0:00

all right Emily thank you so much for joining us and being on the show today how you doing I'm doing great thanks you

0:08

I am really good thank you very much yeah it's a really beautiful day here in cam loops and I have to unfortunately

0:13

like close my blinds because the sun just rips right through so if you see me with a real shiny face you know why um

0:20

let's get straight into it because you've got a really I think a really cool story in regards to like how you came to own and operate your business

0:28

less but better so why don't you just kind of give us a brief um intro to your

0:33

background and kind of what led you into into this journey

0:38

absolutely uh I guess it started um so I have a teaching degree I'm an

0:46

elementary specialist but uh back in 2016 I decided to switch things up and

0:54

go teach High School in China and it was that move it was moving to another

1:00

country for a couple years that really um showcased this less scenario I I

1:08

moved with just two suitcases and I just went for it and I I put all

1:15

of like 80% of my things into a storage locker as people

1:20

do and it was very normalized it was the program you just store your stuff and I

1:27

mean now I see so many of these storage lockers being built still and leaving

1:33

all my stuff behind and just taking a few suitcases of My Essentials I ended

1:40

up moving into a large apartment in China it's a big country so there's this misunder understanding with Apartments

1:47

they're actually really big I had two bedrooms a big open space and it was

1:52

totally empty and very simple and it didn't take me long to realize that not

2:00

only did I have this clear space and a

2:05

clear mind but I I had so much free time I didn't have to like move things around

2:11

or tidy things up or look for stuff and

2:16

everything was just really simple I didn't spend a lot of time on laundry or dishes and it was there that my interest

2:25

got sparked in Psychology and philosophy around this concept of less and I just

2:33

spent all my spare time reading and studying and exploring this because it

2:38

felt so good and I had the time to do so

2:43

and when I was exploring this I came across the book essentialism by Greg

2:49

McKuen and his big push is to say yes or sorry say no to the trivial many to say

2:56

yes to the essential few and that speaks to to your career your work saying no to

3:03

things so that you can make a bigger impact and reading that reading that

3:08

book and just getting really inspired I kind of set a declaration for

3:13

myself when I came back to Canada I said I'm gonna get rid of at least 60% of my

3:21

belongings um I knew my storage locker was jammed full I had no idea what was in there couldn't remember I was kind of

3:28

nervous to open it up again but I managed through a really hard but

3:35

um committed process I got rid of so much um it was a like a multi-step thing

3:44

it wasn't just one big go it was I tried like a garage sale I tried a donation I

3:49

did another donation and I remember the biggest Purge that I did I I vividly

3:55

remember like handing over this laundry basket full of stuff to the donation

4:03

center and as they were taking it from my hands I felt this like pain in my

4:08

chest and it was very real and I said no

4:14

Emily you're you're committed and I followed through and I I let it go and

4:21

so it didn't feel easy for me but looking back thinking back it's now been

4:28

three years since that day um I don't miss any of it

4:35

I don't think oh I wish I kept that there's maybe one or two moments that

4:40

I've had that feeling but it's really not there and so since then I've I

4:47

haven't accumulated I've been way more conscious about my impact about purchasing I don't buy things just on a

4:54

whim anymore and it's just allowed me to have this space and time and this

5:00

Freedom um I don't spend time tidying or cleaning at all really because there's

5:07

nothing to move around I maybe dust a bit here and there but it's it's really

5:12

been a shift and I think I wouldn't have known to go here if I hadn't have had that experience living abroad yeah

5:19

that's really cool and the fact that you've gone to move abroad for obviously

5:25

a a set period of time maybe a year or a couple of years right so you've put your stuff in storage cuz you're going to

5:31

come back and you go into this new space and I think that's quite unique in China

5:36

that you actually you know have an apartment that's quite big I think the rest of most of the rest of of the developed World it wouldn't quite be

5:43

like that but you go into this big space where you know and your immediate thought is not to fill it with stuff and

5:50

items when we're at home and we might see a a room that's empty or a corner

5:57

that's got space or a window sill that's empty you know we for some reason immediately feel like we have to fill

6:04

that space and fill that area and when you came home and you you know after you

6:10

read this book and you wanted to get rid of a bunch of your bunch of your stuff there has to have there must have been a

6:16

a process to that and like a structure because if you know if I was put in front of all my if I was put in front of

