effect on you inner sense of peace, how to fix them, and how to add elements that create good vibes in your environment.

When you create a sense of serenity in your bedroom you can reap the benefits of feeling better rested, more centered, and supported, allowing you to bring your best self to the world. I’m looking to help people create inner peace for themselves one environment at a time so that they can share their special gifts with the rest of us.

If we all continue allow our bedroom environments to be places of storage and stress, we can expect negative effects to surface in the rest of our lives, since our bedrooms are where we connect back to the source every single night! This is a sacred connection that needs to be fostered mindfully.

Let’s make sure that this connection is protected and that we understand what brings us the most sanctuary and well being every night. Here is a self-care checklist for your bedroom to make sure you are creating in accordance with your inner feelings!

As a designer I see this so often with clients, and also with clients of other designers, who ask for an aesthetic and end up with a beautifully appointed space, but with absolutely no soul of the client whatsoever. I guess this could be a house but it certainly is not a home that reflects who you are!

I would love to share with you some steps you can take to insure that your environment reflects who you really are and displays your personality!

1.) What happens in your perfect day?

A hugely important exercise you can take to make sure you are checking all your personal boxes is to write out your perfect day. In your perfect day Who do you talk with and hang out with, What are you doing, Where do you imagine yourself, When do you engage with the activities and things that light you up, Why are these things important to you? Make sure when you think about this you write down what truly speaks the deepest to you, do not put any limits on yourself. Here is my other post on one way you can explore this for yourself! How to Visualize Your Dream Life. This is a great activity to share with your friends and loved ones, you end up learning beautiful things from this!

2.) Make sure your space supports your life!

Your home is yours, nobody else is going to live there. You need to make sure that you are using the space in the manner which brings you the most happiness. For example lets say you inherited a space with a large formal dining room, but you, an artist, actually hate cooking and can’t ever imagine yourself formally serving a party of twelve. Why don’t you turn this space with a big window and stunning light into an in home studio instead? A space you will now actually use and love everyday? Just because something is set up in one particular way does not mean it has to stay that way! You are the creator of your own reality. Make sure you are using your space to best support what your perfect day looks like in your imagination.

3.) Be real.

Again this environment is yours, no one else’s. We should never be living to impress or seek approval from anyone but ourselves. Just because someone has the most expensive, rare, or “special” space does not make that environment a home. You should surround yourself with things that make you happy. Let’s say everyone and their Mom is painting their spaces white because that is the “in” thing to do, but your soul yearns for pitch black coziness…Please Do It. It’s your life.

4.) Personal Affects and History

You need to have objects in your home that make you feel something! If you find yourself copying a design aesthetic to a T from a periodical page with each piece of art and coaster placed just so, I am warning you, that place will never feel like your home. However, if you have photographs blown up from your travels, books that you love, artwork that you made yourself, or that a friend made for you, these are the things that a home is built around. Tell your story and share your collections! Never worry about the way something looks. If it makes you smile and its surrounded by all the things that you love you are on the right path. If you are surrounded by things you love but you still feel that you need help, this is the best time to enlist a design professional!

5.) Artwork.

Art is so important. It should be collected over time and speak to who you are. Make sure that the people who live in the home have picked out the art or created it themselves. This element is probably one of the most important in a home, and it really can be anything, but it must say something about the people who enjoy it. Don’t pick some art out just because you feel a room needs it. Do some research, see what is out there that speaks to you. It needs to be something you love to look at! Also don’t be afraid to switch things out that no longer work for you, and never ever keep a piece in your house if you feel guilty about giving it away – again your home is your home!

6.) Your Color (or lack of it).

Your favorite colors or no color is a fast way to inject your personality into your home. When you look at art or beautiful inspirational room images what colors stand out to you. What colors do you feel drawn to and which turn you off. When you follow your desires they lead you to the colors that should make an appearance in your environment. Are you drawn to warm hues or cool? A fun way to do this is collect some images of art that particularly speaks to you and see which colors show up again an again. Maybe you don’t love color in particular and thats great to! By intentionally asking yourself these questions you put yourself in alignment with what your environment should feel like!

Hi people! I know that there is a big wide universe of design services out there! Would you like to know how to find the best online interior design services for you? In this guide I’m going to tell you how in two easy steps.

Step #1: get clear on what you want out of your home!

