Turning my backyard into a magical sanctuary (part one)

It is hot outside in Houston. So, I’m not sure why I decided that July was the right time to give myself a backyard makeover. However, I always always listen to my intuition and creative inspiration.

One of the things about being a creative entrepreneur is that I always know how important it is for me to follow my passions, follow what my gut (aka my sacral chakra) feels called to create. When I started to run my business according to my Human Design strategy, I’m a Generator, things really started to click for me.

Anyway, one of the things that I know for sure is that I am meant to follow my passions and keep pursing them until they are fully expressed.

As a generator, I know that my creativity really is my super power so I started reading one of my favorite books, The Artists’ Way, by Julia Cameron. I’m currently hosting a business creatives’ mastermind inside my program Shine Online and we are reading the book. Each week, Julia suggests that you take yourself out on artist dates. An outing that helps nurture your creativity.

So, the other day, I took myself out on a little artist date and I fell madly in love with this beautiful garden, the water fountain, the plants, the lights. The whole place just completely inspired me. So I knew that it was time to get creative in my own home and focus on turning my small backyard into an absolute sanctuary.

Why? Because I know how important your home environment is to your mindset and inner wellness. This is always going to affect your day to day life and the thoughts you are thinking. When something is unfinished, it may show up in your life as incomplete energy (think lingering paychecks, waiting around for your manifestations, etc). So I knew it was time for me to ‘clean up’ this area of my home. Some experts say feng shui is most important in your outdoor spaces.

As I plan my backyard makeover, the first thing I always want to consider is the color. Here are a few options and what they represent in feng shui five element color theory: 

• Green or blue: Family harmony

• Red or orange: Warmth and love

• Black or dark grey: Quiet, soothing energy

• White or cream: Clarity and reflection

• Earth tones: Nurturing, grounding energy

If you haven’t gotten inside of my High Vibe Home workshop here, I highly suggest you join in here. You will learn so much about aligning your space for the life you want to manifest.

And so here is what I have learned: How to turn your backyard into a sanctuary? Mirrors.

Okay, now to give you an idea of what I am working with, here is a peek at my backyard before:

This is the view from the back door and below is a view of the opposite side. I have a high bistro style table with an umbrella and two chairs. This is typically where we sit when guests come over.

When I purchased my home, I sort of just threw some of my outdoor furniture around and didn’t think much of it. We haven’t spent that much time outside but after almost a year of living like this, I am craving an outdoor space for Fall that I absolutely love AND I know I need to get my outdoor space feng shui in order asap. I have things I want to manifest and I want ZERO blocks in my home environment.

So, The first thing I did was head over to Pinterest to start gathering ideas, you can see my Villa Verde board here. There was one photo in particular that had me in a chokehold and it was this photo with a wall of mirrors in an outdoor, plant filled back yard.

So, after seeing countless of the black door mirror DIY walls, I got the burst of inspiration to use these mirrors to make an outdoor mirror wall. At $7 each mirror, this was a no-brainer. Hot tip: order them online and select the drive up pick up option, so they bring them out to your car and load them up for you. Makes the whole experience feel like a breeze.

**If you do decide to use these mirrors, I highly recommend going to the hardware store to grab stainless steel hardware to withstand outdoor weather. You’ll want to hang the art claw hooks to the back of the mirror and hang on a stainless steel screw.

You can see a little video of the DIY mirror wall here.

I am honestly OBSESSED with how much they transformed the feeling of the space and what a bargain this was. This mirror look is the perfect accent to my backyard and I am so glad I did this. And only a total of $38. Isn’t it adorable? Let me know what you think.

Next up, I am looking into plants to surround my backyard with greenery. I want it to feel like a tropical green oasis, complete with waterfall and wind chimes. Stay tuned for the next parts of the makeover.

Sunday Wellness Ritual: 5 ways to heal with houseplants

This blog post is all about the healing benefits of houseplants.

I literally never thought I would say this but with every year that passes, grandparents are the vibe. I find myself getting more and more interested in the things that I grew up watching my grandparents do.

My grandmother would always set the table for no reason at all and I used to think it was the dumbest thing to do. Now I realize it was just a form of creative expression.

I spent my weekend car shopping and for the very first time in my entire car-driving history have I ever considered the terms ‘safety & reliability’ and ‘gets great gas mileage’ .

I’ve also fully surrendered to the fact that I now have an entire cabinet containing pretty pink garden gloves, a watering can, pruning shears and an oversized straw sun hat.

All things I never imagined I would ever succumb to.

Enter my houseplant / gardening phase of life. . .

. . . and to be completely honest with you, I’m not sure I’ve ever been so excited about something so simple.

Now, there’s a reason I am sharing this with you, I am now a fully devoted believer that when you enrich your environment with houseplants, you take in their energy into your being. And plants are the most feminine energy beings on the planet.

Simply put, plants receive and grow. That’s it. They fully and completely receive and surrender to the watering, nourishing, love and care. Then, they grow. They thrive, they show off, they shine and then they grow some more. But their main function is receptive energy. What they give in return is in the air that they breathe and their beauty. The beauty that we so delight in, is in the color, shape, size and ability to grow. That’s it.