6:22

80% of my stuff I wouldn't know if I didn't have a structure or a process what to get rid

6:29

of and what not to because obviously have an attachment to my things and my stuff and I think we all think that the

6:35

things that we have kind of create our identity what we think that we think that they do um so

6:42

what was kind of the the structure in the process of you looking at your storage unit and kind of getting rid of things because yeah there has to have

6:48

been a a a structure in place yeah I I totally see this with clients and

6:55

friends and family that the the hardest part is where to start

7:01

and I believe that it's not just that it's hard to let go of things because we're attached I think as humans we are

7:08

collectors by nature and we collect things for a variety of reasons and it

7:13

brings us joy and then it's this combination of throwing

7:18

out and removing feels really hard um so

7:24

I'm not exactly sure how I did it then besides um just being

7:31

really strict with myself and just letting go of things like decor and

7:37

things I I'm not entirely sure but today when I work with clients and maybe I did

7:44

this then I have people go to the destination of where they're going to

7:49

send these things how they're going to remove them and then work backwards so

7:54

maybe I did this then it's choose your donation center research find out what

8:00

they accept what they don't accept find out their hours how they how their process is how much they take at once

8:09

and then and then work backwards from there and then say okay and so when you choose the destination of where these

8:16

things are going and you create containers or boxes or bins and you fill

8:22

those knowing the destination then that really simplifies

8:27

the uncertainty and the unknown because I think when with anything if we don't

8:33

know how to complete it or how to finally send it out we won't do it so I

8:41

think that's what I had done was research the best donation centers and also switch my perspective and frame of

8:47

mind from me losing or throwing out and

8:53

instead them gaining and the community and these people in need um having

9:00

access to more yeah that's an interesting yeah we have obviously have to look

9:05

at what we have and what other people don't have and like what we you know so many things we can do in our behaviors

9:12

and our actions to help other people and obviously there's a big environmental aspect to having more stuff just want to

9:19

kind of just jump back a little bit in regards to the psychology and the research of like doing all these types

9:24

of things CU I always go back to like in my mind you know when not we're not

9:30

we're barely any different from you know humans hundreds thousands of years

9:35

ago and they would have accumulated things right but these would been literally at one point it would have

9:40

been whatever they could carry they would carry and they would have to have a choice like you know

9:45

carrying an apple or a knife you know like that's a big decision because they can't carry too much things at one point

9:52

and then they would have you know would have maybe woven baskets or bags and then a pocket or something you know like

9:57

then they can carry more stuff and then you you could you know you have more space so you you can make different

10:02

decisions and then you know over over a big period of time we have houses we

10:07

have Mansions we have garages we have all this we have all this space and then we really get lost in regards to what we

10:16

need to survive and then what we just accumulate things that we want and

10:21

things that we need right and with our accessibility to purchasing things you

10:26

know I I'm not a Hu I've got love hate relationship with Amazon um me too yeah

10:33

because you know regardless of what you may think of Amazon they've created tens of thousands of jobs and they've

10:39

streamlined so much there's a lot of lot of good things about Amazon but you know there's a obviously a lot of other kind

10:44

of maybe negatives but today I ordered like a small like microphone thing today

10:50

but I really feel like now I only order stuff if I like really really need it and if I can't go and get it like from a

10:57

local store or something but like these are these are kind of conscious decisions that I'm making I I think that

11:03

I've become a bit conscious about that but a lot of people don't they're not super conscious

11:09

of the things that they they're purchasing because there's a big difference between something that you want and you need so can you just maybe

11:14

touch on maybe like the the psychology a little bit about about those

11:20

things yeah absolutely and and I had one more thought about the process of Letting Go um I think it is a a process

11:29

not all at once I think when I did it originally it was the easy stuff I did like a round of it and then every second

11:36

and subsequent round I would lean in and get rid of a little bit more so it it

11:43

does it does it is a process but with the psychology

11:49

and I mean for for me and for you too probably

11:54

we I think about the dump and the Wasteland and the the landfill when I

12:00

make purchases because a lot of people are missing this when they order or purchase things um they don't realize

12:08

that eventually they do end up there no matter what um they can go to the donation center but eventually they're

12:14

going to just wear out enough that they will end up in the landfill and lower quality products will end up there