• Do you have a clear idea on what you want?

• Do you have inspiration and a direction already in mind?

• How do you want to live?

• Who are you? Not your job or name, but describe yourself deep down!

• Why do you want a new space?

• How do you want to live?

• Are you going to re-use any elements?

• Do you have a color palette in mind?

• Do you need help choosing paint or other materials?

• Are you ready to learn?!

* If you need help with any of this ask your designer before you start the project if they can help you define everything with you!

I’ve added some other resources to help with the above questions if you are stuck or don’t have clear language for the answers…

Who you are:

(This informs what you want in your environment its literally the most important question!)

What you want:

*If you are confused on the difference between style vs. aesthetic

If you come prepared with this information to share with any designer before a project they will be so grateful and able to create a much deeper and overall better design experience for you!

Step #2: Now define what you want in a designer

Most times I understand that when my clients are searching for someone to design their environment they look for that designer’s past projects. This is a very important part of the selection process as you should resonate with the work that your prospective designer is putting out into the universe. However often these projects resonate with that original client the most, keep an open mind to what your designer can create for you. In the end the absolute most important factor is if you like who your designer is as a person!

Interior design is a super intimate experience. When you hire a designer you are inviting them into your inner sanctum. You should first and foremost make absolutely sure that your designer is “your people”. Above and beyond this you want to choose someone that you can learn from, not just design tips but real life stuff too.

Don’t just look at their other work! Look at their website. Find them on instagram. Find their Pinterest and see if they are randomly pinning things that you are into! Bonus points if you find some great design inspiration for your project on your designers own Pinterest. YOU KNOW you are on the right track of hiring a great fit for you when that happens!

After you do some research and find some designers that may be good for you reach out to them! They really want to talk to you, as a designer, I know this…

Now when you speak with your prospects no matter the channel keep the following questions in mind. Also remember how the designers make you feel when you talk to them! You want good vibes only!

So define what you want in your designer:

• Are they responsive to your needs?

• Would they be your friend if they weren’t your designer (not a mutually exclusive concept!!)

• Do they listen?

• Do they make an effort to get to know you?

• Do they create a personal experience for you?

• Do they take complete control?

• Do they stop to help you learn along the way and teach you new things?

• Do they have a similar aesthetic to you? (This shouldn’t matter too much, focusing on your own is though!)

• Do they care about how you want to live?

• Do they impose their aesthetic on you?

• Are they willing to work with the pieces you already own and love?

• What do they care about more… (probably the most intense trap I see clients fall into!)

  • Your environment’s outcome reflecting who you are?

  • Their project staying on their brand and reflecting who they are?

If you truly resonate with who a designer is you will resonate with their process as well. Their interior design services are usually always a reflection of how they show up as a designer, and as a human. When you speak to your designer prospects be sure to ask them what their process is like! See if they can send you anything to get an idea of who they are are a designer specifically. Often designers have resources describing their ethos and you need to know how they operate and what you can expect! Because all designers are different you can expect just as many different processes. If you are stuck between online interior design or a traditional local designer see this article – Is Online Interior Design Right For You .

If you are interested in my specific process reach out here!

No matter who your designer is the interior design process should always be about you. Now go out there and find the designer of your dreams. They are going to be so excited to meet you because they are actively looking for someone just like you too! I would know!

Love,

Are you completely lost when thinking about the design of your home?

I want to show you, that here at Catherine Rose Design, as long as you have pure intentions, you can have a gorgeous space!

A beautiful home lives within the imagination of each of us. The power to create is already within you, trust me, I would know!

However I also know from talking to my clients that when you think about the complete design of your space you can end up feeling overwhelmed.

I’m constantly assuring each of my clients that this doesn’t have to be a scary experience. Their only job, and your only job, is to follow the things that you love and give a voice to the creative spirit inside you.

I think the magic has not been shared openly about the design process. Perhaps the design industry is too caught up in its own ego. Maybe not everyone has realized it. But with over a decade of design experience, I know, beyond a doubt, the only deeply beautiful spaces are INTENTIONAL spaces created through the inner desires of my clients.

One of the biggest upsides to creating intentionally is that when you yourself realize that your Intention is the only thing that is important. The stress of the details melts away when you focus on what truly matters!

The only real thing that you need for great design (and a meaningful life) is intention.

