The Next Phase
I used to be fun. I used to be driven. I used to be sexy. I used to be...young. What happened?
Dear Millennial moms in your late 30s or 40s -- former forces of nature,
Are you burned out, overwhelmed, and wondering where your energy (and your old self) went? You’re not alone.
The Next Phase is the podcast for overachieving moms navigating perimenopause who are dying to take back their energy, their bodies, and their magic. Here, we will not pummel you with hormone treatment plans or talk about perimenopause as if it's a diagnosis. Instead, we're going to celebrate it. We're going to use it as an excuse to really start taking care of ourselves. As a matter of fact, we're going to find ourselves in our perimenopause era.
Hosted by Stacey Hutson—certified health coach, wellness chef, former co-host of the Mother Plus Podcast, and mom of two—you’ll learn how to: Understand what’s really happening in perimenopause and how to work with your changing body, use nutrition, supplements, and sleep as medicine to restore your energy, get in tune with your cycle and learn practical ways to sync your life with your hormones, and create rituals (with a little woo) that help you slow down, listen inward, and reconnect with yourself.
Each episode blends personal stories, expert insights, and actual doable steps you can take right away.
✨ Subscribe now to The Next Phase and join a community of millennial moms redefining wellness in their 40s. Let’s make perimenopause your most magnetic chapter yet.
The Next Phase
#33: How to Create a Home That Calms Your Nervous System
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What if your home is affecting your nervous system more than you realize?
In this episode, Stacey sits down with interior designer, feng shui master, and author Lisa Morton for a conversation about clutter, energy, burnout, and the surprising emotional impact of the spaces we live in.
After experiencing severe burnout early in her own design career, Lisa became fascinated by the connection between our environments and our wellbeing. Today, she blends interior design, feng shui, and energy work to help women create homes that feel calmer, more supportive, and more aligned with the lives they actually want to live.
Together, Stacey and Lisa explore:
- how our homes affect our emotional state
- why so many women in midlife suddenly want to change their homes
- the connection between clutter and “stuck” energy
- practical feng shui shifts anyone can try
- how to create a home that feels grounding instead of overwhelming
- and the magic of actually becoming friends with your home
This conversation is equal parts practical, comforting, and surprisingly emotional — especially for the women who feel overstimulated, scattered, or disconnected from the spaces they live in.
About Lisa Morton:
Lisa Morton is an interior designer, feng shui master teacher, podcast host, and creator of the Intuitive Home Method. For more than 25 years, she has transformed homes, businesses, and even luxury private jet interiors. She is also the host of the Feng Shui Living podcast and author of the book Aligned at Home.
Find Lisa:
Website: purelivingwithlisamorton.com
Podcast: Feng Shui Living
Book: Aligned at Home
My kitchen is under construction. I can't walk on my kitchen floors, I have no oven, no dishwasher, my pantry is spread across my fireplace mantle, my refrigerator is sitting in my living room, and because my kitchen is a disaster, it feels like everything else is falling apart too. Including my nervous system. Because when your environment is chaos, your body feels it. And if that is true, then the opposite has to be true too. And today I'm speaking to a woman who is very skilled at creating the opposite. Welcome to the Next Phase Podcast, the show for millennial moms entering paramenopause who are done fixing themselves and ready to start listening to themselves. I'm your host, Stacy Hudson, and today I'm talking to interior designer and feng shui expert, Lisa Morton. Lisa has spent more than 20 years transforming homes, businesses, and even luxury private jet interiors. After experiencing severe burnout early in her own design career, she became fascinated by the connection between our environments and our emotional well-being. Today, she blends interior design, feng shui, and energy work to help women create homes that feel calmer, more supportive, and more aligned with the lives they actually want to live. She hosts the Feng Shui Living Podcast and is the author of the book Aligned at Home. I'll be totally honest, nothing intimidates my ADHD brain more than interior design. But Lisa makes all of this feel very approachable. And in this conversation, we really explore how our homes affect our emotional state and the magic of actually becoming friends with the spaces we live in. Let's meet Lisa. Hello, Lisa, and welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you.
SPEAKER_01Hi, Stacey. I'm just so thrilled to be here. I've really enjoyed following you and listening to you. And I just I love the whole energy and vibe that you bring.
