Speaker 1: I've always thought of functional as like just in my home,
Speaker 1: but then I know that also your work space is
Speaker 1: important to have like everything situated. One of the main
Speaker 1: benefits of function is having a home or space that
Speaker 1: supports you rather than one that creates more obstacles for you.
Speaker 1: As far as colors in the home, is it better
Speaker 1: to have more neutral colors brighter colors? That depends on
Speaker 1: what kind of energy you want to bring into your home.
Speaker 1: What up, y'all? Happy Monday and welcome to another episode
Speaker 1: of chick Ease and Chill. I'm your host, cheek Ease,
Speaker 1: and today we have an episode that's going to help
Speaker 1: you create a better living space. If you didn't know,
Speaker 1: I recently moved, so I've been organizing and rearranging furniture.
Speaker 1: I think I've been doing a pretty good job. But
Speaker 1: there's always room for improvement, which is why we're going
Speaker 1: to be talking about functuate to day. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I love functuate. So let's get right into this episode
Speaker 1: of Cheeks and Chill. So what exactly is functually? That's
Speaker 1: a great question, and we have a wonderful and the
Speaker 1: perfect guest to answer this question. I think there are
Speaker 1: a lot of definitions floating around, so let's get straight
Speaker 1: to the expert to find out what it is exactly.
Speaker 1: Our guest today is Angie Cho. She's a New York
Speaker 1: based functually expert and architect. She's a co founder of
Speaker 1: the Mindful Design School, which is a functional a school.
Speaker 1: She's also the co host of the Holistic Space podcast.
Speaker 1: Hi Angie, it's so great to have you. How are you.
Speaker 1: I'm good. How are you? I'm good? Thank you for
Speaker 1: being here with us, being on my podcast. I am
Speaker 1: very very curious. See, the thing is, I've heard about
Speaker 1: functually and I kind of know what it is, but
Speaker 1: thank goodness for you, because, like you are a professional
Speaker 1: at this, So can you explain to me and to
Speaker 1: the people that are listening, like, what is functually exactly? Sure? So,
Speaker 1: functual is a Chinese philosophy and it's a way of
Speaker 1: looking at your space and your environment. And the words
Speaker 1: functuy literally translate to wind and water. So if you
Speaker 1: think about that, wind is like your breath and water,
Speaker 1: you know, we need to be hydrated, and so those
Speaker 1: are the two basic elements that humans need to thrive,
Speaker 1: and it connects us to the natural world, So functual
Speaker 1: as a way of looking at our environment specifically, like
Speaker 1: our homes are built, environments are spaces, and seeing how
Speaker 1: we can position ourselves to take advantage of things and
Speaker 1: to be in the best place that we can be
Speaker 1: in our homes and in our lives. What are the
Speaker 1: benefits of functually? I think um one of the main
Speaker 1: benefits of functualit is having a home or space that
Speaker 1: supports you rather than one that creates or obstacles for you,
Speaker 1: that makes things more difficult, makes you frustrated. Because I'm
Speaker 1: sure everyone's been in a place or lived in a
Speaker 1: home where they just felt bad all the time, or
Speaker 1: they just like, we're stressed out by the home and
Speaker 1: it made them unhappy. So if you can set up
Speaker 1: your home so that it's supportive, that it creates a
Speaker 1: place that you can rest, Like even the basic things
Speaker 1: like if you like live in a place that's hard
Speaker 1: to get, like your friends have a hard time finding it,
Speaker 1: or your neighbors are really loud, all those things come
Speaker 1: into play with your well being. So okay, yeah, because
Speaker 1: I've always thought a functually as like just in my home,
Speaker 1: but then I know that also your workspace is important
Speaker 1: to have like everything situated. So so does it have
Speaker 1: to do with like furniture are for instance, like wall
Speaker 1: decre like with everything, or is it just more furniture.
Speaker 1: It's everything, It's not necessarily furniture or wall decore, but
Speaker 1: it can include that it's your environment and it doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be just your home. It can be your workspace.