So what even is intention?…

Intention means “Done on purpose, or deliberate” action.

Being intentional means that you are fully within your own power and acting from within. In regards to the design of your home, you are holding the reins of your creative power. You tell your designer how you want to feel and have the confidence and trust enough in yourself to allow your designer to translate your desires. Someone who is intentional knows how they want to feel in the end, they know what they know and they are confident in themselves to know and allow someone who understands the details to help them to reach their end goal.

Someone who is unintentional doesn’t know how they want to feel or why they want to feel that way in their environment. In their deep seated insecurity around the design of their home, someone who is unintentional. will start to try and control all of the tiny details thinking that they can force good design, Turning this creative exploration into an often miserable experience for everyone involved.

You cannot force good design. Good design flows freely from good feeling intentions only. Intentions rooted in your own deeper desires.

If you as the client have not done your own homework on how you want to live, who you are and what lights you up BEFORE embarking on a design project, the process most likely will end up being challenging for you.

Good design flows from the big picture down into to the little details only. By making a million little detailed decisions without a deeper anchored goal in mind you will spin yourself in circles.

To me intentionality in design means that each decision has a deeper meaning to YOU. Instead of making design decisions based on the opinions of the world (or your designer), you choose objects and finishes to create a feeling for YOU in your space.

For example lets say you are re-doing your living space. You wish it felt like you were on a beach vacation year round…

Instead of looking up “beach spaces” and recreating the rooms that you see in magazines or online. You instead sit with your own thoughts and imagine those beaches you’ve visited that brought you such peace. Maybe instead of a typical southern California beach, your mind drifts to the serenity of a Balinese coastline you once visited. The smells of jasmine, and bright colors woven through the local handmade textiles. These are the feelings and sensations that you wish to recreate.

Realize that no inspiration can come outside of you, it all begins within, and it begins with your intentions.

“Intentionality is about thinking about and knowing what you want before someone else tells you what you should want.” -me

Intentionality and confidence go hand in hand. You are an autonomous human being who has an inner light that the world needs to see. You should never start a design project (new job, new relationship, new move etc…) unless you have first reflected on what feelings you desire to have and what sort of things light you up!

I have some previously written articles here if you are interested in exploring these thoughts for yourself, I would highly recommend reading or doing some of these activities to help you to get clear on your intentions for your life.

perfect day

design aesthetic

personailty

Time to wake up…

When I think about intentionality I look at the world around me. I feel as though there are way too many people running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Trying to achieve that next step in life, striving so hard to be noticed, and on a much deeper level loved for who they are. Lots of our lives seem to be set up for us… go to school, go to college, find the perfect relationship, get married, have kids, make more money on and on and on the goal posts of our lives keep getting pushed out of reach. This story only applies to the lucky few of us too, most people are worried about how they are going to put food on their table or keep a roof over their head. An even smaller group of very select few have ever stopped to think about how they themselves would like their lives to be outside of the expectations that the world imposes on them.

Focusing on their own intentions instead of what the world thinks…

I want in this space, dealing with the frivolity of design, for more people to start engaging with the intentions of their own lives. I think this is the secret to creating a more just and beautiful world for everyone. When people realize the power they have within, even when they start just with their own creativity, people can start to see that they have the magic that we are all searching for within themselves, and that they need to stop looking outside themselves for the bigger answers in life.

Ok so how do I become more intentional in regards to my environment?

Intentionality is the difference between a beautiful room (that anyone can accomplish, at least with the help of a designer) and a meaningfully designed home.

I do realize that Intention doesn’t come easy to everyone because…

Intentionality demands deeper thoughts of you.

It’s the difference between choosing a paint color because you saw it in a trend magazine, or picking a paint color because you have an emotional reaction to it. Choosing it because it evokes feelings within you, and shows off the vibes that you want to create in your environment.

Intentionality demands a true purpose.

Its the difference between choosing a chair because you saw that designer put two of them in her new living room and you need a chair (this has got to be the “best” one right?) and thinking about the experience you want to have in your new library, reading your favorite books by the window, and waiting until you find that perfect vintage chair at your favorite flea market that you can imagine being incredible re-upholstered in some of your mother’s embroidery.

Basically the difference between an intentional and unintentional space starts and ends within you!