12:20

sooner um but regarding the psychology there's a few uh studies and theories

12:27

that have um a lot of application to this this whole concept of Letting Go and

12:33

attachment the first one of course is the status quo bias which is in all of

12:39

our brains it's this preference for um not changing things keeping things the

12:44

same um some have it stronger than others but it's just wanting things to

12:49

remain the same and it's a it's a real resistance to change and it's not just

12:55

like a a preference it's really ingrained in our minds and it's it's hard to it's hard to overcome that

13:01

resistance to change and uh

13:07

the endowment effect is another one and

13:13

the aversion to loss we as

13:20

humans well the endowment effect is that we we will value things higher than those who are

13:27

purchasing them and so just because we own things we actually attach a much strong much higher value to the objects

13:35

and so when we value things just because we own them we're much less likely to let go because if we let go we might be

13:44

admitting that they're not worth anything or they're worth a lot less and

13:49

that's going against our belief system and so it's like an uncomfortable

13:55

feeling all of this letting go is it it can be very very uncomfortable and

14:01

that's why people avoid it yeah totally why do you think we find it so difficult

14:06

to embrace Simplicity and to kind of change those habits around having things

14:12

like you yeah you say like when you when you buy something you think about the dump I don't do that I think about do I

14:20

actually need this thing or not you it's kind of the same concept in a way yeah but you know now that I can

14:26

think about like that's an added aspect to my purchasing decision you know is obviously you know we

14:33

can where we decide to put our money is really really important you know whether we decide to use a huge big Global

14:40

Corporation or we use something that's a little bit local like I think that's that's a an aspect of the our decision-

14:45

making process as well rather than just like oh my God I want that I'm going to buy it boom you know like there's not a

14:51

lot of conscious thoughts that go into that and obviously there's certainly a neurochemical aspect to purchasing

14:57

things whether that's online or in the mall or whatever that's obviously an aspect as

15:04

well but like I think just step one is probably about becoming conscious about the things that you buy do you need them

15:10

but yeah like back to the question like why do you think we find it so difficult to embrace

15:17

Simplicity I think it's it's naturally extremely

15:22

hard like to become a minimalist I would consider myself a minimalist but I still

15:28

feel like I have a lot of some things like I have a lot of shoes but but to become a minimalist or

15:36

to have less it's a it's it's hard it's really not easy and I think some people

15:41

think it should be easy just like purchasing is easy um and then once they

15:46

realize that it's bringing up so much emotion and it's bringing up past

15:54

traumas it's bringing up these old stories and it it's kind of a mirror to

16:00

showing us how we've shown up and and the decisions we've made in the past it

16:06

can make us feel guilty for purchasing things that maybe we didn't use um

16:13

another one is receiving gifts giftgiving is such a funny concept to me now because I see it so differently um

16:22

with gift giving the reason people give gifts is to receive the feeling of

16:28

gratitude in the moment to receive or W witness experience that expression of

16:34

gratitude and then after that the Gift Giver it's done the exchange is over and

16:41

you know you take your gift home and the Gift Giver never follows up with you and is like hey how's that thing unless

16:48

you're my mom because she knows I throw out a lot of gifts but the thing is for

16:54

me is if just because you receive a gift doesn't mean it's for you um a lot of people give gifts that they like and so

17:01

anyways I think we feel a lot of guilt and we feel like we should hold on to things like there's so much should um

17:08

because we don't want to create waste we don't want to add to the landfill um we don't want to disappoint these loved

17:15

ones and so instead of disappointing other people um we disappoint ourselves

17:21

and we hold on to these things for a long long time and we we

17:26

try to use them we try to incorporate them but it's not us and so it's kind of

17:33

like this abandonment a little bit anyways I think it's it's it's just a

17:39

very there's so many levels and there's so much psychology that I think a lot of people

17:46

aren't aware of yet when it comes to behaviors and habits and we are ingrained with an

17:53

aversion to loss that is true and true for all of us so of course we're going

18:00

to avoid letting go because it's related to loss yeah and obviously we're not

18:07

just buying stuff for ourselves we're buying stuff for other people as well that's that's that's interesting and what's the motivation behind those

18:13

behind those purchases as well you I actually I find it with the idea of like for me buying stuff that I that I really

18:22

need That's goes into my decision- making for buying things for other people but it's really difficult to to

18:30

understand what somebody really needs like you know they might want a bunch of different things like

