Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Be

No idea.
I have really no idea.
Why there are more earthquakes
more angry confused people
more monetary problems
more governments collapsing
more people wanting their freedom
more people having enough of the old ways

All I know is that times are not changing
We are.
As we move with the new flow of life
the birthing of Gaia is the birthing of us

Enough of all that speaking
if you don't know why say anything?
Instead of watching try some doing
and if you don't "do" then at least be Peace.
Be quiet for the other
Be love for the other
Be there for another

Be you and peace and wisom will reign
In your hearts of heart
once again

Friday, March 16, 2012

bounce


We bounce
through life
Not always knowing
where we land

Does it matter?
Turning off the headspace
and opening the heart space
Shows us a new world of wonder

Usually the hardest combat
is not with a someone 'out there'
but dealing with the turmoil inside
that phases out when we focus again on love

The most uplifting times can be had
after we have fallen smack bang on our face
and in our despair realize
That there is always more then that.

Make peace with it.
Bounce.

photo copyrighted. pictured: chookBFF Greta and myself on the farm

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Delwyn


There's nothing corny
and nothing callously old story
about breast cancer,
just a funny odd feeling on one side you said.

The cancer is now dying within you
as you are living beautifully with it.
Your vibrancy outshines the dark lump
that it once was.

Your new look is Sinead O'Connor
and people make misguided comments
turning bright red when you
tell them your straightforward truth.

Blessed are you and determined with heart.
Angels surround you,
whispering soft songs in your ear.
Carrying you in their love forever.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

self responsibility


I am SO rejoicing in what is happening in friends and family's lives at the moment. One friend has started a new career and is bound to be absolutely awesome at it, another friend has decided that doing what she loves is more important then her career: she is going on a world trip -cycling accross many continents for a year, another friend is contemplating divorce and following his inner radar, he has been putting this decision off for a few years but is now ready for it and me: well I again made peace with what is, celebrate my wonderful life and have gone on exploration and doing training. I keep hearing that it's a time that is very busy, often times stressful or plain derailing for many people. The good news is that many seem to wake up to the fact that many things have happened because of the choices they have made themselves.

As one friend said to me today: it's about self responsibility.

We can decide to blame governments for the economy being crap, or our spouse being afwul, or our work being sh*t, but at the end of the day we usually find out that hey we did choose to study or not, have a study debt or not, support the government we have or not, have the partner we wanted or not, are alone or not, know what we want or not right now, follow our gut feelings or not, live wisely or not, have money or not, choose to be happy despite anything... or not. Either way it doesn't matter in the big scope of things all these details: it matters to us only what we feel we want to do right? Whether we feel we matter, whether our connection to the larger part of who we are (some call this God) means anything, whether we wil be happy with what we are doing now and on and on. My we get busy thinking about stuff don't we?

Ultimately: this is our life. We do the best we can in deciding how to choose and navigate our way through it. But to blame anyone outside of us for anything that doesn't work the way we want it to, is outdated. It also very conditional. In case you have forgotten as well from time to time: love is unconditional. Yes that applies to yourself too. Stop beating yourself up already. So you are searching. Groovy! Shake it baby.

This is your life remember? Do you want change? Work it dude! You are the only one who can effectively bring about the change you want to see. You ARE the change you want to see. Stop whining to other people how it should be for you instead of how it is, just go work on how it will become already!

Lots of love.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

the hum of love


Maybe we can move
both intentional and unintentional
by simply stating who we are
the definition itself radiating
that what we feel and embody
always telling all

Even without words 
enough can be shared
to build bridges,
mend bruises
fix problems
to sail the seven seas

When we start to remember
that we are more then
the sum of our parts
more then our body
more then our minds
more then the clubs we belong to

That the center of us is our hearts
and that of others too
then there is no need to explain
no need for science play
no room for debates
just the connection
the holding of hand
the caressing of hearts
the soothing of us

A tone of silence
a hum of love
a pulse of life
love spreading
like ever before
around and in us
a galaxy filled with
the booming vibration of all

Instead of thinking about it
Feel it inside of you
Look within and around
It is all the same
Have you noticed?
Can you hear it pulsing in your ears
drumming in your heart?