You cannot outsource your intention. If you have hired a designer and they have not asked you about your deeper desires and true intentions for your dream life, please run. They are here to recreate their aesthetic for their own ego. They do not have your or your environments best interests at heart.

The link between Intention and Creativity

Without intention you cannot have creativity, without creativity you cannot have intention.

All artistic expression exists because of the energetic interplay of these two concepts.

The meaning of creativity to me is allowing your intention in conjunction with your deeper self to express who you truly are. Creative energy often feels as though it comes from outside of yourself, and it is so true that you cannot make something happen creatively, ever. But I do believe that on the deepest level your creativity is about getting into alignment with who you really are and allowing the best parts of you, the most expanded parts of you to express itself.

I think its the balance between both halves of ourselves. The yin and yang of our nature. The open part of yourself thinks excitedly about how you want to live. Inspiration, colors and thoughts come to you from your deeper desires. Only from this place can you concretely think about your intentions for your life and environment. Your thinking half now has a reason to create in this world creating concrete intentions from your deeper feelings!

By focusing on the fact that you, the client, are on the leading edge of this moment and creativity itself, silly worries of following fleeting trends or finding the perfect paint color for someone else no longer matters (and it never should).

If you go about design (or anything else in life) without leading with your own intentions you will never create a life that you love, plain and simple.

When you understand that its the importance that you place, and the memories and feelings that you have created, your intention, that creates the environment that your soul needs… effortlessly.

When focusing inwards on your own desires you realize that you are the only one that matters especially in your own environment. Heck I would argue that you have a responsibility to the rest of the world to engage with your environment through your unique individuality. How else do you think trends come into being in the first place? Only through people that believe in themselves and the beauty that only they can bring into existence.

If you want to get buried in rules and put your power outside yourself in regards to the design of your home. Understand that that home will never feel right to you and you are at risk for listening to trends that slip away as soon as they show up on the scene.

As a designer I pride myself on being a guide for my clients own aesthetic because I love all of the beauty and magic that individuals create from within themselves. We need more people who are in tune with their inner landscape creating things from within themselves.

I am just here to help with space planning haha!

Let me know if you guys found these thoughts helpful. I would also love to hear how you create intentionally in your interiors if you are up for sharing!

Thank you so much for reading!

Does thinking about finding a cohesive color palette for your home stress you out?

I know that this can be overwhelming I hear it from my clients, time and time again!

I want to show you through this article that everyone has colors that they are intuitively drawn to.

I want to reveal how you can uncover these for yourself without much effort at all!

I think there is a lot of scary terminology around color and color theory for normal people not formally educated in art or design. While there is a lot of wisdom in this (and can be fun), there are some tried and true shortcuts that you can depend on that I use in my own design process, and you can use for your own color palette design too!

Paint, Pillows, Sofa Fabrics, Art and Rugs! So many colors so little help and direction. I’m here to save you from that overwhelm.

Just kidding I’m not saving you, you are going to save yourself!

I love color theory and the deeper meaning of color and if you like these subjects beautiful, there are some great books. (and my article here) But… finding a color palette should not freak out people that are just trying to make their house pretty!

By looking at things you already love you automatically weed out all of the details of dealing with all of the colors that you don’t love when working on your color palette ideas.

Instead of getting freaked out and listening to someone give you a pre-packaged color palette, with these tips all you have to do is uncover the color palate that you already love!

By following these tips you get your power back. Instead of selling your style to the whims of someone else, you can have your own autonomy!

If you want to… feel free to fall down the rabbit hole of color theory, but remember… its theory for a reason.

Your gut understands what you love often quicker than your brain does or can even understand. It’s time to trust it!

Here we go, let’s figure out your color palette:

1. Step one. You have to know what you love! If you don’t know what a design aesthetic is check out my video here or my post on this here!

   Within this process you will be looking at your saved social media feeds, photo albums and design inspiration from Pinterest boards and design magazines.

   Collect these things and see if you can find any color cohesion. You will often find that some sort of organization comes from your intuitive collecting of images over time!

   Make sure you think about the colors you dislike also, so that you can avoid them in your process!

2. Now collect those images that speak the deepest to you that really speak to your soul and light you up.

   It’s great to put these all together on your computer or on a piece of paper or board to have something to refer to for your next step.

   Another great way to engage with this is to create a vision board for yourself, learn how to create one for yourself here.

