Years ago, I often felt I needed to leave the house to get things done. Back when I didn't do everything on a computer or automagically, I would pack up bills and correspondance in a paper bag and go to a coffee shop to pay bills and balance my checkbook and such. I couldn't do it at home, not only because of the distraction of young kids, but because I felt like my home was one big, three-dimensional to-do list. I couldn't relax either. My home was a place I needed to escape, because everywhere I turned I saw something that needed to get done.
I still feel this. I can easily look around and see things that I want to improve or fix or that I've been tolerating too long. However, I no longer want to escape. I learned that the Chinese have a saying (in feng shui), that your house is always talking to you, so you should make sure it has something good to say. Now I am more motivated to change the way my house talks to me than to escape it. I have learned to look around and let my eyes alight on something that I like, something that appeals to me, something that says something about how I value myself, and slowly I find that my home can be supportive. I can use it as a great big vision board to manifest my big life, instead of a never-ending list that is holding me back. I have made sure that even though every room has clutter and imperfections, every room also has a little sanctuary, every room has a heart. My home is learning not to nag, but to encourage me.
I know a certain amount of this is attributable to attitude shift. It is a compounding cycle though-- the more I choose to hear positive messages from my home, the more intentional I am about making subtle changes so that it does have nicer and nicer things to say.