SPEAKER_00Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. I told you offline beforehand that I could talk about home and environment all day long, which is surprising because that is not my forte. I think I just want to talk about it more because I don't know a whole lot about it. And people like you, I consider a special kind of genius because it's just a part of my brain that I am missing. And so anybody who knows interior design, how to make a home beautiful, I'm like, oh my God, how do you do that?
SPEAKER_01Well, here's the thing. You don't want me doing your taxes because I hate numbers there.
SPEAKER_00Did out of that for me, though. I don't have that going for me either. Oh funny. All right, Lisa, can you introduce yourself to our audience?
SPEAKER_01Sure. I am a holistic interior designer. I've been a designer for 25 years and I focused the past 10 years on a holistic approach. I've studied feng shui extensively. I have four different certifications in feng shui. I find it fascinating. I love home interiors. More importantly, I love to help people feel good in their home environment. I went through a phase of burnout in my career, early in my career, and I learned firsthand the importance of having a space that really supports you. It was photo shoot ready, let me tell you, but it was not energetically supporting me at all. And, you know, if I knew then what I know now, life would have been a little easier. But we grow and learn from those things, right?
SPEAKER_00Wow, that's interesting. So you're saying that to the outside eye, your home environment was beautiful, stunning, but it didn't actually feel good to you.
SPEAKER_01It wasn't supporting me energetically. I think back to early in my design career, I had my dream job designing private jet interiors. Woo! Yeah, right. I traveled the world. I met with amazing people and used outrageous materials like that hardly even the highest end designers don't always get to use. And it was great. It was great until it wasn't. The demands of this job, the travel, I'd go in on a Tuesday, Lisa, go home, pack your bag. You're leaving in three hours to go to Paris for a week. Right. And that was my life. My work was my life. And it just got to a point that the pressure, the pressure of these clients who can't afford anything, and they want you to figure out how to get this one bizarre material to work in an airplane that bends and flexes and moves, and everything has to be incredibly flame retardant. It was just a lot of stress, plus my own perfectionism that I really didn't realize was a thing at the time. I had to learn about. It was creeping up and poking at me quite a bit. And then I just ended up in a really ugly spot. I kind of joked that I was a mental health puddle on the floor.
SPEAKER_00Been there.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Always on the floor. It's always on the floor. It's where you end up when you're really low.
SPEAKER_01But I, you know, I see this. This was a beautiful rebirth because had I not gone through that, I wouldn't understand this other side of the work because I took on the meditation. I started doing yoga. I started walking every day. I altered my diet. I was doing therapy, like all those things you're supposed to do. But it wasn't until I actually looked at my space because the designer in me was like, oh, we have to make it beautiful and functional, but I wasn't thinking of the energetics. That really wasn't even in my vocabulary in my world, right? I just wasn't in that space at the time. The tipping point for me was I was looking at my environment and understanding, oh, colors really have physiological effects on our bodies, right? And patterns and textures affect us. And even artwork and imagery is influencing our energy. And so then I started having Reiki done, Reiki treatments on myself. And I'm like, well, this is magical. I want to learn. So within a year, I did the master teacher training. And I'm just thinking, I felt like the clouds parted and the angels were singing. This is what I meant to do. So then I started studying everything. And I did my first training in 2011, 2014, 2018. And then two years ago, I became a master teacher of instinctive feng shui. So now I get to teach other people.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. Okay. This is so cool. Explain to us. I think we've all heard the term feng shui, but what actually does it mean in a way that we can understand?
SPEAKER_01Feng shui is an ancient art or practice of arranging your space, utilizing this five-element system, balancing yin and yang, and creating a space that really promotes harmony in your home and then in your life. It's kind of like the chakra system. We want to balance the energy in our body, but we also want to do that in our home environment. We have a lot of people that I start working with, and they just think their home is just this box to land in. And they don't realize the impact. You know, our homes are constantly telling us who we are, what we're about, and who to be tomorrow. So when you can think about that, what is your home telling you? What is your home telling your family, your children, your pets, and guests who come over?