Friday, September 2, 2011

life

is worth LIVING:
(love this, there's piggies in it and Mooos and sheepies etc etc, so sold already. Warning it makes some people cry...)

Monday, August 22, 2011

seriously?

No. Often things are too serious already. We try too hard. Does that really help? Hm?


Generally we find we have to make light of a situation. Being stuck in the mud only teaches us to get very muddy boots (I literally experienced this yesterday when my husband and I were building enclosures for our two wild piglets). Better to have a laugh and move on.


I like to share this video today which I think teaches us to never complain again. There is no use for such a pass time although all of us have done this from time to time. How do you feel today?


Thursday, July 21, 2011

experiencing

Today I wanted to share not just my words but those of a friend who sent a message to me (letters somehow don't seem to be written as much in this new technological world we live in). Many of us are searching for... something. What do we want to do? I'm not just talking about a job, but in life.

We take out time or rush into it. We talk to others about it... endlessly. Or we don't say anything at all and keep it stirring and rattling away inside of us for many years. Some of us decide to go for it.

(photos taken by me of wild pigs Red and Twinkie at home on the farm.)

This is how my friend Remco put it to me today:
When talking about ME, I mean I really, REALLY need to find out what makes ME happy. Not find out what I think or have been thinking I 'should' do, or what other people would want me to. But simply what makes me happy. Amsterdam e.g. is huge, and provides you with all possible and thinkable possibilities. So I should go there and prosper. Right? Wrong. Rem (saying to myself), you are no semi-Jesus, you stupid a**ewipe. You are just a guy. You need things. You want things to connect with you, not the other way around all the time. Amsterdam makes you numb. Makes you feel little. Realize that and realize that's just fine. Your home place is not there. You don't want the tram and the bike. You don't want the 179 neighborhoods. You don't wanna give it 5 years starting a completely new life and living. You wanna make your lonely mom see you more often than once every 2 months. You wanna cherish your 100 friends and 1000 acquaintances rather than throw 90% away to start all over.So live that life! Not a life you have sketched out. Just the life that you ARE."

The life that we are. I could't have put it better then he did (and his words are residing on this page with his permission). So many things would go so much better... if they were done from the heart. Wouldn't they? 

(Picture below is of my husband Nico holding a very much alive wild piglet called Twinkie short for TwinkleToes.)


More from Rem: "So, what I am doing, is finding ME. I have no idea about ME, when it comes to simple things.  NOT helping when trying to put down my desired career on a sheet. What helps is listening to my gut feeling. Or starting to learn to listen to my gut feelings actively. I might just go do any job to find myself pursuing a life more than pursuing the 'right career' (the one I 'should' find and pursue). 

I have already realized many things. About the friends and other peeps I don't wanna miss. Not because they are the most perfect, but because they're mine. They are MY friends, and I am theirs. Furthermore, I think I really like grey, blue'ish grey, and some shades of brown. I am willing to pick up litter from any street and should NOT feel being laughed at when I do. I DO have the right to be a pain in the ass once a week. It IS possible for someone to not like me.. I wanna live NOT in a big city and that is nothing to be embarrassed about. 

I can dream and have high morals and standards and left-wing utopian dreams... but it is okay to be human and normal in daily life. It is ok that I hate extremes, and love the middle, the reasonable, the social, the average.. And, it is okay to live the life you want to live. Even when others, from their capitalist and materialist views, express they feel sorry for me not getting all out of life. They are NOT talking about the same concept. At all. And that is ... OKAY. It might be me +wine speaking. Speaking, opening-up, not-organized-story-building, and doubtful-sentence-building anyway. But hey, I know you won't mind. Cause we're okay. We don't demand, we experience." 

I like it. How do you feel about your life at the moment?

Photos: taken by me and copyrighted: please do not copy for any reason.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

the shortest day


The shortest day is like the shortest breath
It's cold. People look frozen.
Time moves fast as it does slow
On the shortest day.