3. Choose a piece, art or rug that anchors your color story

Now that you have an idea of what colors you gravitate towards, pull a piece of art or a rug that encapsulates a few or all of these colors that you love!

This can either be a piece of art or a rug that you want to actually use in the design of your space or just as inspiration for the room.

The secret here is that your personal design palette has already traveled through two very important gates without much effort from you!

• The first most important gate is figuring out what you are drawn to

• The second gate is the fact that someone well versed in color and composition and probably formally taught in color theory has created that piece of art or rug that you absolutely love.

The hard word of finding a cohesive color palette has already been accomplished!

4. Pick the colors (use a color palette generator)

Now look at your original inspiration and decide what your favorite color out of that is, now turn to your rug or art piece and pull a couple more colors out of that piece. Now you have your very own curated color palette!

A fun thing to play around with is this color palette grabber here.

Often a living room is the second heart of the home after the kitchen.

This means that this common space often covers many uses and can often be a challenging place to implement a functional layout.

Good design is dependent on good space planning. You can have the most beautiful furniture in the world but if it isn’t laid out functionally that doesn’t matter! I want to show you a few tips that you can implement in your space right away that will help you get that functional flow in your space.

With these few ideas you can transform the usability in an existing space or start out on the right foot in a new environment before you start the creative process.

Often in existing spaces, there is hidden functionality that my clients haven’t considered before since they are used to having their living space being laid out in one way for a long time. It’s often hard to look past what is already ahead of you.

And I know looking at an empty room, or a room that doesn’t work or feels quite right can be completely overwhelming. This process is about getting out of a rut and perhaps experimenting with what you have, or actually planning ahead so that you aren’t stuck with furniture that doesn’t work for how you would like to live in your space!

I cannot tell you how many clients Ive helped to rework the space-plan of their home. In fact I just helped a client with two different sized sofas that just didn’t seem to make sense in her new space. She brought them from her old home and she wanted to make them work to save herself some money (which is always a priority). But in the new living room they really ended up feeling really dwarfed in the space. She wanted the focal point to be the TV/ fireplace, but because the long sofa would only fit on the perpendicular wall the entire flow was off! We floated the long sofa and we opted for two chairs as conversational seating facing towards the sofa and everything now works in her new space!

I wanted to take a moment to explain why I created Catherine Rose Design.

Below learn how I use the concepts of deeper self, holistic living and personality psychology through interior design.

As a designer by profession I understand how important it is to have an environment that speaks to who you truly are.

When clients would hire me in the past it seemed as though all they wanted was a beautiful room that had beautiful things that they enjoyed looking at and living with. I bet you if you asked these clients of mine if that was what they wanted, I know most of them would agree that that is what they wanted at first! But I have always known that something deeper was going on here…

The process of design always became deeply personal, and the reasons that my clients sought me out were always more complicated than they understood on the surface in the beginning.

Below I’m going to break down what I focus on in regards to my design process, and understanding what you truly need and want in your home and most importantly WHY, is the key to your perfect environment.

1. Interior Design:Represents your creative EXPRESSION

   Expression means, “the process of making known one’s thoughts or feelings.” Both art and design are expressions of the inside into the outside world.

   Interior design is most likely the reason you are here at all! You want someone who will help translate your aesthetic into a room who reflects who you (and possibly your family) are. Design means combining function and aesthetics. It seems to the outside world to be focused on image and beauty, but read on and I will tell you why there is something deeper going on here.

   This process encompasses practical matters like…

   • Space planning- making sure the pieces you choose to live with make physical sense in the space, allow you to move the way you like in your environment.

   …and more ethereal matters like:

   • Understanding your aesthetic- My clients all have a specific desire and sense of taste, my job as your designer is to translate what you like in to a home that is beautiful.

2. Holistic Living:Represents your ALIGNMENT

   Alignment means, “a position of agreement or alliance.”

   Holistic living means understanding that your life is a coming together of all of the parts of who you are. Or that the whole is more important than just being the sum of its parts. Another way to understand this is being clear on your values and morals. This process encompasses all of the things that you think may not be involved with interior design, for example, but not limited to:

   • Your interest in sustainability

   • Your diet

   • Your mental health practice

   • Your physical health practice

   • Your continued education and learning

   • The causes you align with

   • Your career, hobbies, vocations etc.