We women should absolutely take notes.

Once I started bringing home houseplants I noticed that the whole process of caring for my houseplants was an experience that literally shifted my own relationship with feminine energy. It’s an experience that will heal your heart if you allow it to.

5 ways to heal with house plants:

🪴 1. Heal your commitment issues by making a weekly ritual to spend quality time caring for your plants. lol. Plants are a total commitment, kind of like having a pet to be honest. It was focus and consistent care to keep your plants living and thriving. Studies have shown that routines provide structure and are linked to better mental health.

I personally have made Sunday my plant care day. Every Sunday, I have a full on morning ritual where I fully water/spray/mist/clean/dust my plants or whatever care they need. Not all plants need to be watered that regularly. As you build a connection and get to know your plants, you will learn how they like to be cared for and this fully gets you into your nurturing side. Horticultural therapy has been used by many researchers to study the effects that house plant care has on the mental wellness of their patients. It’s been proven to combat depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.

🪴 2. Heal your tendency to burn out by making a daily connection with nature by engaging with your plants. Here’s the thing about planting and gardening, you get your hands dirty with nature and that’s an incredibly grounding and calming experience. Fertilizer and water are excellent to play with when you feel a little overwhelmed by the chaos of life.

On Sundays, when I spend time with my plants, my phone is down, I’m sipping my coffee and enjoying every second of it. I’ve got my hands on the leaves clearing them of dust, I’m misting the leaves, seeing what needs to be cleaned, engaging with mother nature, feeling dirt in my nails, etc. It’s an entire EARTHING experience.

Also, when you’re watering the plants, you are instantly tuned into the frequency of calm.

LEARN HOW TO CREATE A HIGH VIBRATIONAL HOME FOR CALM

🪴 3. Speaking of calm, heal your stress by interacting with your plants. I swear, whenever I am stressed or overwhelmed, I get very present when I get into my plant care. It helps me to zone out, focus on the task at hand and breathe with the plants which feels like deep breath work. Gardening, weeding, watering plants, etc can create neurological patterns and rhythms that soothe & ease stress.

When you get into house plant care, you engage in some mental health habits like…

Surrendering to imperfections. No matter how carefully you plan and care for your houseplants, you never know what you will get.

Practicing acceptance. most of our suffering comes from our need to be in control, when we surrender we heal. Houseplants help us to surrender to the growth process.

Cultivating patience. Plants take time to grow, it just doesn’t happen overnight. As you tap into your ‘inner gardenista’ you will totally benefit from slowing down and practicing the art of patience.

🪴 4. Heal your hormones by boosting your dopamine when you see your plants are growing. Here’s the thing, when you start to see your houseplants growing new leaves and thriving, you will completely jump for joy. It is so so rewarding to see your hard work pay off and it feels so good. That boost of dopamine can get addicting too. I think thats why I now have over 10 plants in my home and counting. I have absolutely loved watching my plant babies grow.

Another thing that feels so good is connecting with my little one. He loves to name each plant, take care of and water them. I get to teach him all of these wellness habits by caring for our plants. It offers us a way to bond and connect over taking care of something else without having to bring a pet into the home. :) ( so not ready for that yet ).

🪴 5. Heal your heart chakra by connecting with and surrounding yourself with the color green. Color therapy is literally everything. The Japanese expression "shinrin-yoku" can be translated as "forest bathing," which nicely captures the experience of being immersed in green. A growing body of research has found all kinds of benefits from being in natural landscapes.

My Sunday morning plant care ritual:

nurture myself.

I love grabbing my cup of coffee and playing some relaxing jazz music in the background. I like to light up some of my favorite candles, too. I make it a whole vibe.

Sunlight.

Your plants need that bright morning light so open the curtains, pull up those blinds and allow the sunlight in.

watering.

I start by taking a look at each plant and determining if she just needs a little misting or if she needs a full bath. I have a spray can ready to go for misting and petting each and every one of my plants leaves.

POTTING + TRIMMing.

Then, I get into the actual care by repotting, trimming, propagating. All of the fun planting things. This is where I usually get the most in the zone of plant care.

I am absolutely obsessed with having green ALL throughout my home. I’ve even started to frame art work of plants and flowers just to keep the vibe going in my home decor.

You will love the way your home feels as you curate your own house plant collection. I love shopping for “outfits” for my plants aka planters. I started with a set of these 3 pink planters but my plants quickly grew out of them and into some bigger pots. Here are some of my favorites:

Also, there are several books I recommend as you start your own house plant collection:

1. Wild at Home by Hilton Carter

2. Plantopedia: the definitive guide to houseplants

3. The house plant whisperer

Art is another form of therapy that I completely love in my home. Not only do I love being surrounded by plants, I love art with flowers, gardens and plants in them too. It’s good & healing feng shui. I had to frame one of my favorite prints, water lilies at night by claude monet.

For more habits that will help you sink into your feminine energy, listen to this episode of my podcast, Blissfully Ambitious.