We have a wine.
We light a smile.
We see only a few.
On the shortest day

Years ago we had it figured out
Now things have changed again
And we could be anywhere at all
On the shortest day

Many dreams gallop overhead
and the sun sets all too soon
So all we have is each other
On the shortest day

Tomorrow the light will increase again
Perhaps make sense to us some more
Hey where are we going?
On the shortest day.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Gaia what?


Most of us carry on with our regular lives every day with no or little thought to what surrounds us. No wonder Yoda has been telling us there's more going on then meets the eye. “Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”
I have started reading a book called ''Gaia, the human journey from Chaos to Cosmos" by Elisabet Sahtouris PhD and it's both intruiging as it is straightforward.

Usually I'm not overly a greenie in the hippie sense of the word. From being an artist etc to moving into business life and from then into farm life trust me humming Aumm and doing new age courses has not been on my agenda for many a year. My education therefor has come to me in the practical sense, also I suspect because I needed to be grounded more and less fluffy ducked. It worked! Kudos. I guess now it's time for me to absorb some additional knowledge in book form.

Before I started reading Gaia I was reading ''Eat Pray Love" for the sheer fun of it and that too encompassed life (and meditation) and the contemplation of the unseen energy field in which we live. I find it very interesting to read books that are written from various view points.

Life is becoming less and less about stuffing things we can comprehend in boxes with written labels but instead it is now overflowing with out of the boxy stuff, things hanging in mid air, things unseen, things wafting about tantilizing with hints at what more knowledge there may be. I think the whole jazz is best described as a jack in the box. This can be joyous or also topsy turvy, as we have seen with all the earthquakes.

Most of it cannot be grasped with the mind, it's as if we are increasingly being inserted with inner knowing through our other senses. It's a combo mac deal, with added crunchy salad and big fizzy drinks when you think you only had one coupon. And when it's in front of you: you're finding out that you're not so hungry for all that food stuff after all (I think that's why I decided to become vegetarian about 4 weeks ago). It's a funny thing this life. We get notions. We lose notions. We become notion-less and in that space of having lost direction we can pin point ourselves again. What fright and what freedom.

Now back to Gaia, I keep finding new books at the moment, not that they are new but they seem to bring me aspects of topics that increasingly get me excited. Gaia is not just the Earth, it's the sentient being that is Earth also. Many religions have mulled this Gaia stuff over. What is it all about dude? Indeed. Is it all yadda or is it "real". And what is the real deal anyway? How ''actual'' is the daily life?

I think we forget we live on a planet that LIVES. It's not just a chunk of rock in eternal sleep and we can just dig up all the gold, coal and pump all the oil out of it without as some point catching onto the idea that hey! Maybe we are digging into actual flesh here. Maybe this endless gratification for our own selfish needs has stopped making sense. Especially since we know that electrical cars and other propelling methods have been available which were discarded ideas by big oil companies as -get this- they would go out of business and they didn't like that (insert doh here). I mean when does this attitude end huh? Well with us of course. Simple as that. It all boils down to demand. So what if we changed the demand? We can you know. There is such a freebie as free will, I think it's a winner.

So I'm reading Gaia: it's more a statement of saying: you know we have done this crazy sick stuff on the earth for so long. Why are we taking not decades but a century or so to choose something else that is beneficial for all concerned? We use up energies where we can choose something more sensible and at the same time build and maintain the world that we are part of, quite literally I might add.

So if it makes so much sense to amend our ways, why not do it? I don't think most of us are lazy, we have just been sloppy in pointing things out and doing something about it. That tv has been a darn invention for keeping us on the snooz button. So come on, pull your head out and think of a way you can alter how you travel to work. And what work you do. And how you heat your house. And all that greenpeacy stuff while you're at it. Maybe have chickens and grow your own veggies. Put that solar jazz on your roof. Clean your house out. And if you say you can't afford it then join forces with other people and bring out that commune spirit in the name of good ol'd sharing that they still do in tribes in the Amazon and many other places on this planet. It hasn't gone out of style yet.

2012 is not the end of the world, but the way we are mozeying along it might as well be. We shape our world. Everyday. Gaia must be getting sick of us by now. I am too at times. Luckily there are many people and increasingly more so I see who wish to create better more wholesome ways to live. It's encouraging indeed. What are you willing to do?

