She ticked down her list:  She does yoga.  She gets lots of sleep.  She meditates in nature.  She drinks green beverages until she’s radiant and glowing.

So why was she still feeling so tired?

Since I knew that Sandra takes excellent care of herself physically, my antennae were up and quivering.  Something else was at work here.

I asked her to mentally walk through her apartment and tell me about each room.

“Well, the foyer is light and airy; then you walk past that tall bookshelf with all my travel books and cookbooks, and then–ugh–you have to go through the office.”  Here her voice sagged like a second-hand couch.

“What’s wrong with the office?”

“The desk is piled with bills.  My inbox is jammed full.  And it’s so gloomy in there–that hideous green wallpaper is like something my mother-in-law would pick out.”

Ding ding ding!

We’d found our culprit.  Sandra’s physical environment was sucking her energy.

It happens to all of us.  A little clutter builds up, and then before we know it everything feels hard.  Soon, even simple tasks–walking and breathing, for example–feel heavy and difficult, like we’re slogging through molasses.

Our physical environment is a vivid metaphor for our inner lives.  So here’s the good news:  you can shift your inner landscape by cleaning up your external one.

Sometimes people raise their eyebrows when I tell them about my two programs, The Queen Sweep and Practical Magic for Secret Mystics.  “But aren’t those completely opposite things?  One is about getting organized in this very tangible way, and the other is about woo-woo energetic stuff.”

Here’s what you and I already understand completely: it’s all entwined.  Many coaches will tell you that peace and joy and all that good stuff is only about what happens in your head.  Change your thoughts, change your life.  I don’t agree.  It’s true that discovering I had toxic thoughts like “Beauty is self-indulgent” and “I must sell my soul if I ever want to make any money” was a major eye-opener.  I absolutely think clearing out those crappy beliefs by doing ‘thought work’ is important, and it’s what I delve into with my private Alchemy clients.  But here’s what those linear, left-brain types don’t seem to understand.

I’m so connected to the world around me.  A tulip nodding her pink head at me tickles my soul.  A great pair of shoes helps me stride with more sass and confidence.  A beautifully ticking file system makes me feel as fierce and lithe as Batman.

And here’s the flip side: staring at a snarl of cords day after day can snag my momentum and send me into overwhelm.  A pile of urgent but messy bills screams a dull roar of anxiety into my veins.  An ugly, confining outfit pinches my creativity.

Our physical lives matter.  We can’t just live up in our heads, quoting mantras and trying to be enlightened while tripping over other peoples’ shoes, demands, and deadlines.  I mean, if this physical plane wasn’t very important, would we even have these bodies?  Would there be grapes and carrots and olives and chocolate?  I believe that engaging the physical world with intention, creativity, and a sense of humor is one of THE most powerful ways to shift our energy.

Which is all another way of saying that there’s a whole lot of power, juice, and passion that can get tied down, locked down, and tangled.  It happens.  It’s not a big deal.  It just takes a bit of a jumpstart to get things moving again.

That’s why I’m doing a free call this Friday.  We’ll look at some of the clutter that is sapping some of your energy, and I’ll help you make a small shift right there on the phone so that you feel lighter, cleaner, with more zing and more momentum.  See, here’s the thing.  You’re going to need all of your energy if you want to start stepping toward those big dreams, those beautiful ones, the  bad-ass ones.  And I want you to.  The whole world wants you to.  So take that first tiny step and move something around.  With your hands.