Speaker 1: Functually was originally developed actually to locate the grave sites
Speaker 1: of your ancestors. So looking at like the most optimal
Speaker 1: placement for anything that we have, like so our homes
Speaker 1: are workspace is anything that we build on the earth.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't have to be a calm energy can
Speaker 1: be whatever energy you need. So maybe if it's a
Speaker 1: glam room that you need to get ready, and maybe
Speaker 1: you don't want it to be calm and sleepy, but
Speaker 1: in a bedroom you would want it to be calm
Speaker 1: and sleepy. But maybe in your office you also don't
Speaker 1: want to be sleepy. In your office you want to
Speaker 1: be more active. So depending on the function of the room,
Speaker 1: like functionally looks at the practical aspect of what is
Speaker 1: happening in the space, and then you look a little
Speaker 1: deeper at that and see how that affects you, what
Speaker 1: it symbolizes, and how you can shift it to be
Speaker 1: more aware or more mindful of what's happening in that space. Okay,
Speaker 1: So basically you yourself me, I would set the intention
Speaker 1: in that room as to what benefits I want to
Speaker 1: get from it, right, Yeah, you can also do that too, Okay,
Speaker 1: So explain to me, for instance, my office obviously, because
Speaker 1: it's it's an important place, how would I even start
Speaker 1: to just get the function a going in there? So
Speaker 1: with your office, there's a few things that you want
Speaker 1: to look at functual wise, and one is like, what's
Speaker 1: the purpose of the office. So say it's your main
Speaker 1: home office or your main office that you're you're spending
Speaker 1: time in, and you want to be focused probably, right,
Speaker 1: you want to be generally in general people want to
Speaker 1: be focused, they want to get things done creative, and
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily want to be there all day either, right,
Speaker 1: So you want to pay attention to what you're looking
Speaker 1: at and what you are facing while you're working, while
Speaker 1: you're at your desk, So like, are you looking out
Speaker 1: the window or so if you look out the window,
Speaker 1: maybe your energy isn't with what you're working on but
Speaker 1: your kind of daydreaming will kick out the window and
Speaker 1: then you sit there like all day and you don't
Speaker 1: get anything done. Or if you're looking at your kitchen
Speaker 1: all the time, maybe you just get up and go
Speaker 1: eat a lot because you're staring at your your refrigerator,
Speaker 1: or if you're looking at your bed, you're kind of
Speaker 1: thinking about like sleeping, or like your work life balance
Speaker 1: is not so good because also when you're in bed,
Speaker 1: in your office is in your bedroom, it's so much
Speaker 1: easier to just get up and say, Okay, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna write that email really quick. Or you're always thinking
Speaker 1: about work that's right in front of you, okay, because
Speaker 1: right now my desk, I have an L shaped desk
Speaker 1: and my back is to the wall and the windows
Speaker 1: behind me. That's good, okay perfect. I was gonna ask
Speaker 1: you that because in my mind, I thought, well, maybe
Speaker 1: I should have it where I'm looking out. But now
Speaker 1: now that you're saying that that makes sense. It's like
Speaker 1: I could just focus on what I'm doing. And it's
Speaker 1: crazy because I just recently moved everything in my office
Speaker 1: because I felt like it was off, and I'm like, okay, wait,
Speaker 1: I need to move this. So I moved my desk
Speaker 1: where I'm facing the door, but my back is protected.
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like I want my back to
Speaker 1: be protected, and I feel like I've been able to
Speaker 1: focus more so. In every other office that I've had,
Speaker 1: I'm always facing a window, and it's because I love
Speaker 1: natural light. But in this one, in my home office,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I feel like I go in
Speaker 1: there and I do my work and I and I
Speaker 1: get out, you know what I mean, which is generally
Speaker 1: what we want. I don't want to be there all
Speaker 1: day and on my walls. Right now, I have the
Speaker 1: name of my podcast in an led like sort of
Speaker 1: like lamping, and it's you know, chickens and chill, and
Speaker 1: then generally everything is pretty clean. I just have like
Speaker 1: the pictures of my mom and like some of my accomplishments.
Speaker 1: Like that's good, right, Yeah, that's really great to have
Speaker 1: In the signage of your podcast is are you looking
Speaker 1: at that? I'm not it's behind me? Should I be
Speaker 1: looking at it? Actually? Behind you? Is good? Because well,
Speaker 1: first of all, having your desk position so you can
Speaker 1: see the door is really good, and having a wall
Speaker 1: behind you because that's supportive and um, if it's behind you,
Speaker 1: it's good in the sense that your podcast is there
Speaker 1: to support you. It's it's holding you up, it's supporting you,
Speaker 1: it has your back in a sense, and so that's
Speaker 1: really positive. And pictures of your mom is good because
Speaker 1: maybe she's an inspirational person to you. Very Yes, so
Speaker 1: those are all great things. What else did you say there?
Speaker 1: You know, I have like magazines where I've been like
Speaker 1: the front cover. I have like just accomplishments, like little
Speaker 1: awards that I've that I've Yes, that's really great to
Speaker 1: have because all of those things really support your work. Like,
Speaker 1: for instance, they say that like some celebrities they get
Speaker 1: on a treadmill and they kind of run towards like
Speaker 1: what they want, like an an oscar or something, and
Speaker 1: so it's like you're moving towards what you want. So
Speaker 1: you could also have something that you're facing that constantly
Speaker 1: reminds you of your goals and aspirations. Okay, so this
Speaker 1: is my next question. I'm so glad you said that
Speaker 1: because I have my vision board. I did a vision
Speaker 1: board this February and I have it in my closet
Speaker 1: right now. Should I move it to my office? Well, so,
Speaker 1: closets and functional represent things that are even if it's
Speaker 1: like a big walking closet, it's something that's a little
Speaker 1: bit hidden in private, like someone visiting you or guests
Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily go into your closet, right, just someone that
Speaker 1: is very close to It's really private. And so the
Speaker 1: vision board is great, but maybe created that with some
Speaker 1: personal things in mind. But if you do put it
Speaker 1: out somewhere that you can see, it will kind of
Speaker 1: step it up to making it manifest more outwardly in
Speaker 1: the outward world. Oh okay, perfect. I did have another
Speaker 1: question because I don't have any natural plants in my office.