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

change?

Gary

Despite your potential
you insist on being right
So much so that it tears you apart
like a huge rip across an ocean

You flee into a bottle
with nice white labels
and forget everything
including your children.

It's not how low you can go
it's about the dark story
you are keeping to write.
You are only as nice
as the secret stash of your wines.

You drink to forget
Yet you live to remember.
Over and over again.


Saturday, March 26, 2011

in the world


Once we discover
the power of freedom
not from others
but from our own expectations

Marvelous things happen
because we are free to shape the world
in to our image, into God's image

Being lost without is being lost within
Find the quiet
Meet yourself finally

so that again:
you can embrace that which you have forgotten
Meet those that are standing around you

And see that new light
and see that new self
Without trepidation
but with courage
smiles and laughter

Life is good then.
inside and out.

A world in a world
a micro in a macro cosmos
A small being breathing in a large
yet it is the same thing

Ultimately:
I'm 'you' and 'you' are 'me'.
we are part of each other.
Whatever shape we hold
at present
in the world.

Friday, March 18, 2011

the weight


For Annie
(in Christchurch)

When the days darken
And you think life grows short
and all seems to hard too carry.
Just breathe.

In.
Out.

It's the simple things that count.
Let go of worry and fear as they are
the distracters.
Not the love that already was.
And the light that still shines in you.

Carry not other's burdens
As this way you darken yourself needlessly.
Because you are not alone and neither are they
and help is always there when you want it.
Even if they are un-well. 
Even when things lie broken at your feet.

Picture yourself in a good place
As well as your others.
You will build it all
when you can see it again.
And you can carry yourself - always.

Gently breathe.

In.
Out.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Japan


We do not need to see the images
To know what happened
and what it feels like.

We share the same flow
Whether we know this or not
and water runs deeply.

By waves and through light
Knowledge comes - not in facts
but by emotion, regardless of race.

Understanding follows
instills inside of us the realization
that we are in this together.

We share this life. 
With each other.
By choice.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

interplay

Light is not just particles or a beam
It is that which lives and breathes
It is all around
Because it is everything.
So it is in you.

Even when something is so small, like a speck,
it still matters as it vibrates into being.
All those amassed beings mold together.
And sing. And also resonate.

It is a most wondrous thing. Can you see it?
The more you discover
the more you appreciate
The more you understand
The more you live "through" it.

It means being an angel.
To be part of ''that'' and to also let it just be... "that".

Worlds move, change, shine,
occasionally collide.
It's all moving.
It's all alive.
It's all light.
So we are all literally the same thing,
as we're made of the same essentials,
whether we're big or small.

Now do you understand?

It's all beautiful.
And we're all part of the same party.

Marcus

Monday, February 21, 2011

finding it?



A lot of people are "looking", so how about "finding"?


Many of us get excited about the idea of looking for "something". Either a new training in spirituality will do the trick, reading this amazing book should have the answers, or buying the new car or securing the new job that will bring it all home. Maybe that or we go on a happy quest to introduce inspiring people in our lives to make us feel better. Whatever distraction works to avoid looking at ourselves. It's easier to focus on "out there".


Perhaps we will get satisfaction or we don't. Then when we do think we might finally get the answer, ironically we discover after a while that our new solution, friend, or newly purchased item wasn't quite what we wanted to have after all. We got the money but not the freedom. We get a sense of direction again from our guru but they don't want to hold our hands. We get the new car but have to pay more money for road user charges and insurance. We get the new friend but keep wanting to find others as to keep ourselves feeling excited and distracted. The new job provides us with more income and experience, but perhaps has new colleagues that are difficult to work with. So what did we ask for... really? Hmm.


The more you look at something out there, the more you miss the point of looking and finding "in here" (corny as heck but there you go). We have the tendency to run away from the "in here" times, including the writer of this post. Why? Because we don't know what we'll find "in here" for sure and whether we'll like it. Isn't it easier to say: there, THAT should fix my nagging feelings. Please let me win lotto and I'll be happy forever.... Uhuh.

The funny thing is that you are already kitted out perfectly.

