0:00

The way I see it , moving from

0:02

chaos to peace is not as much about

0:04

what you let go off but , more

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importantly , what you keep , what

0:09

you decide to surround yourself with

0:11

. Welcome

0:13

to my podcast from Chaos to Peace

0:15

with Conny . I am Conny Graf

0:17

and your host , and I will explore

0:20

with you how a few minutes a day

0:22

can keep the chaos away , and with

0:24

chaos we're talking about the physical , digital

0:26

, social , financial , mental , emotional

0:29

and spiritual clutter that can accumulate

0:32

in our life and business . In

0:34

every episode , I want to make you

0:36

aware how clutter is so

0:38

much more than you think , how it

0:40

affects your finances , and how

0:42

clearing your clutter leads to more

0:44

time , more money and more peace

0:47

. Let's go Well

0:52

. Hello , my friend . Welcome

0:54

to the podcast . I'm Conny Graf

0:57

, your host . Thank you so much for

0:59

allowing me back into your ears . Please

1:02

subscribe and follow the podcast if

1:04

you haven't done so yet . This way , you

1:06

never miss an episode , and

1:08

maybe you share your favorite episode

1:11

or the podcast with your family

1:13

or your friend or your business bestie , because

1:15

if you find value in what I'm talking

1:17

about , they will too . So

1:20

this is a rewind of an

1:22

older episode , and I don't do this

1:24

necessarily to save time or

1:26

because I run out of topics . I

1:28

do this because we need to hear

1:30

things more than once . I

1:33

need to say things more than once

1:35

. I might say it differently

1:37

the second , the third or the fiftieth

1:39

time , and then you can hear it . So

1:42

the other day , a podcast

1:44

that I was listening to here and there

1:47

announced that episode 162

1:50

was their last episode . One

1:52

of the reasons they named was that they

1:55

have said what they wanted to say

1:57

. They have said everything

1:59

that was important . So we

2:01

all can just go back and re-listen

2:03

to old episodes and hear and learn

2:05

everything we need to learn . They said

2:07

. They had some other reasons

2:10

, of course , but this is what stood out

2:12

for me , because sometimes I also

2:14

feel that way . I also feel I've

2:16

said everything . There is only

2:18

so much to know . There is only

2:21

so much to say . There

2:23

is no magic bullet . There is

2:25

nothing new under the sun . But

2:27

then I remember , hearing

2:30

it once is not enough . We often

2:32

have to hear things several times , multiple

2:35

times , often even from different sources

2:37

and different people . It really

2:39

depends where we are in our life

2:41

and business at the moment when we

2:43

are hearing a certain information of whether

2:45

it sinks in or gets repelled

2:48

or just passes by us . Second

2:51

, information alone is not enough

2:53

. Knowledge is not enough . Real

2:55

knowing comes from experience , whether

2:58

that's imposed on us , experience

3:00

or us taking

3:02

intentional action and doing

3:05

what we learned and heard . Anyways

3:08

, long story short , I republished

3:10

certain episodes from way back because

3:13

these are important concepts or ways

3:15

I look at things . I look at how

3:18

to move from chaos to peace . I

3:20

look at how getting organized and achieving

3:22

elegant finances and , chances are

3:24

, if you haven't found me over

3:27

three years ago and listened to every

3:29

single episode since February 2020

3:31

, you don't know how I think about

3:33

certain topics . But , by the

3:35

way , if you do listen since 2020

3:38

, thank you so much . I truly

3:40

appreciate it . Please reach

3:42

out to me and tell me , because I would want to

3:44

give you a shout out . But

3:47

even if you listen since 2020

3:49

, chances are you forgot about

3:51

it in the meanwhile . So for you it's

3:53

a refresher too , and

3:56

actually for me , in a way , it's a refresher

3:58

too , not the topic itself , as I

4:00

often talk about that we want to align

4:02

our space to us , that we

4:04

want to align our space to our priorities

4:07

, that we want to create a space

4:09

that supports us , that we want to align

4:12

our space to our stage of life and

4:14

business . For me , it's interesting

4:16

to re-listen to my past self

4:18

and how I serve and how I sounded

4:21

back then . I admire

4:23

her that she had the courage to

4:25

weed out all her mental clutter

4:27

and show up over and over while

4:30

her life was falling apart around her

4:32

. But in hindsight , this

4:34

is how I got through the hard times by

4:36

focusing in what I keep

4:39

in my life , by focusing on

4:41

aligning my space my physical

4:43

, digital , financial , mental and

4:45

emotional environment with myself

4:47

, with my dreams and with my

4:49

desires , and making sure my environment

4:52

is actually aligned with the stage

4:54

