Happy 2023 friends and dear ones! January came and went with plenty of rain, rest and dreaming for the wonderful new year ahead! February is beaming with sunshine and lots of planning. This is the time of year that we crave new normals as we set new goals before us and realign ourselves with who we want to become and where we are headed. This blog is going to focus on 3 areas that I am personally pursuing, so I and the people around me can live fully free, connected and thriving. I will explain how the heart, home and health are all connected, and how to engage in those 3 areas for 2023.
As a dreamer and a visionary, I sometimes struggle with knowing how to execute or I feel so overwhelmed that I don't know where to start when it comes to making changes that usually begin with little frustrations of things "not working". As I really dove into this and gleamed from leaders and coaches who walked alongside me the past 10 years, I realized two things: 1. that I needed to take inventory of my time and create a system for myself so that I could stay on track and not be filling up my free time with things that aren't really a priority; and 2. that I'm needing to tune in to my inner state, so that I can be more connected to my true self that is full of life, tenderness, and create a life that is accessible to things that my heart needs and longs for daily. This amongst other revelations have led me to realize that my passion has always been about coming alive, living fully free, healed, and whole, and how that all begins with taking care of my heart, my home, and my health. This is what KM Design has always been about, but is now able to pull back the curtain and expand the horizons further on how we actually live inside our homes. In no way am I any expert in knowing the way to do things as I believe there
are many different ways to go about what works for you and your needs, but let's journey together on how to find the thriving life that awaits us!
How home, heart and health are connected:
The more I set up my home, the more I realize it's tied to how my inner well-being is, and the more I focus on my well-being, the more I realize it is tied to my heart, or my desires, longings and true beliefs that have been shaped over time. As someone who is passionate about doing life really well, I could not escape the fact that both home and health are connected to our hearts… that how our needs, longings and deepest desires can create the life we want at home, in our bodies, and in our relationships. Ultimately, the goal of being more connected to our hearts will help us be more connected to our health and overall environment.
Heart
My vision for the heart is all about being connected to my best, true self and bringing that out in others. What does it look like to be connected, and how? Being connected to the heart is what connects us to life itself. My goal in this area has been to live from my heart, recognizing my emotions and needs so that I can lead with tenderness, let love in and communicate more lovingly and effectively. It also helps me know my desires so that I can be more present and alive, knowing how to get my needs met in healthy and thriving ways that lead to a present, overflowing heart. The heart connects us to our home with our loved ones, as it connects to our health with loving ourselves well. Knowing our hearts is so powerful and important because when we know our needs and our inner state, we can actually feel powerful in our pursuit of change, communication and how to realign ourselves to our true selves: tender-hearted, clear-minded and at peace. If you don't know where to begin on being in tune your heart, or emotions, the core basic emotions are joy, sadness, loneliness, guilt, shame, hurt, anger and fear. I like to think of these emotions not as good or bad, but can come and reveal what makes us come alive and where we need to let love in. I have also added a needs wheel below to identify with and screenshot if you'd like. Daily periodic check-ins are a quick way to self-examine on where we need love and how we can be with God, ourselves, and/or a friend, to bring in love, compassion, and feeling seen, heard and valued, that will eventually form our habits and behaviors. Only from getting our needs met will we be able to bring our full selves to the table when it comes to loving our dear loved ones at home.
Home
The state of our home atmosphere is directly connected to the state of our heart in taking care of our emotions that affect how we do life and how we show up for our loved ones in our homes. Especially as women, who generally are caretakers of the home and children, it can be so easy to get lost in the needs of our home, and feel neglected in our own needs. Our homes will often be a reflection of how we feel about ourselves in the way we organize, clean our rooms, decorate, and set up the environment for everyone to utilize and enjoy. The more we feel powerless, anxious, confused, oftentimes, our homes can easily turn into chaos, not just physically, but also you will feel it in the atmosphere. The more we feel connected to ourselves and what we need, we will be more aware of taking care of ourselves and our environment and loved ones, because we will already be taken care of, that we will have the capacity to care for others. The goal is to live from our true selves, but when we aren't, it's a great opportunity to be powerful with asking for our needs, even if it's just asking someone to watch the kids for 30 minutes so that we can rest our bodies and minds.
Of course, there will be seasons where there won't be every need met but the goal is to love ourselves with grace in the midst of when we are not able to perform or fulfill, and to know that it's only for a season and not forever. When we are first taken care of, then we can then naturally set up our homes to take care of us. Overall, it's important for our home to be a place where we feel peace and safety, surrounded by beauty, order, and accessibility to self care, nutrition and movement. It's from the place of overflow where we can then set up our home to meet our needs for peace, rest, energy, and play. It might sound tempting to try to clean the house to get ourselves to feel more peace and powerful inside, but without prioritizing our inner peace aside from our environment first, it will only work effectively from the inside out. If you practically need help with knowing how to apply order to your home, I created a that includes a priority to-do list, a dinner chart, and personal goals and activities for the week to help set you up for success.
Health
Health is more than just physical health, it's also mental and emotional health. Many people may put more emphasis on physical health, especially with New Year's goals and resolutions, but your body will still suffer if your mind is running the show and your needs and emotions are unprocessed or suppressed. Our health is very connected to the heart that affect our well-being and overall health, and is also connected to our home in how our internal peace creates external peace. Many times, if I have unprocessed emotions, it may show up in some neck tension, lack of sleep, anxiety, poor eating habits, and oftentimes a neglecting of self. Just like the importance of being in tune with our needs, it's so important to be in tune with what we need moment-to-moment and in different seasons. This can look like knowing when you're needing to play, or rest, or connect with a friend, or move your body. It can also look like knowing the season where you're generally needing more rest, or it can look like a season that's a time to dive in to putting in work and seeing the growth. In addition, having a play, work and rest balance is crucial to a healthy mental, emotional and physical state. Especially for a mom with little ones like me, it may feel like it's often all work and no play or rest if I'm not paying attention. This is where the daily check-ins and knowing our needs comes into play where we can acknowledge, ask for help and prioritize ourselves as much as we are prioritizing others. One practical way to prioritize oneself is to set aside morning times for recharging. I have some of the hardest days when I wake up with my feet hitting the ground, running to meet everyone's needs with breakfast, changing diapers, putting on clothes, play dates, etc. Waking up early, even when the kids wake up at 6, will be far more rewarding and sets me on the right course for taking care of myself in the more practical things as the day progresses like good nutrition, getting movement, staying hydrated, and just feeling like I'm taken care of physically, mentally, and emotionally. Thankfully, we can set up our homes to support our diets and desired movements by setting up little stations for quiet times, workouts, stretching, hydration, and a healthy snack basket. It all starts with knowing what we need and ends with being connected both internally and externally.
The beauty of it all is that every single person has different desires for how they want their heart, home and health to thrive. The challenge is to discover the secret recipe for what helps you and your family, so that you can feel more connected to the life presently, and the one you want to create. To build consistency and longevity in each area of heart, home and health, I challenge you to take every few months to focus on one of the 3 areas to get in tune with yourself in the process, and learn how you want to thrive being connected to yourself, your home+life and the ones you love. I promise you...it's messy, it is so fulfilling, and this is only the beginning!