SPEAKER_00Right. And what is it telling you? I feel like is the most important thing because we are often the heart of the household. And when it is affecting us negatively, I think it affects us more than we know. And it's not just the home, it's all of the spaces that we surround ourselves in. Like one thing that I've been thinking about a lot lately is my car, the immense effect it has on me because it is my transportation to everything else I do. And every time I get in it, I have this terrible habit of throwing things on the passenger seat chair. It's my girls' jackets and their backpacks and just crap, right? It's a pile. And it stresses me out. And finally, yesterday I took my daughters to the gas station and we had fun with the vacuum and we cleared the car out. And I cannot tell you the difference in even dropping them off in the morning, which is so often a very, very stressful time to get into my car and not see anything on the passenger seat. And the cup holders aren't filled with crumbs and crap and leaves and rocks that they put in there. And it was so calming to my nervous system. It's just so highly aware of this lately and fascinated. And so I'm so glad you're here because that is a very hot topic with my audience, especially because so many of the women listening have ADHD, anxiety. I think all of us, right? Especially at this phase of our lives, we're just inundated with all the things we should be doing and all the ways we should be changing and fixing ourselves and doing better. We're on edge, and I think we need a soft place to land.
SPEAKER_01I love your choice of words too, because what I'm seeing so much in as far as like design trends, right, is these warm colors, warm whites, chocolate browns, a lot of texture, green plants. Like we're just craving a big hug of peace, right? We have this world of technology and going so fast and AI, everything. And how can we slow down? How can we find comfort? And how can we find a little more peace in our day? I think we're our bodies are just craving that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I am obsessed with furry blankets, light throws, you know, and it's something about that texture of having it on my bed, having it on my couch. These are the little things that I'm bringing in to create that cozy environment that's like, oh, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01It's okay, Stacey. Slayering those textures, having the faux fur blanket, and then a tightly woven one next to it. And those different textures just pull us in. So in the feng shui world, we have a five-element system: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. And these chunky textural rugs and throws and things, this connects to the earth element. The earth element brings us stability and grounding. I always say if you feel like a paper bag floating in the wind, you need the earth element. And I think everyone's home can benefit from a little more earth.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And that makes sense. I'm I do feel like I'm floating all the time. I feel like I'm scattered and I need something to ground me. So thus the foffer blanket. Okay. Can you go through the other ones?
SPEAKER_01Sure. So we're in spring. Spring connects to the wood element. The wood element is all about growth, moving forward, healing, renewal. I always think of the words onwards and upwards when I think of the wood element. And it's just like the season of spring. We've rested during winter and now we're ready to move forward and take on those tasks. Our energy is building. So to bring in this wood element into your environment, the color green, green plants, flowers, artwork depicting plants or flowers, vertical stripes. I brought in some green vases here in my podcast studio that are nice and tall to kind of bring in that wood springy element. And then we move into fire. Fire is really high energy, connects to the season of summer. It is bold and bright. And you think of a casino of Chuck E. Cheese, that is fire energy. Bright red, triangular shapes.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's so funny. You say Chuck E. Cheese, and immediately my brain goes to my seventh birthday.
SPEAKER_01Oh boy. So the wood element is really great. It's one of those we need to be mindful of. So in my experience, when I was going through my time of burnout and healing, I had a lot of wood element in my space. So a lot of plants, too much. And then I also had this beautiful red headboard. It was this beautiful fabric. But I wasn't sleeping. I was stressed out. I was anxious all night. And now I'm like, well, no wonder I wasn't sleeping with a red headboard and so many living plants nearby. So on one hand, we want to be mindful of maybe these two things. On the other hand, they're great. If you get the winter blaz, wear a red sweater. Bring in some fuchsia. Bring in some fire, a lot of natural plants. And then from there, we move into a season called late summer. And this is all about the earth elements. We touched on that, natural materials, beige, tan, brown, chocolate kind of colors. Also yellow and anything made of the earth. So if you have a stone countertop, you already have some earth element. If you have a ceramic tile floor, you're already there. But also bricks, rocks and crystals, if you're a crystal lover. Those bring in the earth, clay pottery, anything or any type of um landscape. And then we move into fall, which connects to the metal element. We go from, you know, we started spring and we're like growing and taking on new things and getting more energy. Summer is a season of high, high energy. And then we start coming back down, right? We start thinking about hmm, before long, we're going to get into winter. And this is rounding things up, harvesting our bounty, right? And this is the season of fall, which connects to the metal element. And metal connects to precision and focus and clarity. So I love especially a metal element in a home office. Because if anybody works from home, trying to find that boundary between home time and work time can be hard. And so the metal element can be really great for that. And then we move into winter, which is all about the water element. It's peaceful, it's fluid, it's creative, and it's that kind of energy where we just want to sit on the sofa and sip a cup of tea. We're not going to be like headed out to the barbecues like we are in the summertime, right? And it's really beautiful when you can honor that cycle and live with that cycle. Life just flows a little easier.