   This is so important for my process because your home is where you experience your life and it needs to support all the aspects that you are interested in!

3. Personality Psychology: Represents your SELF, or your outer self

   Self means, “a person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action.”

   Now how do we figure out what these things are that light you up physically through design, and emotionally through your personal holistics? Here is where your personality comes in. Who is your outer self? The world often tells us what we should care about and even who we are,

   but…

   • What makes you you truly?

   • How do you orient yourself to the world?

   • Why do you like the things that you like on the surface?

   Have you explored this for yourself? I believe that this is a necessary part of development and I insist on it when starting a new project with a client!

   If you are interested in some subjects to get you started on your self exploration check out this article here!

4. Deeper Self: Represents your SOUL, or your inner self

   Soul means, “the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being, regarded as immortal, or emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, especially as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance.”

   Now comes the tricky part… and the best part. Your deeper self exploration. Because of your own unique personality and set of human experiences, what do you care about on the most fundamental level? Who are you really underneath all of the labels? Who is your inner self? Your intuition is where this part of you lives and it speaks to you through what you love, here in the material world, which also makes up your aesthetic! It all comes full circle. In order to be able to listen to your deeper self you must start to have a relationship with it. Without this you will never truly be happy with your environment (or anything else in this world)! This informs everything, making design a way to express who you deeply are, which is always exactly what the world needs!

   If you are looking for some activities that help with this inner exploration here is how to Visualize Your Perfect Day and How to Create a Vision Board.

When we are brave enough to combine all of these aspects we create an environment that balances “authentic design with intuitive insight to help you connect to your deeper self by empowering your own creative self expression. Creating space for you to follow your desires and depth of feeling, into a new environment that supports you, mind, body, and soul” -love, me.

Everything begins within, even when thinking about designing your home, remember these deeply wise words from Rumi…

“You wander from room to room, hunting for the diamond necklace that is already around your neck.”

— Rumi

Thank you so much for reading!

• If you would like to read some of my own random journal entries go to •Musings•

• If you are interested in more Interior design, deeper self, wellness, or psychology posts…

• If you are looking to see more post like these in general you should join the community by signing up below!

I would love to connect with you deeper!

Love,

Did you enjoy this advice?
Consider exchaging some energy with me to support future offerings!

Energy Offering

This concept illuminates the process of the play of opposites. Such as dark and light, night and day, female and male energy…

The yang side, the white side symbolizes concepts like:

While the yin side, the black side symbolizes concepts like:

In the yin yang symbol there is a light side and a dark side cradled next to one another, and completely within each side a circle of the opposite. The meaning of this symbol as a who illustrates how seemingly opposite concepts cannot exist without their opposite, and being intertwined with one another they make the other more of what each are.

Yin traditionally represents the divine feminine while yang energy represents the divine masculine. Each of these energies are present in everything and in each and every one of us. Because we are human beings we typically naturally fall to one side of the spectrum and feel more comfortable in our being expressing one side of this coin. Understand though that we are born completely whole and always have access to both of these energies no matter what.

These energies are not gendered and don’t have anything to do with your sex, or identity. Someone can identify as a male but feel more comfortable expressing feminine energy and yin traits. Same goes for the opposite!

It’s important I think for people to understand what energy they feel more comfortable expressing because usually the unconscious shadow aspects of ourselves are usually located in the energetic opposite and its important to be aware that these are the things that can bring us the most growth in our lives if we can start to lean into them.

I will use myself as an example. I’m an INFJ Myers Briggs personality type, 4w5 enneagram and an Empath.

It’s really easy for me to be emotional, creative and receptive. It has taken me most of my life to accept that I hold predominantly yin energy because these yin side is not always taught to be of as much worth as yang traits in the society I live in. Because I know that yin energy is my default setting I have realized that my biggest inadequacies and fears are expressed through yang energy. Such as being expressive, having motivation, and being driven.

I know when I focus on my inner yang I am truly pushing myself to be the best person I can be. (like by starting my own design business, or writing this blog! ah! haha)

When others come into my life easily expressing their yang I either am extremely attracted by them or triggered by them. Some people make me feel both. They are showing me my edges where I don’t feel like that complete yin yang within myself! They make me feel inadequate or they make me feel complete (both feelings that are false since no one can make you feel anything, it always comes from you and your own insecurities).

