“The long lasting effects of Apartment Diet”

Subject: “The long lasting effects of Apartment Diet”

Dear Nat & Tip,

*please use this as a testimonial* (with my name, gladly)

I am so grateful to you at Apartment Diet for helping me see where the energy was stuck in my home.  Ever since I took your course (now it has been 8 months), I have loved my home so much more. It took time for me to integrate the changes I wanted to, and there is still more to be done; however, when people visit they say it’s a place filled with “hope” and “happiness.” Thank you!

– Shannon Walbran, spiritual consultant

For most of us, it’s been Easter / Passover / Spring (or Autumn) break and that often means people – family, friends, food…

One of our #happyhouserules is about inviting guests in, having friends come around and entertaining in general.

We’ve included it for two big reasons but I’m sure you can suggest more:

1. Motivation to tidy / finish

Last week we spoke about cleaning and there’s no better motivation than having friends around. Who doesn’t clean / clear up ‘spontaneously’ just before guests arrive? (There’s a another lesson here, usually  a ‘good enough’ tidy takes much less time than we think, we just need the right motivation.)

We also recommend an invitation at the end of our courses or work with folks, as hosting an event / party at the end of making big changes is also great motivation because…it’s a lovely deadline for showing off, and…

2. New energies, positive memories and experiences in our home

When we have people we love in our homes we get to refresh our own energies and create new positive memories in our homes, together.

Laughter, good food, drinks…and good company are all simple ways to make our homes feel even more happy.

Don’t forget, it doesn’t need to be something big. Inviting friends around for a take away meal or wine and low-key snacks is fun too!

So who have you been having around lately? And how has it made your home happier? If not the perhaps it’s time to invite some friends over?

—

PS We know that for some of you (and at times, us – like when the MIL comes to visit!) having people around can be stressful. So of course, the antithesis for this happy rule is that for some of us, having guests over can make us anxious and stressed but it doesn’t have to be like this!

One way to help with these feelings is to start with the people you love and trust who won’t judge…and to plan it in advance so that the things you feel are important to complete are organised in time.

Several people who have hired us or done our course have told us that one positive result is that they now feel comfortable having people over, and that their guests literally comment on how good their homes feel.

I am so grateful to you at Apartment Diet for helping me see where the energy was stuck in my home.  Ever since I took your course (now it has been 8 months), I have loved my home so much more. It took time for me to integrate the changes I wanted to… however, when people visit they say it’s a place filled with “hope” and “happiness.” Thank you!

– Shannon Walbran, spiritual consultant

We’re here if you need us…in the meantime, happy holidays!

OK let’s start off our #happyhouserules project with something small. If you want to play along, take pics & tag us on Instagram @apartmentdiet & #happyhouserules as well!

It’s spring here so it’s a natural time for clearing (and if you’re playing along in the Southern hemisphere, a natural time for shedding).

Our number one rule is ‘start with a corner’ so…go to a corner of your house (do you dare go to the one you hate most?) and free up that space…remove 1 thing.

Maybe it’s those old magazines you’re keeping just in case, maybe a shirt that you don’t ever wear. Perhaps it’s just that you have too many toys that your kids don’t use anymore. Whatever it is, go on and remove 1 thing and revel in the knowledge that you are making space for something new to come in.

…and if you’re still stuck, here are 37 ‘1 things’ the Huffington Post encourages us to get rid of right now.

We’re here doing it with you!

So remove 1 thing – FREE IT and let it be loved by someone else. Donate it, recycle it, give it away or we also give you permission to toss it in the trash if it has gone past its useful life.

PS For those of you who really want to kick into Spring/Autumn clearing, keep repeating this process of looking at a corner and removing things all around your house (one corner at a time) and let us know how you felt or contact us with any questions about this rule.

“Can you help my wife / husband / partner …?”

If Tip & I had a dollar for each time we’ve been asked this (also about roommates, family members, relatives etc)…well let’s say we’d be able to take a very nice vacation from work.

Of course the answer is yes – we’re going to trial & run some partners courses later in the year and already offer coaching on this – but more on that later at the bottom of this post.

Let me digress for a moment:

I once met a happy Swami. He is a friend of my father in law’s, who knew him well before his incarnation as Swami. Over dinner he was talking about mantras and the like. After dinner I said “Oh, can you give [my Mr.] a mantra?”. He looked me in the eye and asked me “Do you have one?”. “No,” I answered truthfully, and tried to bring back the conversation to him giving my Mr. one. “Perhaps you would like one?” he said simply.

This story really did happen to me and here’s the thing. Often we want the people around us to change. Maybe they’re messy, maybe they’re too neat. Maybe they give everything away or have a closet filled to the brim with stuff that doesn’t or hasn’t seen the light of day but they can neither bare to part with it and complain daily that they have nothing to wear. Maybe all the house work has fallen on you. Maybe they have these really annoying habits (they probably do…but guess what, it’s likely so do you). Maybe they talk about things you don’t like or have opinions you don’t like…

I’m no Swami so I get caught up in this thinking often (especially around my little one’s naptime) but it comes back to the simplest of things:

We can’t change people. We can only change ourselves.

(Hey you rolling your eyes, I know I know, I’m rolling mine with you…)

It is true though. But, and this is a big but. There is also something extra that I (& Tip) think is often left out of this sentence – that we can also change the environment around us.

That is, we can create conditions in our environments that make the changes we are seeking more likely. It doesn’t have to be a major change either. Sometimes we just need to move a little.

This is one of the secrets we’ve uncovered through apartment diet. It’s not magic exactly but sometimes it feels like it.

The secret: It’s easier to make the changes we are seeking in our physical spaces than in our heads.

It works like this:
it’s really hard to change your own mind about something. And even harder to change someone else’s. But we can almost certainly move a couch we share for a week (or an hour).

More than just acting positive, what if the physical space you shared was more positive? What if your side of the closet and lots of other areas of the house that are within your control (which can also read as your partner doesn’t care either way) change to exemplify the feelings you would like to convey?

“And when things start to happen, don’t worry, don’t stew.
Just go right along, you’ll start happening too!”

– Dr Seuss, Oh the places You’ll Go

I’d like to add, somewhat ‘miraculously’ – they’ll start happening too.
We’ve had partners suddenly help. We’ve seen partners ‘spontaneously’ build treehouses and cubby’s. Renovate their offices. Mount furniture on walls. Paint walls. Throw out stuff…Kids too.

This type of change…it’s contagious.

So what changes do you want to make to your homes and lives?

PS Yes of course we can help! It just may be that unless they want to do it, or do it with you, we start by helping & working with you. Contact us & let’s start.

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