SPEAKER_00For people who have no design background, right? But know that their space is affecting their nervous system. How do they even start to approach trying to bring in balance into their environment through these practices?
SPEAKER_01So I love feng shui. There's a side of it that I can I get a little frustrated because I know when I was first starting to learn and reading books, it felt interesting and I was really intrigued, but it also felt really complicated and confusing. I would read one book and then the next book would contradict the first one. And so actually, I just published my own book. And the why I wrote it is because I wanted clear answers. And here's the thing: I believe if you do anything with a really good, beautiful intention, that's what matters. It may not be just the right tweak or adjustment or alignment, but if you're trying, that is huge. And you're caring and loving on your home, that alone will fill good energy in the space. But I do have a couple favorite easy tips because I like to remind people it's not a remodel, it's not an overhaul. Sometimes it's the smallest little adjustment that makes a big impact. You just need this little tweak of arranging the chair or slightly bringing one element into a space. So here is my favorite tip if you are like, hmm, maybe I want to explore this. Find the centermost area of your home. Okay, so if you were a bird up in the sky looking down at your home, where would that be? And then I want you to just love on it. Bring in fresh flowers, bring in a new plant, vacuum the floor, sweep the floors, make sure there aren't any light bulbs burned out. Just juzge the space up, make it feel really good, really nice, because this location is really important. When I work with a client and we dive deep into a full assessment of the home and the property, we have this tool called a bagwa map. And when I align this bagwa map over your home, the centermost area radiates out and connects to every other energy center of your home. So by loving on this one spot, it's filling your whole home with good energy. So that's easy. Anyone can do that, right?
SPEAKER_00I love that. That's very cool. Okay, keep going.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so my next favorite place to work on is the front door. So often we go in and out of the garage, right? It's common, it's easy. I do it often. But we want to make sure we keep that front door flowing and moving. The front door in Feng Shui is called the mouth of qi. And this is where energy comes into our environment, comes into our home. Fresh new energy, also fresh new opportunities. So use your front door. Make sure there aren't piles of book bags and shoes everywhere. Try to keep it tidy. Make sure the hinges aren't squeaky and the lock works well. Make sure your front mat is cleaned up, it's well lit, it's welcoming, it feels really nice and beautiful. And just do something every day to use it. So that could be walking the dog in and out of the door every day or going on your daily walk through your front door where you want to keep it moving. On one hand, it feels magical, but on the other hand, it's all really practical stuff. It's bringing in fresh new energy and it's amazing the new opportunities that will begin to come into your life and you'll experience, and you're like, hmm, I'm fascinated.
SPEAKER_00This is so cool because I love magic and woo and the spiritual. And I never considered it in terms of your home. Like I love the crystals and the tarot and all of that, but like the energy flow through your front door, the center of your home. That is so, so fascinating. Okay.
SPEAKER_01I mean, we know that color affects our nervous system. We know that lighting affects our mood, right? Furniture arrangement in a space can either enhance the conversation or detract from it and you feel disconnected. If anybody's struggling with the woo side of it, right, it's really practical. It really makes a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And what I like about it too is that I think interior design can be feel very intimidating, especially if you don't have the budget to do much. And so a lot of what you said was really about like vacuuming, clearing up, fixing the light bulb, things like that that I think we ignore and we don't realize how much it's affecting our nervous system. And I talk about that on this podcast, how I've really found that I've spent so much time trying to fix my nervous system through all of these nervous system regulating tools, which can be really helpful. But I've totally bypassed my environment, not realizing how much that has been affecting me. And when I do make my bed every day, empty the bathroom trash, clear up the kitchen counter, go through the mail bill pile, it feels almost equivalent to me to doing like an hour-long meditation, you know, because my body now feels safe in my environment. And I think so many of us underestimate that.
SPEAKER_01Also think about the artwork. This has been a big topic with a lot of my clients lately. What is the artwork in your home? What is it telling you? Is it putting you at ease? What kind of symbolism and what's it saying to you? I had a client a while back who her husband had started a business. He was in construction and building big, beautiful homes, and he was gone all the time. And I was there doing some work one time, and she started telling me about this. And she's like, I just feel so alone. I'm like, okay. So we went up to their master bedroom and I looked around, and the very first thing I saw, the very first thing she would wake up and see was this beautiful piece of art. And it was beautiful, but it was a woman standing there all by herself. And I'm like, this is telling you how to start your day and how your day is going to go, that you're going to be alone. So we replaced it with a wedding photo of them. And they definitely felt that connection again. And so look at your artwork. What is it reflecting? What is it showing? Look at your mirrors. Are they reflecting beautiful things? Or is it reflecting a ceiling fan or the garbage can?