Think about what side of the coin you tend to express more, then think about who upsets you or challenges you. What energy are you more attracted to? I feel just like a magnet opposite energies often seek each other out in any kind of relationship. The trap of feeling like someone else is “other” than you often stems from the difference in these energies and it is so important for the world that we work on our own feelings inside so we stop projecting them onto others!

Cultures and Countries tend to express one energy over the other as well. The USA predominantly identifies with yang traits and countries like Japan identify with yin energy. The complete leaning into one way of being always manifests in troubles for that place in direct alignment with the energy that they deny, just like with individuals. People and places that deeply only identify with one side of themselves often more easily demonize the opposite energy, which always stems from a sense of lack of wholeness within, and has nothing to do with the opposite energy itself.

Think about the concepts that the yin yang represents: Day and Night, Light and Dark, Hot and Cold, Life and Death. Could any of these concepts even exist without the other? What would you call light without dark? Nothingness, a non-entity?

It literally ceases to exist without its opposite! 

This is the most important part about the yin yang symbol in explaining this phenomenon:

Each side holds within it a circle of the opposite energy. Reminding us that if we do not hold reverence, respect and acknowledge the things that we deny within ourselves that we can not have balance in this world, actually everything would no longer be as it is without the opposite.

I think we all need to remember this concept while going about our lives in the world. How are we contributing to the discord within our own energy? How can we behave like we are the whole people we truly are within and show that person to the world?

“In good design we need contrast for interest, In the world we need contrast for meaning.” -me

Now let’s talk about how, knowing the meaning of contrast in our lives, we can express this through design in our environments!

One of the easiest ways to do this is to look around your space now. What stands out to you the most?

However you answer these questions, try and inject some of that opposite energy, I promise it will completely change the vibe of your space! It will also help to illuminate and define those things in your room that you at first “over-used”. Allowing the things you really love and resonate with to pop more clearly. Allowing those edges to be defined helps these things to stand out! Just like day and night define each other.

– What you you spend your time doing when you have free time?

– What actually brings you joy to do?

– What did you do as a child that completely lit you up?

– If you like most humans is just on their devices all day… what are you looking at?

– What are you doing online? There is a lot of inner wisdom there too.

Do you see any parallels between all of these things?

Make a big huge list of these things, this is the most important step!

– Sometimes this is a hard subject because all of our egos are so sadly huge and compliments are way too rare.

– But what do people compliment you on out of nowhere?

– What do your friends say about you when you are three glasses of wine in and being sweet to each other?!

– How does your boss brag about you to others?

– How did your parents use to describe you to their friends?

– What stories do your relatives share about you?

– What comes so easily to you that when people don’t act in that way you really wonder about their IQ?

This can be hard because often those things that you are good at you’ve never had to think about because… they come easy to you!

A great ikigai quote would be this one… “What is obvious to you is amazing to others.” – Derek Sivers

Ask those around you who know and love you, it will be the first thing on their lips. 

See what common thread these things have…

Make a huge list of these things too!

Now this is where a lot of us get messed up in today’s culture. For story time: I loved art in kindergarten and when everyone said what they wanted to be when they grew up I said artist! But thanks to cultural programming I knew I had to shift into something that was more likely to make me money, so interior designer… here we are! 

So the things that you think you can be paid for have been super solidified by the world around us. Often if you aren’t a doctor or a lawyer or a CEO of a company it can feel as though maybe you aren’t as “successful” as you should be. But this is TOTAL crap. We don’t need any more doctors or lawyers, or CEO”S.

But we do need better doctors, lawyers, and CEO’s that hopefully reached their goals by studying their own deeper self and not followed the rules dictated to them by society…

People are unique and wired differently! *

If you want some more information on some inner self exploration check out this article here.

Same goes for you and what you do to make a living. Question what you are currently doing, more importantly question why you are doing it!

– If your current career doesn’t line up with the rest of your Ikigai are you missing something?

– Is there a way you can do what you do in alignment with these other aspects of yourself?

– Or can you turn some of the things that you love into something that people would pay for?

There is deep wisdom in these aspects of yourself. The world needs you to show up fully as you. Dig deep and think creatively about what your natural gifts and personality are trying to tell you. Often there is hidden monetary potential within.

– What are you always worried about?

– What do you think are some of the biggest problems facing the world?

– What charities do you support?