Speaker 1: I have they just gave me for my birthday, um,
Speaker 1: a fake plant, which is really cute. So that's one
Speaker 1: question the plants. Should they be fake or real? And
Speaker 1: then I also put a Buddha fountain that's flowing constantly
Speaker 1: in the office. What do you feel or what do
Speaker 1: you think about that? As far as functually goes, So,
Speaker 1: plants are great. Ideally you want a living plant if
Speaker 1: you can manage it. If someone has, say like a
Speaker 1: vacation home or someplace that they're not in, often it
Speaker 1: would make more sense to have a fake plant. But
Speaker 1: if you do have a fake plant, it should be
Speaker 1: like so realistic that you would go up to it
Speaker 1: and touch it. So ideally, you want to have something
Speaker 1: that's living and growing because it actually has more life
Speaker 1: energy and it asks something of you, right, whereas a
Speaker 1: fake plant is kind of like a dust collector. If
Speaker 1: you can, you should go for the real thing, just
Speaker 1: like you know, you would want like a real friend
Speaker 1: in your life, not a fake friend, right, So you
Speaker 1: want to have something that's very authentic. And I think
Speaker 1: that you're absolutely right, Like that's a great way to
Speaker 1: look at it. Do I want real friends or fake
Speaker 1: friends exactly? Of course? And we water the plant, you know,
Speaker 1: And I talked to my plants. I have a lot
Speaker 1: of real it. I believe a lot in real plants
Speaker 1: all over my house. This is the first big plant
Speaker 1: that they gave me, and I thought, okay, it's perfect
Speaker 1: for my office, but maybe I'll move it. But yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, they do as something of you they want,
Speaker 1: you know. I talk to them. I put on music,
Speaker 1: classical music for my plans, and I water them, and
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like I just feel like
Speaker 1: they're living and they're growing, So it makes so much sense,
Speaker 1: Like do you want a friend or people to support you,
Speaker 1: or a partner that you're interacting with, or do you
Speaker 1: want something that just doesn't move and just will look
Speaker 1: pretty right? Yeah, oh my gosh, Okay see okay, So
Speaker 1: now as far as the fountains, I have a fountain
Speaker 1: outside my home, I have a Buddha fountain, and then
Speaker 1: I have a little Buddha fountain inside the office, and
Speaker 1: then one in my living room in the entrance. Okay.
Speaker 1: So in functually, like water is one of the five elements,
Speaker 1: and water can also represent wealth and prosperity. And you know,
Speaker 1: just like if you try to hold water in your hands,
Speaker 1: what happens. It starts, yeah, going through your fingers, It
Speaker 1: starts pouring a half for an hour. Yes, So just
Speaker 1: like with money too, if you try to hold onto it,
Speaker 1: you only have that and it's slowly come trickles out
Speaker 1: of your hands. But if you're giving away money, if
Speaker 1: you're spending money, if you're investing in good things in
Speaker 1: the world, it'll all come back to you. So water
Speaker 1: represents this movement. And and you talked about things being stagnant,
Speaker 1: it's not when you have stagnant water it starts to
Speaker 1: smell bad, it's no longer healthy. So you want to
Speaker 1: have moving water like a fountain, to represent bringing in
Speaker 1: fresh energy, fresh cheat which is life force energy, to
Speaker 1: bring in more abundance and bring in more prosperity, because
Speaker 1: we as humans really need water, right, and we need
Speaker 1: fresh water. So if you have like a fountain in
Speaker 1: the front of your house or like the living room one,
Speaker 1: or outside of your house, ideally you want to have
Speaker 1: the flow going towards your home. It's not the money.
Speaker 1: Isn't flow going away, so Buddha might maybe it goes
Speaker 1: up and out. Yeah, it goes out of the head
Speaker 1: and then down. Yeah, So that's kind of neutral. But
Speaker 1: if you wanted to get one that was directional, then
Speaker 1: you would want to have it directed towards the house
Speaker 1: because the ideas you want the water to float towards
Speaker 1: you and not away from you. Now, as far as
Speaker 1: colors in the home, I I love I believe a
Speaker 1: lot of also in colors, even the colors that we wear.