SPEAKER_00I laughed when you said what my artwork reflects because most of my artwork is screaming at me to hang it up. A lot of my artwork is still sitting on the floor leaning against the wall or sitting on a dresser leaning against the wall. And I have a huge fear of commitment when it comes to hammering into walls because I'm so worried I'm going to make the wrong hole. Oh my goodness. It's it says a lot, right? It says literally like I'm unfinished. There's nothing here. There's a lot of blank walls. There's a lot of unfinished projects, is the energy I get through my home. You would have a field day here. You would have so much fun.
SPEAKER_01But you know what? It's it's not, this isn't meant to have anyone get down on themselves or feel negative or feel bad. I want people to take these things on and explore their space and feel empowered. Hey, I can make myself feel better tomorrow if I hang this one special piece of art that really says something, that really means something, or I address this one single thing. I want people to feel empowered by this work. It's almost like think of your home as a giant vision board, right? I love planting cues when I have clients that are working towards specific goals. Like they want to make a million dollars this year, they want to start their own business, grow their family, meet the love of their life is a common one, right? When we can plant these cues throughout your home, it's so powerful.
SPEAKER_00I love that. You ask your clients that question what are your life goals? Of course, of course.
SPEAKER_01That's a huge part of the whole process because we're not meant to just stay stagnant and stay where we are. And I want people to connect with their future. And it's funny because many clients, I'll have to push them a bit. I have a long intake form. And one of the questions is tell me about your goals. And it's always, well, I just want to feel really calm. I just want my home to feel really zen. And I'm like, no, no, no. Don't be humble. Tell me what you want, and we can work towards that. Of course, we're going to make it feel good and feel calming and whatever you want, but this is an extra layer.
SPEAKER_00Wow. I love how connected it all is. Let's talk about midlife, right? That's something we both have in common. We're entering that next phase of our life. And I feel like so many women suddenly feel this. I call it a second nesting, but when you're pregnant, you nest because you know you have to bring in a child and make it a safe environment. But when your kid reaches a certain age, it almost feels like it's this second nesting that's really more about you and coming back to you again and opening your eyes and looking up and wanting your environment to reflect this new direction you're going. And so I think that's why so my audience responds so well to talking about our home and our environment because our kids are six, eight, 10, 12. And we're like, oh, we have some space for us again. And this is no longer just a place to survive in. I want it to feel good to me, more than good, you know, like what does it do for me?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think it's interesting because we're naturally meant to shift and our homes are meant to shift. They're not meant to remain stagnant. So as life changes, you have a little more time, right? Maybe then your kids will go off to college or move out on their own and life shifts again. Maybe you have an aging parent come to live with you. Like our homes are evolving and shifting, and the interiors should also. So I think it's a beautiful time for people to look at their spaces and go, this is who I used to be, but I've grown as an individual. I've grown as a woman. I have more life experience. And I just decided I like blue, right? A little more. Whatever, right? Be open to whatever is coming up and whatever you feel inspired by.
SPEAKER_00We talked a little bit about how just the little fixes, not necessarily going out to buy a new piece of artwork, but to fix the light bulb. But it's also the clutter and the stuff that accumulates. And I struggle with that. I think a lot of people listening struggle with it. I think, especially if you are a messy type B creative, artistic type of person, you tend to get very comfortable living surrounded by stuff. And then every once in a while it hits you how much it's affecting you. So, what have your studies and your experience taught you about clutter and stuck energy?
SPEAKER_01I think there's two sides. So I think there is the creative inspired who likes stuff and color and things. I think there's the other side of people who just can't let go. They're afraid of not being supported in the future. What if I don't have that one thing? They're afraid of letting go and also afraid of making decisions. I believe clutter is just unmade decisions. Think about everything in your home. It should be worthy of being in your environment. It should be worthy of being around your family, your children, your guests, right?
SPEAKER_00Can we talk about survival mode for a minute? What it means to look up from the overwhelm of motherhood and of life, and then be like, I'm I don't want to be in survival mode anymore. How do we do that with our homes? How do we bring that energy of like not just surviving, but excuse me, for the cheesy line, not just surviving, but thriving, you know?