– What are you always ranting to others about?

Another good way to think about this is to look at your “what your good at” list… What problems do you see that the world needs solved that could also be helped by what you are naturally good at?

I find that there is usually some sort of correlation here…

NOW:

You have your four lists!

•Play around with your lists.

• When you look them over what stands to to you the most?

• If you went with purely your intuition how would you fill out your IKIGAI from your lists? Try it! See if you can construct a direction from what speaks the deepest to you.

• You may figure out a couple at a time!

• If you are stuck ask your loved ones what they think, they can help flush out your blind spots!

The other aspects of your Ikigai, Where some Circles overlap and leave others out…

 A. Passion:

The intersection of what you love and what you are good at constitutes your passion.

B. Mission 

The intersection of what you love and what the world needs constitutes your mission.

C. Profession

The intersection of what you are good at and what you can be paid for constitutes your mission.

D. Vocation

The intersection of what you can be paid for and what the world needs.

If you feel as though you have some circles figured out in your life but not others look at these intersections above.

• Try combining your list words in their spaces to create new outlets for yourself that may have a place outside your “career” for the moment.

• We all deserve to feel fufilled and maybe combining some hobbies with your job will help to balance out your energy for the time being.

I thought this article was a beautiful representation of one woman’s search for balance ending up showing her a new path that she didn’t realize existed!

Keep the following phenomenon in mind as well, this could explain where you currently are in your life if you haven’t fully rounded out your Ikigai!

1. Where your Passion and Mission Meet… NO MONEY BUT HAPPY

2. Where your Passion and Profession Meet… HAPPY BUT FEELING USELESS

3. Where your Profession and Vocation Meet… COMFORTABLE BUT EMPTY

4. Where your Vocation and Mission Meet… UNCERTAIN BUT STABLE

If you followed me down the rabbit hole thus far…
YOUR IKIGAI Has been revealed!

-Or at least some creative paths to try and round out your life’s experience!

This is how I was serendipitously forced to figure out my own…

• This •

My entire life I’ve known that there must be more than this. Living for the next moment, striving to become something “more” than we are only to all end up dying. I’ve always easily connected to people and would feel so extra alive when someone or a group of people and I would talk about deeper things and connect on a level that not everyone achieves. I would see things in others that resonated with the deepest parts of who I was too, I can only describe it as soul. Now, this non-verbal “feeling” vibe way of life became who I was. It became my mission to achieve this state as much as possible, understanding it to be my truth. I saw how much power going to this level had and I wanted everyone I came into contact with to experience it with me. When I was younger it seemed easier to be this way, being one with what was around me and who I was with. But as I grew older things became cemented into more concrete definitions. I had to “set myself apart” “become someone” and my sense of oneness became something I was told I should be ashamed of. “I shouldn’t give so much” “stop being a doormat” “focus on myself” etc. and there was a point in which I agreed with these statements. There was a voice in my head (an angry voice) that kept telling me that my need for connection was useless, I should think about my own energy and stop trying to show the world the other way of life that I had experienced. They wanted to live for themselves anyway so what did it matter? However, a large part of me felt guilty for giving in and letting go of who I thought I was. Now the difference between these states of mind and now is that I’ve realized how true both ways of thinking are. The reason I had always thought that I had to choose one or the other was that deep down I felt that there was a definitive end to who I was, that I was a finite being. At first a girl and a young woman defined by the wonder of something bigger than myself, who didn’t believe that she existed unless she was connecting to something on that deepest level. Next turned into the cynical and spirited woman full of sarcasm and a quick tongue who had a logical answer for everything, ignoring the fact that she had a soul, who still sought to fit into the world that was still spinning madly around her. I had experienced both ways of being and still wasn’t fulfilled. So what was the answer? It wasn’t a way that I had to be or something I could do… But that I actually had to BE. Accept that all of it was me, and all that I am is so much more than these words can describe. There is no limit to who I am because I am intrinsically connected to everything. No more need for definitions.

And since this is who I am…it is also you.

Love,

These “musings” are journal entries I’ve written myself. A mix of poetry, random thoughts, and a lot of navel-gazing straight from my higher self. I wanted to share some of my thoughts and conversations that I have with my deeper self since I ask such personal questions of my design clients in my interior design process.

I hope through reading these you can see a little bit of yourselves too.

Love,

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