Speaker 1: But in the home, is it better to have more
Speaker 1: neutral colors brighter colors? Well, that also depends on what
Speaker 1: kind of energy you you want to bring into your home.
Speaker 1: So I always ask people to like, what is like,
Speaker 1: what's your favorite color? My favorite color? Oh, it changes
Speaker 1: right now, I have to say it's purple. So you
Speaker 1: can have like you can bring in color and small
Speaker 1: ways like with accents and have purple around you. But
Speaker 1: there's also different tone to purple. Right, Purples a color
Speaker 1: that invites in abundance and prosperity, but also like self
Speaker 1: worth and confidence, and it's very like elegant, and so
Speaker 1: having that in your like splashes of that in your
Speaker 1: bedroom could really support all those qualities in your in
Speaker 1: your office. To Actually, purple works in a lot of
Speaker 1: ways because purple is red and blue, so it's kind
Speaker 1: of a mix of red, which is fire energy, and blue,
Speaker 1: which is wood energy. The fire is kind of obvious,
Speaker 1: it's like passion, inspiration and being seen in visibility and
Speaker 1: being recognized and recognition, where the wood energy is growth
Speaker 1: and transformation and movement and new beginnings and things starting,
Speaker 1: just like the energy of spring or when um like
Speaker 1: a seed is opening up and becoming a tree. So
Speaker 1: having those things together is a really great color. So
Speaker 1: maybe you know there might be reasons why you're your color.
Speaker 1: Your favorite color changes depending on what you need, but
Speaker 1: like in general, like for your bedroom, sometimes you want
Speaker 1: to avoid like very active colors, like a lot of
Speaker 1: red is maybe too stimulating and distracting. And sometimes like
Speaker 1: people have like black bedrooms because that's getting kind of
Speaker 1: popular now, but that can be difficult if you're depressed,
Speaker 1: because it makes you more depressed. Okay, So black black,
Speaker 1: I mean I wear a lot of black. Is that
Speaker 1: necessarily necessarily bad? But what do you feel about the
Speaker 1: color black? I mean I wear a lot of black too.
Speaker 1: I like black, but but it's different when it's on
Speaker 1: your walls, like when it's on your environment, because usually
Speaker 1: when you wear it, you're not you can't even you
Speaker 1: don't look like see yourself. So black is related to
Speaker 1: wisdom and water energy, but it can also lead to
Speaker 1: depression if if you're already prone to it. So I've
Speaker 1: noticed some people, like a couple of my students right now,
Speaker 1: have black in their bedroom and they both have problems
Speaker 1: with depression. So I had to say, like, babe, you
Speaker 1: need to change your wall color. But if someone doesn't
Speaker 1: have any problems with depression, then black could be okay. Okay,
Speaker 1: And what about neon? Those are just more active colors
Speaker 1: that you would call them right, like just brighter, which
Speaker 1: means yeah, so brighter, or more bold colors or more
Speaker 1: primary colors, so like, for instance, neon colors. If you
Speaker 1: had that in your bedroom, especially if you had insomnia,
Speaker 1: maybe not a great thing because it's very stimulating, but
Speaker 1: it's more appropriate like in your office, like you said,
Speaker 1: like a lit up sign. And one time I had
Speaker 1: a client put one right at their front door to
Speaker 1: bring in more more energy because the front door represents
Speaker 1: how energy comes to you. It's like your connection to
Speaker 1: the world. So I really wanted to get her to
Speaker 1: bring in more energy from the outside world. Okay, now
Speaker 1: that you're you're talking about that reminds me because when
Speaker 1: I had a salon, someone had told me that it
Speaker 1: was good to put a mirror right in the interest.
Speaker 1: When they walked in and they said it was good
Speaker 1: for the functional I was like, okay, I just did it.
Speaker 1: But what do you think about that? There's different ways
Speaker 1: of thinking about mirrors, because there's dozens of schools of
Speaker 1: functional and some of them say the mirror in front
Speaker 1: of the door is not good because it pushes the
Speaker 1: energy back out. Well, let me tell you I did
Speaker 1: not do well they're financially So that's why I was like,
Speaker 1: let me ask, because it was a big as mirror
Speaker 1: that they made me by, and I listened, and I
Speaker 1: wish I would have it was it did not do
Speaker 1: well financially, it was not it wasn't fluent well I mean,
Speaker 1: but actually the functionary practice, it's okay to have the
Speaker 1: mirror across the door, but it depends on what it's reflecting.
Speaker 1: I see, okay. And now talking about people that are,
Speaker 1: you know, purchasing new homes or moving into new apartments,
Speaker 1: what do you suggest that they avoid when they're looking,
Speaker 1: you know, or either looking or moving into a new place.