SPEAKER_01I I would suggest really is finding a space, creating a space in your home. And I have this silly name for it, I call it a relaxation station, but it is a corner, it is a chair that you love that's in a quiet space. I had one client that we designed a meditation space in a walk-in closet that she had, right? And this create a nook where you can go to restore yourself. Even if that's setting the timer for five minutes, mom needs five minutes to sit, to breathe, because you know you're going to be better to everyone else when you can take that time to reset and creating that one space in your home that feels really cozy. It has a comfortable throw. Maybe you have some aroma therapy, the perfect little table to put your cup of tea. So you can really pamper yourself. And then again, once you start taking this on, it emanates out a bit. And you'll be sitting in another room and be like, hmm, that aromatherapy might be nice in here as well. Oh, I like that.
SPEAKER_00For the women who are just starting to dabble and maybe don't feel comfortable. I think so many of us are like, well, I'm not good at interior design. We all have friends that have beautiful homes. We look at them and we think, well, that's not me. I'm just trying to get by here. I feel like I'm entering a phase of my life where I want more from my home. And I think that the only thing I know to do is to go to home goods. And there's nothing wrong with home goods, but I'm asking because I feel like that's kind of where everybody goes. You don't necessarily want your artwork from home goods or from Hobby Lobby. It's something that you can see in a lot of other places. But where do you go without spending a lot of money?
SPEAKER_01There used to be so many amazing stores, but they've all closed. Years ago, when I was starting my career, I worked at Pier One Imports and I spent more than I made. But all these great stores are closing. But find some local boutiques, go to some garage sales, even if you're not a thrifter, right? Just go with an open mind because you could find a great picture frame that you could just simply spray paint, right? And then it's your own creation. If you do want to save, find maybe a cute end table, right? You can get an inexpensive end table at Home Goods for a steal, and it is cute as can be. So think and pick and choose. I would suggest shop local, connect with local artists. You think about those fun things. It doesn't just have to be a framed piece of art. It could be three album covers from this great band you used to love, right? Or or fun, unique pieces. Go out in the woods and find this cool branch and hang that on your wall. If that is what speaks to you, these photo shoot ready um rooms like you see on TV. We have to remember these shows we see on TV, they are meant to entertain, right? They're entertainment. That's it. Do what you love. It doesn't have to be trendy. If you love it, then that is what matters. Um, I hope this is okay, but I actually have an interior design basics class that I teach. It's a two-session all-online class. It starts June 2nd.
SPEAKER_00I'm intrigued. I'm absolutely intrigued.
SPEAKER_01It's interior design for the novel. Anyone. Okay. Anyone. So typically I teach a four-week interior design basics class every fall, every spring, but I'm doing a summer school edition, which is an abbreviated class with no homework. So perfect. But but this is practical, right? We love to get creative and get brainstorming, but you also need to know okay, if my dining table is this size, what size of rug do I get? Uh, I share some of my favorite resources for things. I share some of those default sizes that you need to know. I talk about window treatments. I don't even know what that one thing is called, right? You'll learn in this class. So just incredibly practical things that you can start pulling things together because it shouldn't have to be that you have to hire this outrageous interior designer to come in and spend money and overhaul your entire home. You can do so many wonderful things. And I want to help people feel empowered to do that.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I need that. And I have so many friends who we all just feel so insecure when it comes to that stuff. And I think part of it is because of social media, because we see that there are everyday quote unquote people out there who have just these amazing homes. And we're like, oh my goodness, did I miss something? At least that's how I feel. So I want to be empowered to get the branch and bring it into my house and hang it on my wall because it feels like I there's all these rules that I just don't know what they are. And so I second guess myself. And home goods, I will go for two hours and I will not pick one thing the whole time. I will put things in carts, put them back, but uh, maybe I'm not sure. And then I leave disappointed and frustrated that I just wasted two hours.
SPEAKER_01So a mood board can be really powerful to actually define what do I like? What really do I want in my space? Maybe I like this look at that they have at the restaurant, but that won't work in my home. You can pull those colors, you can pull patterns that you like and have a visual representation. And then you can either do a hard cut and paste copy, right? Kind of like a vision board, or I like to do them on Canva and then save it on your phone. So when you go to home goods, you're not just wandering up and down these aisles distracted by everything that's cute. You have a method and you know what you need and you know what to look for.