Let's start here: the letting go of the need to know any outcome will work wonders. Fear will leave you. The controlling urges will subside. You don't need a 100 friends, just a few kick ass ones will be awesome already. How long do you plan to pussy foot about? The distractions you were seeking were just that, some entertainment fluff. Did you really choose it, or was it just to keep you occupied? (I know it sounds meehhh but that's what this post is about.)

The only answer to feeling happy, or happier, is to see that your life, in whatever state that it is, is catering exactly to the need of what you are expecting. As la dee da as it may sound, the less you want, and even less you need, the more satisfied you'll feel. It's the making peace, as well as the seeing all there is and not judging it but appreciating it, that will help greatly in putting a smile back on your face, and a trusting hippety hoppety in your step. Things can only get better. You can always choose differently. Just chill out. 

Life is wondrous. Just expect it to be and go about it accordingly. And for heavens sake have some more fun! All that serious stuff can give you the heebie jeebies. And others too.

Monday, December 13, 2010

the hard yards


Often we may feel we are always doing the "hard yards". Working when others have stopped doing so, working the weekends, looking after children when we may not feel like it, visiting people when we'd rather collapse on the couch at home, listen to a client who's getting on our nerves, having to phone someone when we don't feel like it, take the trash out and do the dishes, and on and on.

So are those hard yards really worth it or are we really fooling ourselves thinking that making our own lives difficult will somehow help us towards becoming more joyous in our work and daily life? Since when has punishing ourselves with dedication to other causes then what we really want to do, aided us in feeling better about ourselves?

Yep. I don't know the magic number either. Having a farm-let did teach me this: whether you are happy or sad, tired like hell or happy: the animals always need tending to and always come first (if you have kids enter "kids" where I had put "animals" -same rule applies.) So yes by all means finish projects you know need doing, but allow "me time" to balance yourself out. You are as important as the people you promised you would do things for.

Instead of getting so worn out that you feel like being in a continual state of full blown PMS, consider the opposite:
fighting or battling against something will cost you more energy then if you accept that at the moment it is all simply as it is. (I have done this regarding my daily work and my that has made a huge amount of difference, I'm even quite restful about it. I can be Zen when others get in a tizzy.)
Then take your foot of the friggin' accelerator and park next to the road. Notice the wild flowers. See the hare dashing across the road in the distance. Sniff some hay-fever elements! In any event; stop pushing yourself like you have a work addiction. Seriously! Would it be the end of the world if a project would finish later? Would it matter that the house is still not painted before Christmas? Would it matter you will not have a flash dinner this Christmas day but instead settle for a "salad in 5 min option"? Does it really concern you that you are a bit late with some things you wanted to do this year? 

Once you step outside of that zone of "have to have to have to panic panic tired tired PMS feelings" you will notice something quite wondrous!
The sun comes up every morning. You actually see it this time. Everything simply pans out as it pans out. You will however have reclaimed your sanity. That my friends, is already a miracle this time of year. Now go find a friend or a lovely tree, and hug it. Voila! Instant happiness. Just... Chill... Out!! You have worked hard! Now have some fun too or simply allow some extra hours snoozing in bed.

Told you it could be done. You just have to allow yourself to try. And stop pushing.
"Battle less, love more" - Gabriel

Monday, December 6, 2010

back to school

Whether you actually will go back to school to study or not: keeping an open mind always has benefits. Some scientists will explain in great detail how certain synapses in the brain are activated and new pathways are built and so on. As I'm not a scientist but a communication designer I will just stick with this:
the willingness to learn is as important as actually learning something itself.


Before we decide to walk mount Ruapehu, mount Cook, mount Kilimanjaro or climb a horse, we have to decide to simply wanting to put one foot forward. We then actively start to carry out our made decision to "move". With the moving the action starts and things are getting into motion. This is the start of the Process. Then there is the "doing", the walking the riding the sweating the absorbing of that which we are interested to do, to acquire experience which provides us insight, which inspires us, which provides knowledge, and ultimately joy and wisdom.