Speaker 1: I would say the number one thing is to make
Speaker 1: sure that you pay attention to your first experience of
Speaker 1: the space, especially if you're an adult and you're you're
Speaker 1: not like retired or something, but because if you're retired,
Speaker 1: it's a little bit different. And I'll explain in a second,
Speaker 1: But on your way to see the house or the home,
Speaker 1: did you get lost or is it really hard to
Speaker 1: find the front door, or did you like have some
Speaker 1: kind of negative omen or like just paying attention because
Speaker 1: that can represent how the energy comes to you. If
Speaker 1: you live in that home. So like, if you have
Speaker 1: problems finding the home, then opportunities and energy good energy
Speaker 1: will have difficulty finding you too, so that trickles down.
Speaker 1: But if you're if you're older and retired, maybe that's okay.
Speaker 1: You want to kind of stay hidden, you don't want
Speaker 1: people to find you. But in general, most people want
Speaker 1: like opportunities coming to them. They want to meet new
Speaker 1: people or maybe meet a partner. And so if the
Speaker 1: front door is really hard to find, or the doorbell
Speaker 1: doesn't work, or like there's no number on the door,
Speaker 1: or the house all of those things, if you can't
Speaker 1: find the house, then how is like your future partner
Speaker 1: going to find you, or how is like that amazing
Speaker 1: job opportunity going to find you if you can't even
Speaker 1: find it easily. So then from true has a lot
Speaker 1: to do with like the intentions you set forward, what
Speaker 1: you're looking for in your life. I mean, like you said,
Speaker 1: an older person, if they're looking where they don't want
Speaker 1: to be found, then it's okay because that's what they want. Okay, perfect.
Speaker 1: I mean I had some idea and I feel like
Speaker 1: my inner self knows a lot of this, But now
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that I'm asking you all these questions.
Speaker 1: I feel like it makes more sense all around. Well
Speaker 1: if your intuition and your common sense really play a
Speaker 1: great part in it, and also a lot of it
Speaker 1: is common sense. Okay, as far as beds, I once
Speaker 1: heard that having your bed or your feet when you're asleep,
Speaker 1: when you're lying down on your bed facing a doorway,
Speaker 1: is not good. So ever, since I heard that years ago,
Speaker 1: I said, Okay, I've always placed my bed where it's
Speaker 1: completely my feet are away from the doorway. Does it
Speaker 1: have to do with functual at all? Yeah, So you
Speaker 1: know how you talked about having your desks so your
Speaker 1: back is up against the wall and you can see
Speaker 1: the door. So that's called the commanding position, and you
Speaker 1: also want to have that for your bed too, if possible. Um,
Speaker 1: it's really important for your bed actually, So you don't
Speaker 1: want to be position so that, yes, your feet are
Speaker 1: pointing straight out the door, or that the doors to
Speaker 1: your back or behind you. You want to be able
Speaker 1: to lay in bed and like lean up against your
Speaker 1: headboard and see the door without being directly in line
Speaker 1: with the door, so you're kind of diagonal that way,
Speaker 1: you can see all of the energy coming towards you
Speaker 1: can see all your opportunities and you're not surprised while
Speaker 1: you're sleeping and you're in a safer position. NA, So
Speaker 1: I'm good. My bed is good. Good, My position is great. Okay.
Speaker 1: Now as far as your bed being high or low,
Speaker 1: does that have anything to do? Yeah, you probably wanted
Speaker 1: higher rather than low, because again, like when things are
Speaker 1: too low, it causes more depression. So it depends. If
Speaker 1: you're totally okay with you know, you're not depressed at all.
Speaker 1: But when if you have a tendency towards the depression
Speaker 1: and you have a very low bed, it's like it's
Speaker 1: so hard to get up, you know, and you can
Speaker 1: just like roll off your bed into onto the floor.
Speaker 1: And when you're up higher or in a normal height bed,
Speaker 1: you feel more uplifted and it could help raise your
Speaker 1: energy levels in your mood. Oh my gosh, it's I'm
Speaker 1: going to tell my brother this because Johnny, he lives
Speaker 1: here with me. His his name is Johnny, my little brother.
Speaker 1: He's twenty one years old and he suffers a lot
Speaker 1: from depression. And my boyfriend and I have been telling him, hey,
Speaker 1: like you need a bed frame. And I told him.
Speaker 1: I was like, I have a feeling that it would
Speaker 1: help because it's literally his mattresses on the lore it's
Speaker 1: very low. You definitely want to get them a bedframe
Speaker 1: because also you want to have a lot of space
Speaker 1: around you. You want to have the energy flow around
Speaker 1: you while you're sleeping, Like you don't want to have
Speaker 1: your bed your mattress right on the floor, and you
Speaker 1: don't want to have your like a platform bed or
Speaker 1: lots of storage under your bed. You want to be
Speaker 1: able to have the che or the air flow around you.