SPEAKER_00That is so helpful.
SPEAKER_01Or cut swatches. If you have a sofa with a certain fabric and you're looking for pillows, get underneath. There's gonna be at least a little bit you can cut off. Make a little Ziploc baggie, keep it in your car or in your purse. When you're going around, you have those things, get swatches of your paint color and keep those with you. It will make just life easier and it more fun too.
SPEAKER_00For for the woman listening who feels like she hates her home, like straight up hates it. What is possible for her if she starts to consider what you're saying and feng shui and the importance of the environment?
SPEAKER_01Make friends with your home. Think of your home like a family member. Give it a name. And it might feel woo and weird, but we name our cars, right? Why not name your home? So I typically lead my clients on a guided visualization to experience their home and get its name and everything, but you can just simply ask, like, hmm, okay, home, what's your name? And just see what comes. And maybe it's Bob, maybe it's something else. Our home we call it Serenity because we're out in the woods, surrounded by all these trees, and it feels like serenity. Whatever comes is right. And when you can think of your home as like a partner in your life, as a family member, you want to nurture it a little more. You feel more from it. That connection just gets deeper. And it's really beautiful. So stop getting stressed out about what's right, what's wrong, what you should do, and just become friends with your home. Something I love to do is to bring a bouquet of flowers for my home. I bring it in during the winter months when I get the winter blaz. I love to have flowers. Go pick out a bouquet of flowers, bring it in, gift it to your home, and place it somewhere near the centermost area of your home.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Bring your home flowers. Something that my daughter does, my six-year-old, she's really into flowers. She loves flowers. One thing I noticed that she does is she checks on the flowers and she knows how they're doing day to day. I noticed that when she does that, that I haven't looked at the flowers in days. And it grounds me to look at the flower and be in the moment. And what that taught me was that when you're going through your home, maybe the clutter is affecting you. Maybe you don't feel good in it, but you're not actually paying attention to it. You're not actually treating it like a being, right? And so when you can be the six-year-old who pays attention to the little things in it and cares for them and watches and notices them, I think that kind of thing is what I'm noticing is really slowing me down when I try to do that, is is to actually not just feel the chaos, but look at what you're seeing and also find the good things.
SPEAKER_01I love that you brought this up because think about those things that are in our environment that whether it's an old lamp that you inherited or whatever, right? These things are subconsciously they're pinging us, whether we realize it or not. Whether that's a box of paperwork that you're avoiding going through, or it's the piece of art that you were gifted that you don't love, right? These things are constantly pinging us, even though we have those blinders on because we just go about our day. But think about when you go into say a model home or you walk into a hotel, you walk in, and you're like, oh, look at the carpet, and oh my, the drapery panels are pretty, and what great light fixture. When was the last time you did that in your own home? We just have these blinders on because we're so darn busy, but those things are still pinging, still poking at you. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Lisa, this was so helpful and so eye-opening. I feel like your skill, um, there's a lot to learn, right? Especially if you're new. So please tell us where to find you. I know you have a podcast too. So I think that people listening could learn a lot just from checking that out.
SPEAKER_01So I created the podcast. It's called Feng Shui Living Tips for Busy Women. So I wanted to focus on busy women because we are busy, and they're like 20-minute episodes of here are three things you can go home and do today or tomorrow or this weekend. I also recently published my book, Aligned at Home, which is one of my most proud moments. I love to write and putting these stories on paper. And I shared a little bit about my story, and and it was it was just it's been a wonderful experience publishing my book. And then you can always pop over to my website. It's Pure Living with Lisa Morton.com and get all the info there, links to the book and the podcast, and also if you want to work together.
SPEAKER_00Perfect. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much, Lisa. Thank you, Stacey. Well, mom friends, we made it to the end of the school year, which means my kids are about to be home with me 24-7. Which means I am about to become camp mommy, the counselor, the referee, the emotional support, the taxi driver. And honestly, I am excited and dreading it all at the same time. I love the structure that school brings, and I get really nervous when there's all this open space, but I also really look forward to creating magic because we always do. But because of that, I am going to shift into a slower rhythm for the summer. I won't be recording every week, but I will still be here sharing one episode a month with you so that we can keep our sanity together until September when school starts back up again. And I will go back to your regularly scheduled weekly programming. I hope you stick around and revisit old episodes. And most importantly, most importantly, my friends, I hope that you keep listening to yourselves. Happy summer, my friends.