Episode Notes

Julie Ann Segal inspired me to change the energy in my clothes closet and bedroom. With my daughter Olivia’s help, I removed 11 grocery bags full of blazers, blouses, t-shirts, purses, pants, and other clothes I no longer needed. Her decluttering ideas inspired me and will inspire you too. Decluttering is where we jump into our conversation to develop a Feng Shui Practice using five energy tools and five elements. Her new book, Change Your Space to Change Your Life, will be available in bookstores starting July 8, 2023. 

Julie Ann Segal is an interior designer, Feng Shui consultant, and the owner of Metro Interiors, a design firm dedicated to creating beautiful spaces through mindfulness, energy, and intention. Julie Ann is also the author of her new book, as I mentioned above, Change Your Space to Change Your Life (2023). Always on the cutting edge, Julie Ann’s dynamic approach utilizes styles from eclectic to classic, modern to traditional. Blending the ancient art of Feng Shui with various contemporary Interior Design practices, Metro Interiors redesigns spaces to reveal environments rich in comfort, beauty, balance, and harmony. She wants to bring this into your spaces.

We learned last week about Julie Ann’s writing journey, the foundation of Feng shui, and how Julie Ann designs spaces. There are three ways to live with intention: energy, design goals, and tools. Julie Ann introduced a Be-Do-Have exercise to help us clarify what we want. This exercise is good to do every year.

Julie Ann starts chapter three of her book with what practicing Feng Shui means. Practicing Feng Shui reminds me of when Matthew, Olivia, and I switched to plant-based (vegan) living. Individually, we educated ourselves to understand why we were doing it and what it would take to make the change. Our two-month commitment has continued into a lifestyle we cherish two and a half years later. We added flexibility to ensure we could do it in almost all spaces. We now say we are 98% vegan. Sometimes, in some spaces, options to eat cleanly are not possible. Little did we know, our decision to become plant-based had a ripple effect on our relationships, even with strangers.

I once went to Papa Murphy’s to get a couple of pizzas to share a meal with friends. It took three times for the pizza maker to create a vegan pizza. She got everything right up until the cheese. She would grab the regular cheese instead of the alternative vegan cheese out of habit. She increased her awareness through the process and kept her energy in the spirit of getting my order right. We laughed hysterically even after I went to grab a couple of salads, only to realize every salad had meat, cheese, or egg on it. Since then, the Papa Murphy’s Pizza near us has added plant-based salad options. A positive change had a positive result.

There is a ripple effect when we change our spaces to change our life positively, as we learn from Julie Ann. This can go the other way, but we are focused on positively changing our lives and businesses.

Any new practice starts with an awareness that we need to change. That awareness could be noticing a disconnect between who we are and how we live in our spaces. We get into a discussion about energy and the effects of not fixing things. When changing our spaces, Julie Ann suggests asking ourselves three essential questions.

1. Does the room reflect who I am today?
2. Does it reflect who I want to become?
3. Am I living in the past?

Julie Ann discusses the difference between goal setting and intention setting and how they work together. We also talk about how Julie Ann picked the five energy tools, what they are, and the five elements (metal, fire, earth, water, and wood) to integrate into your Feng Shui Practice.  These tools and elements help us find balance and create harmonious spaces.

We briefly touch upon another tool to find balance and bring harmony into nine parts of our lives called a Feng Shui Bagua map. “A Bagua map,” Julie Ann says, “ is a grid composed of nine distinct areas, each corresponding to a specific life energy that can be found in your home. This map can be laid over the blueprint of your home and in each room of your house and office.” Julie Ann gives an example of using the Bagua map on her office desk. Some Bagua areas are wisdom, knowledge, and skills; love, relationships, marriage, and partnership; career and life path; fame and reputation; health; and children and creativity. Feng Shui Bagua – Metro Interiors You can learn more about the Feng Shui Bagua map from Julie Ann online.

Julie Ann teaches an in-person Vision Boards class on June 17 and August 26, 2023, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Plymouth Community Center. Contact me, and I will get you signed up and a free copy of her book.

Julie Ann has provided us with practical ways to change our spaces. She has a valuable way of walking you through the process. From my own experience, she is also wonderful to work with in creating a space and life you will love. I am eager for you to integrate your life and become the leader you envision yourself to be. Order Julie Ann’s book, Change Your Space to Change Your Life and start your Feng Shui Practice.

You can find our podcast conversations in this Episode’s Resource section.

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