18:36

can like a new golf club or something but like they don't really need that thing so it's like really hard to put you know really hard for me now to put

18:42

myself in a position to understand what somebody might need so now I just ask them what do you need rather than the

18:49

gift being like a surprise or something they they don't know don't know that's coming rather than have something practical that they actually need like

18:56

now I've got kids it's like everything thing that I want or that I need is is

19:01

child based yeah so like if I know someone who's having kids it's like it's not what you need like what what can I

19:07

get you that's going to support it's going to be a gift for your child primarily but it's also going to support

19:13

the household you know it's something functional that that you can that you can that you can all all benefit from so

19:19

I suppose if age as well our decision-making processes for purchasing things massively changes because our our

19:25

priorities shift from um you know being being kind of like individual with our purchase buying and gift giving to you

19:32

know thinking about like our our family and our household and things like that with um just I love to get people to

19:41

obviously done a bit of an intro to less but better but what don't you what you know if you can if you can elevate a pitch me what is what is what is this

19:48

company and you know how can anybody really start the process of creating a a

19:55

Karma space yeah with less but better currently it very much is a

20:03

philosophy um in a sense and so what I do with my clients is it's a high impact

20:10

Consulting work where it's one-on-one I work in the home I do the majority of

20:16

the work um but the client will ultimately make decisions and so I help people learn how

20:26

to live a better life with less I help guide them into a direction where

20:33

they can make easy decisions quick decisions and choose what stays instead

20:40

of choose what goes and then they feel empowered to make this turn this page

20:48

and um kind of start again when it comes to the inventory of their homes and

20:54

really be selective and do it in such a high impact way that

20:59

it's there's so much more space that they're able to

21:04

maintain that's really I like that so much because you know if I was to think about helping my friend get rid of stuff

21:13

then it's literally like me holding it up like you know give throw keep throw

21:19

keep you know it's that's just not the way it works but with you're if you're implementing a philosophy and I love the

21:25

way that you're like you know what what are you keeping is the focus rather than what you're getting rid of that's really

21:32

Co that's wonderful like that's such a such a better process at looking at these particular items and I think if

21:38

somebody's truly honest with with with regards to what they what they really want to keep that's really valuable and

21:44

really practical I think that's a much better way of looking at these things just in regards to because obviously

21:51

people you're people are welcoming you into their homes into their offices into

21:56

their businesses to you know mix things up and change things and obviously there's a there's a motivation behind

22:03

hiring you and bringing you in but like I'm just interested to because it's a it's coming to somebody's home

22:11

especially is quite you know it could be quite a like a volatile invasive vable

22:17

vulnerable thing vulnerable is the right word for sure so how do clients like

22:22

initially respond because they've obviously hired you and they've got you in but now you're in now you're in their house you know like and and they know

22:29

that you're going to be probably asking some tough questions and bringing some things in so how do how do people usually i' love to have cameras in there

22:36

to see people's body language because I bet everyone's like I bet everyone's like got their arms crossed and like getting really kind of defensive but

22:43

like what what what what have you experienced well I'll share that there are different types of people in this

22:50

world and I've worked with clients who um have a really hard time with this process and I've work with clients who

22:57

find it super easy and so I'll start with the positive story so recently I've

23:03

been invited I was invited into a home um where the mom she she claims and I

23:10

believe her that she just really wasn't attached to anything and she really wasn't wanting to be involved either and

23:18

it was a beautiful process it was one of the first times someone was so vulnerable and so trusting that she

23:24

actually invited me into her home while she wasn't there and sounds kind of

23:29

risky but it ended up working out really really well because what I would do is I

23:36

would do um a category or a zone at a time so yeah like a kitchen for example

23:43

or a bedroom and what would happen is I would do my process where I would clear

23:49

everything out make a giant mess take inventory take a note of um how many

23:55

people are in the home how many chairs are around the table T and I would put things back to that amount in a really

24:02

neat way and then everything extra or like those like one-offs or chipped or

24:09

broken things or expired Foods or these like odd things that just didn't seem to

24:15

fit um I would put into some bins on the floor as suggestions and so My

24:22

Philosophy is you don't have to get rid of anything like if you're attached to things great but here is your storage

24:29

here are your cupboards you know here is your boundary so here are my suggestions and

24:35

what happened I mean they're a really special family they worked really well with me and so what they would do is