Speaker 1: I hope you guys are learning as much as I am. Okay,
Speaker 1: And even if you don't believe in the functuate you guys,
Speaker 1: I totally get it. Fine, but I feel like you
Speaker 1: do have to be open to this, right, Yes, But
Speaker 1: also it's a lot of common sense, like the like
Speaker 1: sleeping over something, so in general, you don't want to
Speaker 1: sleep over something super emotionally charged or super active. So
Speaker 1: for instance, some people have letters from their X or
Speaker 1: photos of their ex underneath their bed, right, so just
Speaker 1: by having those objects, you're already acknowledging that they're meaningful,
Speaker 1: that they're special, that they have energy to them, or
Speaker 1: else you would just dispose of them, right, So you're
Speaker 1: you're keeping these things because they have memories, you have energy.
Speaker 1: And then if you're sleeping above them, you're spending all
Speaker 1: this unconscious time sleeping right on top of all these
Speaker 1: emotionally charged items. So it can it's like no wonder,
Speaker 1: like you aren't getting over your ex because you're literally
Speaker 1: sleeping on the memories of them all the time. You know.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I have students where their boyfriend has like pictures
Speaker 1: or something from their ex wife under the bed, and
Speaker 1: you don't want that there, right, So it's common sense.
Speaker 1: You're like, get that out towards the door, you know,
Speaker 1: not under where we're sleeping. Yeah, so you're right. It
Speaker 1: is a lot of common sense and intuition. Because I
Speaker 1: just recently went through through a divorce and for a
Speaker 1: little bit not too long, I had and I had
Speaker 1: forgotten I think that's why. But I had my wedding
Speaker 1: dress in a box in the closet and he had
Speaker 1: already moved out, we were already separated going through the
Speaker 1: divorce until I realized, oh my gosh, that's my wedding dress,
Speaker 1: and right away I was like, I gotta get this
Speaker 1: out of the house, and I made sure I cleaned
Speaker 1: everything out, every picture, and not that I threw it away.
Speaker 1: I just put it outside of the house in a
Speaker 1: storage because I wasn't ready to dispose of it completely.
Speaker 1: But I did take it out of our bedroom, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't want any of this, like so
Speaker 1: it is kind of like you know, you kind of
Speaker 1: just I felt like cleaning. I'm cleansing myself of past things. Yes,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't have to be like you throw it away.
Speaker 1: And I think that's great that you started first with
Speaker 1: like putting in a storage and then when you're ready,
Speaker 1: you're let go of it. That having it in close
Speaker 1: proximity to you, it really keeps those cords of attachment.
Speaker 1: Now that I'm talking to you, I remember he's no
Speaker 1: longer in my life, but I had a friend and
Speaker 1: he always always kept his car just a mess. And
Speaker 1: I'm like the type of person that And if anyone's
Speaker 1: listening and you keep your car mess, like you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not judging you or anything, but for me, it's
Speaker 1: like it's so important that my bedroom that my car.
Speaker 1: It's just if there's trash in there, I take it out,
Speaker 1: like I mean, functually, works and also in anywhere, right,
Speaker 1: I'm like, what I'm getting here. It's not just furniture,
Speaker 1: it's not just your home, it's your car. And Duty
Speaker 1: was always like depressed and he wasn't moving forward in
Speaker 1: his career and stuff like that. And I was like, dude,
Speaker 1: you need to clean your car. And he's like, what
Speaker 1: does that have to do with it? That has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with it. I'm like, okay, well I just
Speaker 1: left it like that. I mean, I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna say anything more because he got mad. But
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, like you need to clean. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because sad energy trickles into all aspects of your life.
Speaker 1: If you can't even like pick up the trash in
Speaker 1: your car occasionally, how is that affecting everything else in
Speaker 1: your life? See you guys, That's why for me, it's
Speaker 1: so important to have a clean house. Dust for me,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I can't with dust. I feel like
Speaker 1: when there's so much dust in your home, in my mind,
Speaker 1: I feel like the energy can't flow. It's just it's
Speaker 1: it gets stuck. Everything gets stuck. Or if you have
Speaker 1: spider webs, I'm so big on that, like spiderwebs as
Speaker 1: soon as I see, and I'm like, I take it off.
Speaker 1: I dust everything because I just feel like if not
Speaker 1: like things don't flow. Yeah, well, it's exactly what you say.
Speaker 1: It's it's very sticky, and the more of that that accumulates,
Speaker 1: it does get you stuck. And I mean we can
Speaker 1: all imagine how sad it is to go into a
Speaker 1: home where someone doesn't even care, or like a hoarder's home,
Speaker 1: or just even a place where all the dust is
Speaker 1: accumulated so much it's like they've given up on life
Speaker 1: in a sense. Yeah, yeah, exactly, and it just kind
Speaker 1: of it doesn't allow new opportunities to come, like gets
Speaker 1: stuck in the front door, I feel. I think that's
Speaker 1: what completely changed, because for a long time I lived
Speaker 1: here and I did not feel like it was my home,
Speaker 1: Like I just felt like just completely off. I moved
Speaker 1: here and I was really busy and I didn't really
Speaker 1: give it the attention and the love that it required.