of life I'm in . This

4:56

is what we all can do , even

4:59

if the world around us is crazy

5:01

or crumbling aligning the space

5:04

with us , making our immediate

5:06

environment we are surrounded with easier

5:09

for us , more peaceful . That

5:11

is what is important . I

5:14

am so often asked where

5:16

do I start getting organized ? Where

5:18

do I start decluttering ? I'm so overwhelmed

5:20

I don't know where to start . This

5:22

is it by aligning your

5:24

environment with yourself . I

5:27

often notice and I even talked about it

5:29

before how I really don't like the word decluttering

5:31

that much , because , the way

5:33

I see it , moving from chaos

5:35

to peace is not as much about what

5:38

you let go of , but , more

5:40

importantly , what you keep , what

5:42

you decide to surround yourself with

5:44

. Anyways , you now hear

5:46

episode number 14 , but I cleaned

5:49

it up a bit . I took out me

5:51

talking about the workshop that I was planning

5:53

back then and other talk that

5:55

is really not relevant three and a half years

5:57

later . But aside of that , here

5:59

you go . Align your space with

6:02

your priorities . Enjoy

6:04

Back

6:09

to this week's topic of aligning your

6:11

space with your dreams and desires

6:13

, and with space I mean your home or

6:15

your office . It depends

6:18

where you want to start

6:20

. While I was preparing

6:22

for our workshop that I mentioned , just mentioned

6:24

before and I'm posting and talking

6:26

about it I noticed how I thought

6:28

to myself . I don't even like the word decluttering

6:31

that much , because for me it's

6:33

not that much about what you let go , so

6:36

declutter , and it's more important

6:38

what you keep and what you decide

6:40

to surround yourself with . If things

6:42

go right , at least in my opinion , your

6:45

home is your sanctuary , where you

6:47

feel comfortable , safe and can recharge

6:49

. But if you work

6:51

from home , then your office actually

6:54

gives you the feeling of being

6:56

able to be productive , creative

6:58

and efficient . You

7:01

most likely got to know and experience your home

7:03

in a completely different way these past few weeks

7:05

, which puts you in a great position

7:07

actually to really know what's working

7:09

and what's not working and what kind of space

7:11

you really and ideally would want

7:13

to spend your time in . That

7:15

is a good starting point . So how about

7:18

you ask yourself now how far

7:20

off is your home from this ideal

7:22

? On a scale of one

7:24

to 10 , where about is your

7:26

home right now ? And I just

7:28

want to say it out loud right away I think

7:30

the goal can be a 10 , but

7:33

it's perfectly fine to

7:35

only be an 8 or a 9 . And

7:37

why would I say that ? Well , a

7:40

we're really not striving for perfection

7:42

and we are changing and

7:44

evolving constantly as humans , and the idea

7:47

is that your home changes and evolves

7:49

with you and for you . So

7:51

aim for an 8 or 9 and ask

7:54

yourself first where is it right

7:56

now ? But I know this a

7:58

lot when I work with people is

8:00

that their home doesn't evolve with them

8:02

. It's not where they are in

8:04

their life . The home often represents

8:06

how their life used to be , not

8:08

so much how it is now or where they

8:10

are heading . A family with

8:13

young children has different needs than a family

8:15

with teenagers , or a single person

8:17

lives different than an elderly couple

8:19

where the kids have moved out already . Any

8:22

major change in your life might require

8:24

a change in your home , and that's not

8:26

always easy . But if we truly want

8:28

that our home is a sanctuary and supports

8:31

us in what we do and what matters most

8:33

to us , we need to think about how

8:35

it ideally would look like and then work

8:37

towards that . So ask

8:39

yourself what are your priorities

8:42

at this time in your life ? Often

8:45

life takes over work , school chores

8:47

, outside demands and we lose sight

8:49

of what would be important to us . But

8:51

you can take a few minutes and think about

8:53

it . It's really worth it . Then

8:56

you may take a love tour

8:59

through your home and see where it

9:01

aligns already with your priorities , dreams

9:03

and desires . I talked about that

9:05

in episode 5 . How I feel

9:07

it's important that we appreciate

9:09

and recognize first what it's working for us

9:11

in our home . So take a love

9:13

tour . Try to look at it all with

9:16

fresh eyes , as if you would see

9:18

it for the very first time or

9:20

as if you had been away for a while

9:22

. Don't you wish so

9:25

? For example , if one of your

9:27

priorities is to be able to come

9:29

home and relax and read , ask

9:32

yourself do you have a nice , comfortable

9:34

space to do that in , or maybe even

9:36

a few different ones ? I , for example

9:39

, sit in my chair in the living room when I read

9:41