Do we have to go to school to do all these things? Sometimes yes sometimes no.
The good news is that now free education is available. Yes, the time of online schooling is well and truly here and the best news is that you can attend, when you like and it doesn't cost you anything except your time.


From fastcompany: Udemy; a free online university for all.
"GAGAN BIYANI Cofounder and presidentUdemy Palo Alto, 23, is connecting the eager-to-teach with the eager-to-learn through Udemy, the Academy of You.


"There are millions of experts everywhere, and we provide them with the tools to share their knowledge online. Udemy gives instructors the ability to use video, PowerPoint, articles, and blog posts to build rich courses. They can even host virtual conferences with students. People spend $9 billion on casual learning each year, and another $20 billion on continuing and professional education. We can catalyze that market to move online, and provide forums that create in-depth learning experiences about everything from Thai cooking to calculus to Esperanto. We launched in May 2010 and more than 2,000 courses have been created. We're introducing a pay platform so our instructors can decide if they want to charge for their courses, but we expect 80% will remain free. The education industry is very top-down, but this has the power to change that."
So there you go, if you are keen to learn more and were unsure how to go about it: Udemy might be just right for you. If you always wondered how to go to a club and dance cool: here's the tutorial :) > click here

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

yellow brick road

Yesterday a fur seal had an adventure on tar-seal in Dunedin. Fred was on exploration. The humans had a bit of a kafuffle guiding him back to the water whereas Fred was just happy lying on the nice warm grass between the 4 lanes having a snooze. (He loves to eat fresh fish and the occasional muffin. He enjoys playing with humans. Just don't prod him, he has sensitive skin.)


Sometimes other people think we are lost, have no idea what we are doing or doubt our abilities, mostly they just want to do "the right thing" and try and drag us back to that thing they call "reality". Naturally this can be sensible, as let's face it all of us have the occasional blond moment or fly into fairyland. But what if we just want to play? What if we did think about it?


We simply may enjoy having a little adventure, like Fred. Maybe it would be nice if people let us do silly things and pretend we are in charge of our own lives. If we inadvertently hold up traffic, like Fred, then the cops can be called upon. Just don't panic too early when you see someone venturing off into the unknown. It could very well be just the thing for them. Some people call it "going bush", "gone fishing", "painting in nature", "meditating" or "going to a retreat" or even "tree hugging". 


"When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.
-- Pooh's Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne"


Seeing people do certain things maybe don't make sense, but it can be useful. If you feel the urge yourself, simply do it by yourself and try not to bother anyone else once you're doing it. And when someone does track you down just be nice to them and thank them for caring.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Feng Shui

Today I am having a wonderful interview with an inspiring Parisian lady in San Francisco: Catherine Grison, Soul Artisan for People and Spaces. I have met Catherine through the inter-connective world that is Twitter. 
Catherine is a certified and stylish Feng Shui Master, and she implements this knowledge so she herself, and her clients and friends, can enjoy more joy, more abundance and also better health in their lives. Her credo is: "Life is not beige!" She founded Your French Accent, her “Decorator Extraordinaire and Beyond” consulting company in 2004.
She says: "When I moved to San Francisco, 10 years ago, and began to work in the furniture industry, I was shocked to see that most people were "matching" sofas and chairs, "blending" neutrals. The only real colors in retail were mostly dark reds on leather library chairs. I was then working at the brand new Crate and Barrel Furniture store downtown San Francisco, in the fine furniture department.  To this day, I still remember how happy one of my customers was when he came back to me and announced: "I made it Catherine! I listened to you and I went for color! You can be proud of me!" He was holding a dark chocolate velvet pillow. Dark chocolate. To go on his all beige furniture...  I had envisioned a more powerful combination like a hot pink or spring green to make the room happen... However it was a start and I congratulated him! “
Why did you move from Paris to San Francisco?
I moved to California to live with the (American) man I loved and met in Paris. It was heart breaking to leave Paris. It took me 4 years to feel at home here. We did not live in San Francisco but in Pacifica, a secluded coastal small town. Too much water… Pacifica is gorgeous but I am a city girl. I need Fire. At first I thought I will not survive when I came to Pacifica. I could not even look though the windows: all these small houses and the big ocean were so lonely too me. I was looking desperately for high energy, crowds, and tall buildings! Despite my job in San Francisco, I felt so isolated, dying inside. Then step by step, I met incredible people, developed new true friendships. I began yoga, enrolled in a 3-year Feng Shui program which I graduated from and uncovered my spiritual path. I founded Your French Accent, my “Decorator Extraordinaire and Beyond” consulting company. I learned so much during these Pacifican years…
As soon as we (happily) divorced, I moved to Potrero Hill in San Francisco. Here I could reinvent myself again, open myself up to possibilities.