Speaker 1: I feel, so finally I took like three days off.
Speaker 1: And now that you're saying that, like I felt like
Speaker 1: there was so much clutter that was building, like things
Speaker 1: were just being like you know, stuffed in certain places.
Speaker 1: But when I finally got my hands on it, and
Speaker 1: I started doing things myself and moving things and situating
Speaker 1: things away I wanted. I feel like everything has just
Speaker 1: been better, even closet space. You know. I used to
Speaker 1: do color coordinating in my closet. Now I just do
Speaker 1: it by like style, you know. But I mean as
Speaker 1: far as like closet organization, Like, what's your opinion on that? Well,
Speaker 1: I think you know how you're talking about energy being
Speaker 1: really sticky, So when you even have like a lot
Speaker 1: of clutter in your closet, it tends to accumulate war
Speaker 1: or like if you take some clothes out of your closet,
Speaker 1: suddenly like you have new clothes going in. Right, Yes,
Speaker 1: the universe always wants to fill that empty space, so
Speaker 1: it's good to keep that energy moving. And also I
Speaker 1: really recommend people take a look at their closet and
Speaker 1: see if there's something in there that like maybe they're
Speaker 1: holding onto, like those genes from high school that you're
Speaker 1: going to fit into one day. You're holding onto that
Speaker 1: idea so tightly. Similarly, you're holding onto your weight as well,
Speaker 1: And so when you can release things, release your hope
Speaker 1: to fit into those genes one day, you could also release,
Speaker 1: wait and let things go. So it's not necessarily about
Speaker 1: how you organize it, but it's rather looking at how
Speaker 1: full you keep your closet. Of your closet is always full,
Speaker 1: you won't have any space to invite anything new. But
Speaker 1: letting things go, taking things out, you create some space
Speaker 1: for the universe to bring in something new. Just like
Speaker 1: when you take things out, you're like you can find
Speaker 1: some some beautiful things to bring back in. Yes, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's just like kind of removing that stuff that like
Speaker 1: sometimes we hold on to it because we're like, go,
Speaker 1: I have a memory with the shirt, I don't want
Speaker 1: to give it away, and it just sits there. Now
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, it's okay. If I already wore it,
Speaker 1: I wore it once twice, I'm gonna go ahead and
Speaker 1: donate it and like you know, you keep that energy flowing.
Speaker 1: And even I feel like with money, I believe in
Speaker 1: in in giving back and saying, okay, God his blessed me,
Speaker 1: the universe has blessed me with this, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: ahead and give back in some way to different people,
Speaker 1: paying it forward sort of thing, you know what I mean? Yes, exactly,
Speaker 1: that's like that idea of water. If you try to
Speaker 1: hold onto it, it's not going anywhere, and it gets stuck,
Speaker 1: it gets a stagnant. But really, you want to have
Speaker 1: your energy flowing. You want things coming in and out
Speaker 1: of your closet. You want to have generosity and offer
Speaker 1: things to people. And and like you said, pay it
Speaker 1: back and support other people because so many people have
Speaker 1: supported you. Yes, absolutely, that's how I feel in my
Speaker 1: good world. My fans give me so much, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I have to give back. I feel like it's my
Speaker 1: my responsibility, my duty. Like it makes me happy too.
Speaker 1: So oh my gosh, I love this conversation. And and
Speaker 1: you do have three easy tips that you can give
Speaker 1: listeners to maybe like better their their place, their home. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the first thing is, remember I talked about the
Speaker 1: front door that represents your face to the world. It's
Speaker 1: like the first thing that you see when you come
Speaker 1: home and the last thing that you see before you
Speaker 1: leave and go out into the world. So it's really
Speaker 1: important to keep your front door really tidy and make
Speaker 1: sure that the door opens well it's not you can
Speaker 1: open it all the way, like you don't have a
Speaker 1: bunch of like coats hanging on the back of it
Speaker 1: so they can't open. You want to make sure the
Speaker 1: door it's well oiled and clean, so when it's in disrepair,
Speaker 1: that means energy can't come into your life, so you
Speaker 1: really want to um make sure it's well kept. And
Speaker 1: then the second functually tip I would give is the stove.
Speaker 1: So the stove represents your wealth and how you nourish
Speaker 1: yourself in the world. So you want to make sure
Speaker 1: all your burners are working. So your burners represent your wealth.
