Harmonizing Your Internal and External Environments

Bailey Gaddis

“You can’t make positive choices for the rest of your life without an environment that makes those choices easy, natural, and enjoyable.” ~Deepak Chopra

Our external environment is inextricably linked with our internal environment. If we’re not able to harmonize these environments, lasting change is a futile endeavor. As a Professional Organizer, Hypnotherapist, and Mom, I see and feel the effects of this connection, or disconnection, on a daily basis. I’ve had Professional Organizing clients who create beautiful results in their external environment, only to find their surroundings reverting back to their original state within weeks, because their internal environment is not able to support this external transformation. On the flip side, I often have Hypnotherapy clients who achieve phenomenal internal transformations, but report that their external environment is still in shambles. What gives? Why can’t they have both? What needs to change?

Let’s ponder these questions together.

What would happen if equal emphasis were placed on harmonizing one’s internal and external environments? Do you think lasting positive change could occur? I do.

So how do we support this harmonization in the limited time we have each day? I’ve compiled a list of easily transferable techniques, tips, and positive affirmations we, as busy mamas, can use to achieve increased harmonization, equilibrium, and well-being.

  • Conscious Breathing. Every Joe and Schmoe will tell you to breath more, but hey, it’s good advice. When we’re unbalanced our deep breathing is often the first line of defense that deserts us. When we’re feeling overwhelmed we often revert to short, shallow, and stressful breathing. When this overwhelm occurs, advise yourself to consciously focus on inhaling to a slow count of 10, hold for a count of 5, and exhale to a slow count of 10. Continue this therapeutic breathing pattern until you feel a sense of peace and focus returning.
  • Schedule Self Care. Self-care does not need to only be defined as a shower, massage, meditation, or journaling (although all of those activities are fabulous and should be practiced regularly, especially the showering.) Scheduled self-care can include organizing the bathroom, planning the family menu for the next week, mapping out the new furniture layout for the bedroom, or any other activity that promotes a sense of accomplishment, progress, and balance. When we shift our perception of an activity like ‘organizing’ from one of ‘onerous chore’ to ‘progressive self-care’ we start to actually enjoy it, and develop the habit of continuously integrating the activity into our life. Go ahead and enter a ‘progressive self-care activity’ into your schedule and watch as the positive change ensues.
  • Positive Affirmations. The brain can be trained. Many times we unconsciously train our brain to become peeved when we have to wait in line, salivate when we see a bar of chocolate, or turn on the television when we see a pile of unopened bills. What if we used the trainability of our brain for good, not for enhanced irritation and procrastination? One method for rewiring our mind is to be nice to it! When we fill our mind with positive messages, it soaks it up, smiles, and begins to aid in the process of manifesting these positive messages in our external environment. As long as you’re maintaining a positive tone, there is no wrong way to produce a positive and personalized affirmation.

Here are some suggestions to get you started on the path to positive affirmations turned positive external outcomes.

I effortlessly maintain harmony in my home.

Peace and positive energy flow throughout my surroundings.

I become better and better, every day, in every way.

  • 10 Minutes of Action. We often become trapped in our internal environment, which might be nice if we had a vibrant and harmonized internal environment, but if we’re feeling trapped, it’s unlikely that there is much internal harmony occurring. To bust out of our internal constraints, we need to act. If you, like myself, have experienced enough swirling internal tumult to make you nauseous, you know how difficult it can be to ascertain which source of tumult should receive the gift of your action first. My advice; choose the internal babel that is causing you the most stress, and act.

Whenever you feel like pulling the proverbial covers over your head, push through, set a timer for ten minutes, and act.

Even the most Buddha-esque amongst us have trouble maintaining 100% internal and external harmony 100% of the time, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to be aware of this connection and honor the continuous journey of acting to balance this connection. Be aware, take action, and breath, and you, and all of the lives you touch, will begin to experience positive transformation in unexpected and welcome ways.


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Harmonizing Your Internal and External Environments


 This post was written by Bailey Gaddis exclusively for BonBon Break Media, LLC.

Bailey is a Mother, Writer, Hypnotherapist, HypnoBirthing Practitioner, Birth Doula, Amateur Smoothie Chef, and other (fill in the blank) titles. Bailey, originally from Austin, Texas, partnered up with an Aussie, and together they created a small human with the sass of a Southerner and the big-brass-baby-balls of the babe’s from the Land Down Under. They gave up the exhausting endeavor of sowing their oats and moved to the valley of good energy in Ojai, CA. When Bailey isn’t digging in the dirt with her son, she’s washing her hands so she can write, or cook a dinner that only contains a minimal amount of dirt.