How did you get your business started?
It's different here, how things work, compared to Paris. When I arrived I did not want to go back to coaching without knowing the culture; it would not have been ethical. I started exploring… In Paris I used to work in management, coaching, training. I have a master’s degree in Communication, Linguistics & Training. I used to design programs, coach store managers, and train sales associates. So when I started working in San Francisco I thought: the home environment is the best place for me to understand the culture. When people buy furniture, they tell you their story. If they don’t, you are not a good listener! In the meanwhile I had entered a 3 year Feng Shui certification program. My clients were asking me to furnish more and more homes; the logical next step was to start a business.
What is important to you?
I use an integrative Feng Shui to help other people improve their lives, their health, their level of happiness. I used to be a more black & white person, sure of how things "had to be". I was a personal development fascist! My vision is far more flexible now. I try to help others grow, and myself too, what is very important to me. My clients say I am honest and straight forward. I see people from the inside, I do not sugar coat. I have integrity and also humor. A lot of my clients have become friends. My best advertisement is 'word of mouth', which leads to work. I'm a very pragmatic person with her 3rd eye wide opened. I use my common sense and a pendulum too!


So what would be your Feng Shui advice for my readers today?
Any place is related to your life. Feng Shui means Wind and Water, the two elements which create life. Any place is a reflection of our own being. For example: I worked with a lady who had a 2 bedroom condo: she asked for decoration advice. The Lady did not want me to enter a particular room. Eventually I did see it and it was a disaster. It was filled to the brim with "stuff". It was very hard to walk around. The rest of the apartment was very tidy. It turned out that her father used to be living there, so she kept it closed, she didn't want to think about this room, let alone start cleaning it out.
The truth is that if you lock a door, the room is still there, and the emotions behind it are still there too. Blocked up areas will affect you mentally and your health, whether you realize it or not, whether you see them or not.
Keep only what is successful or enjoyable.  Always find ways to enjoy life. Many say it's good to do "this" after.... after what? There is NO after, there is just that what is now. I have a ritual called “The Past is over” to help people move forward, and step in their Present. Together we burn the past, literally. It is a very powerful ceremony!

My advice is that you need to use every room in the house, every object. You can't hide from yourself. Feng Shui and interior decorating is not about focusing on what's wrong, it's about improving spaces and thus improving your life in general. If you deny a piece of yourself, it's best to address it now, observe how you have treated your house and your rooms. It will tell you more than you think! So Feng Shui has a lot of hidden psychology embedded in the flow of the house. The key is to let the energy flow as best as it can. Avoid having sharp corners, add greenery, colors. Think symbols!
How can Catherine help us?
Now look around you! There is nothing quicker and cheaper than adding a layer of fresh paint to change the energy and the look of a room, whether in a home, an office, a business, a restaurant... And if you know somebody you love and who needs a lift, you can even gift my services. It may change a life!
Fortunately for all of us, Catherine does remote consultations. I thought it was a delight talking to her on Skype and having a real time conversation together. This means that you can email and skype her too, book a consultation, sending a floor plan and photos over for her to perform a full analysis and help you clear the areas of your life and your space that you have found troubling or difficult to organize.
Send her an email with any questions you may have, to ask for a quote: yourfrenchaccent@gmail.com
Check out her blog too: http://www.frenchshuicafe.com/ which she reorganizes now to provide more quick services and to-the-point advice, including spiritual guidance and deco tips, building also more global community…
You can of course “Like” Catherine’s services on Facebook:
and follow her on Twitter:
@catherinegrison
@frenchshuicafe