Speaker 1: So if you have a broken burner, it means like
Speaker 1: that some of your wealth isn't able to come to
Speaker 1: you because it's being depleted. You want to have all
Speaker 1: your burners working well and properly, and make sure that
Speaker 1: you use the stove every day. And one tip I
Speaker 1: give about the stove is like, do you have a
Speaker 1: favorite burner? I do when you're standing in front of
Speaker 1: the stove the first two on the right side. Okay,
Speaker 1: the more burners you have, the more wealth, because some
Speaker 1: people and small apartments only have two burners, and you
Speaker 1: want to make sure you have more and more burners
Speaker 1: is better, so with your favorite burner. So tomorrow, the
Speaker 1: next time you go to your stove. Instead of just
Speaker 1: going to your favorite burner, try a different burner and
Speaker 1: take a moment, like a mindful moment before you turn
Speaker 1: it on, and just to intentionally pick a burner and
Speaker 1: it could be the same one. But instead of mindlessly
Speaker 1: going to the same thing every time, you can start
Speaker 1: to create new neural pathways and new habits and look
Speaker 1: at the world differently to open up new opportunities, because
Speaker 1: if you always go to just the same thing, there's
Speaker 1: so many opportunities that you can be missing out on.
Speaker 1: I usually ignore the back ones. You know. I'm a
Speaker 1: creature of habits, so I usually go for what like
Speaker 1: but wow, okay, yeah, I want to open up my
Speaker 1: horizons for sure, Yes, because like, if you go through
Speaker 1: life always kind of going to what's easy, you might
Speaker 1: miss something that you didn't think of before, or someone
Speaker 1: you didn't see in your life, or some opportunity that
Speaker 1: was always there, like that backburner that just doesn't get
Speaker 1: any attention. I only got to give them love. The
Speaker 1: ones in the back keep perfect, okay. And the last
Speaker 1: thing would be I would say to you, make sure
Speaker 1: that all your windows are clean and working well, because
Speaker 1: your windows represent your eyes and how well you can
Speaker 1: see the world and how the world sees you. So
Speaker 1: if you have windows that aren't working well or that
Speaker 1: are dirty, it can obscure your view and obscure the
Speaker 1: way that you see things around you. So in order
Speaker 1: to see things as they are. For the beauty in
Speaker 1: the world, if you could see the beauty in the
Speaker 1: world clearly, you have so much more joy in your life.
Speaker 1: So to clean your windows, yes, clean your windows. You know, dustop,
Speaker 1: all of dust, guys, all that good stuff. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I love it. I learned so much. Okay, now, Angie
Speaker 1: before we go, because this has been so great, Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. But you do have a podcast, right, Yeah?
Speaker 1: I do. I do. So I have a functional podcast.
Speaker 1: It's called the Holistic Spaces Podcast, and I have a
Speaker 1: business partner. We teach functual and so we just chat
Speaker 1: about functui and different things, like we have a recent
Speaker 1: episode about like functual symbols or how to incorporate simple
Speaker 1: tips in your home for a function. And then we
Speaker 1: also do a monthly energy reading. I love it. Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, you guys listen to it. I'm definitely going
Speaker 1: to be listening. And just another thing and your social
Speaker 1: media handles. Share so we can find you, so we
Speaker 1: can follow you, keep up with you. Oh yes, I'm
Speaker 1: on Instagram and it's just my name at Angie chow
Speaker 1: A and j I E c h. Oh perfect, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna follow you too. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Angie. Honestly,
Speaker 1: this has been amazing. I am so happy. I've learned
Speaker 1: so much. I'm going, I promise you, the next time
Speaker 1: I cook, I'm going to use the back burners on
Speaker 1: my stovetop. I love it. Yes, And before we go,
Speaker 1: you guys, I want to share a quote with you.
Speaker 1: You know, it's my motivational quote every week. The quote
Speaker 1: is the secret of change is to focus all of
Speaker 1: your energy not on fighting the old, but on building
Speaker 1: the new. And I thought that was perfect with today's conversation.
Speaker 1: So again, Angie, You're amazing. Thank you to everyone that
Speaker 1: listens and is listening. Now, tell everyone about my podcast,
Speaker 1: Chicks and Chill. You guys, I will see you here
Speaker 1: next Monday, Los Amo Vessels. Do you need advice on love, relationships? Health? Imas?
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to share with you that my Cheekies
Speaker 1: and Chill podcast will have an extra episode drop. Each week,
Speaker 1: I'll be answering all your questions. Just given me a
Speaker 1: voice message. All you have to do is go to
Speaker 1: speak pipe dot com, slash Cheeks and Chill podcast and
Speaker 1: record your questions. I can't wait to hear from you.
Speaker 1: This is a production of I Heart Radio and Michael
Speaker 1: Dura podcast Network. Follow us on Instagram at Michael Tura
Speaker 1: Podcasts and follow me chick ees that's c h i
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