in the morning , but when it's nice weather

9:43

I want to be outside . So I have a cozy

9:45

spot outside to sit and read , and

9:47

in the evening my joy is to read in bed

9:50

. I do so since I'm a teenager

9:52

. Cooking is a priority for me , so

9:54

I have several ideal spots to do that

9:56

and depending on what I read , what

9:59

time of the day it is , I sit somewhere

10:01

different . Another

10:04

example is I mainly cook and eat at home

10:06

, but cooking is not

10:08

a passion of mine , but still

10:10

I want that the kitchen has a flow

10:12

to it , or maybe even more

10:14

so . I want that the kitchen has a flow

10:16

to it so that the cooking and baking is

10:18

easy to do . So my kitchen

10:20

is set up in a way that makes cooking and baking

10:23

really easy . The pots and

10:25

pans , the dishes , everything is stored

10:27

in a way that makes the process flow

10:29

really easy , because I enjoy

10:31

home-cooked meals , but I don't

10:33

enjoy spending too much time in the

10:35

kitchen . I always joke and say anything

10:38

that takes longer than 15 minutes to

10:40

do is not for me . I

10:42

give you a third example . I love

10:44

the lifestyle I'm living on acreage with

10:46

animals and a garden . When we moved

10:48

into this house there was no mudroom , no

10:50

place to put muddy boots and wet and dirty

10:53

jackets . But I want my house to support

10:55

me , so one of the first things we did

10:57

we had to create a space where

10:59

we can come in from the outside and take off

11:01

the dirty and wet stuff . It's

11:03

also the place where I can store bulky winter clothes

11:05

and boots in summer . It's where we have

11:08

gloves of all kinds , fly spray

11:10

, sunscreen hats , scarves , tux . By

11:13

having everything for our lifestyle right

11:15

there in one place and by

11:17

not tracking the dirt into the house when

11:19

coming in from chores , garden work or fence

11:21

repair , I make my life easier

11:24

and my house supports me and my priorities

11:26

. Can you see now how this works ? Can

11:29

you see now how you can look at your home and

11:31

see where it supports your priorities

11:34

and your lifestyle and where it doesn't

11:36

? The idea is now not

11:38

to necessarily start a big renovation project

11:40

or , even worse , to

11:43

move into a different house , but where

11:45

can you tweak or change something so it

11:47

supports you more ? Where can you create

11:49

little islands to relax or little corners

11:51

to create and be creative , or

11:54

rearrange things so it flows better

11:56

, for example , in the kitchen ? When

11:59

you start with your priorities , dreams and desires

12:01

for your home and you get clear on how

12:03

you want to feel and function in your home

12:06

, then your goal is not to just

12:08

simply declutter somehow . When

12:10

you do it this way , you have your very own

12:12

guide and understanding of what fits

12:15

in your life and what and

12:17

how your home can support you in all

12:19

you do . This way , it's easier to

12:21

figure out what items it's time to let go

12:23

of , and it automatically becomes

12:25

more about what you keep and less about

12:27

what you let go . You focus on

12:29

what you want to create and not what

12:31

you lose by letting go . So

12:34

again , you start by thinking about

12:36

where you are in life and what your needs are

12:39

for this stage of your life . If

12:41

you live with someone else , this could be

12:43

an interesting dinner talk conversation

12:45

. Then the next step

12:48

is you do the love tour for your home

12:50

with your priorities in mind and

12:52

you figure out where does your home already

12:54

align with your needs and where not

12:57

at all . From now

12:59

on , you can work towards your vision

13:01

and by making changes , a few minutes

13:03

a day , letting go of things that don't

13:05

fit in your life anymore , you're working

13:07

your way , step by step and

13:10

minute by minute , towards a home that

13:12

supports you and is your sanctuary

13:14

. Try it out and let

13:16

me know what you think . Okay

13:19

, my friends , that's it for this week

13:21

and , as always , don't just listen to my

13:23

podcast . Please take action

13:25

. A few minutes a day keeps the chaos

13:27

away . And , as always , you find

13:29

all the links of the things I was talking about

13:32

in the show notes , and the show notes you find

13:34

at conigraphcom forward

13:36

slash podcast , that is conigraph

13:39

c-o-n-n-y-g-r-a-f

13:41

dot com . Thank you for

13:43

joining me on the podcast and listening

13:46

all the way to the end . If you

13:48

found value in what I was talking about

13:50

, please share it with your family and friends

13:52

, because if you found value

13:55

in it , they will too . Thank

13:57

you and have a beautiful and amazing week

13:59

and please subscribe so you never miss

14:02

an episode . See you next

14:04

time , take good care and

14:06

be safe .