24:41

they would look in the bins and they would take out the stuff that they actually did want to keep and there was

24:46

no judgment there was no hard feelings either way and then I would come back the next week and there was this

24:53

trusting that whatever was left in the bins would come with me and

24:59

and I would just do this on repeat one day a week so that gave them a week's time to look through everything and be

25:06

really intentional about what's staying and I would do the gritty work of

25:12

sorting through photos and documents and cards and just putting like with like so

25:18

that not only did they know what was there but they had a I would give them storage boxes and bins for the future so

25:26

that they could continue easily putting these things away and it just it really

25:32

really worked and it was magic so I'm really jazzed about that type of work because it really focuses on my strength

25:40

of getting into the Flow State without interruption I Can Do Magic but then the

25:48

opposite is working with especially clients who are in their 50s 60s um they

25:55

have I found a lot more attach ment a lot more emotion a lot more trauma and

26:02

so working with this client you know she was really on board we were working together and we did get through a lot

26:08

but um she did get really emotional like that often happens like there's tears

26:14

you know she feels sick and so I'm really gentle and patient but I find

26:19

that at the end it it never really fully felt like completed because she there

26:27

was just a lot of Interruption and discussion and story so

26:33

it still works um and I still enjoy hearing from the clients but I do know

26:39

that um when I do it that way I have to give them every single option for a

26:45

decision including a maybe box so like yes maybe donate sell garbage

26:55

recycle and I give them every single possible destination in the form of a box or a bin and so that allows them to

27:04

not uh trip up they're holding something and they just drop it in their decision

27:09

because what I want to create is a flow State I want them to be able to make

27:15

easy decisions without having to like move across the room or tell a story

27:20

about where this came from and so yeah there there's these two different

27:25

Avenues but yeah I I think that just listening to those two different ways those two

27:32

two different examples it's great because you've obviously working with this philosophy and this and this

27:39

process and it's what's important than any type of Engagement with with with

27:46

somebody with a you know with a client is that you have to obviously have to work with the individual person the

27:52

individual family and and what they what they're experiencing because you know the the philosophy kind of stays the

27:57

same but your approach to it depending on the individual has really got to be

28:03

different like you know you say maybe if you're working with a younger family we I think probably as like 30 to

28:10

40 year olds we have a very different relationship with stuff than somebody who's 60 because when they grew up they

28:15

basically didn't have anything absolutely everything's going to be really really valuable so yeah that

28:21

makes absolute total sense and I think it's really wonderful that you've got the ability to um be empathetic to

28:27

everyone's individual circumstances and that's what makes the philosophy and the process work because

28:33

if you're going in there like really like harsh and being brutal you're going

28:41

to uncover most of the time a lot of um

28:46

emotion probably like negative emotions resistance anties frustration and

28:52

there's no way you can really be intellectual of decision- making when you are flooded with literally the

28:58

chemicals of negative emotion so that's really cool and that's really

29:04

interesting way to approach that type of a thing um yeah so you shouldn't be

29:09

taking you shouldn't be trying to make those big uh decisions when you're like maybe angry or frustrated or not feeling

29:17

at your best so how does your how does your teaching education and experience kind

29:24

of blend into this philosophy I think that empathy you speak of um

29:32

comes out of working as a teacher I think being a classroom teacher you

29:37

quickly learn that each individual student is such an individual and you really have to empathize with where

29:43

they're at day to day um and that every day can be different and you have to

29:50

really um develop this understanding that you have to meet people where they're at and identify what they need

29:57

and I think working with Elementary and high school kids um it allowed me to

30:04

have an appreciation for that and also I think the way that I act as a leader and

30:10

can facilitate I have a strength in keeping us on task because I can listen

30:19

and understand people but then I can keep the ball rolling so that it feels

30:24

like the momentum is still there and I have this ability to kind of begin with

30:30

the end in mind which is something that I do as a teacher uh with planning lessons and assessments you always plan

30:38

a project with the end first you always build the rubric that's the how they're

30:43

going to be graded and you you plan how you're going to be assessing before you

30:49

begin teaching um it's essential otherwise how would you know if the kids

30:54

know what you're teaching and so and you also a teacher have to do these

31:00

um formative assessments instead of summative so that means you do it during the process so you kind of check in um

31:07

during the lessons or during the activity um to make sure that they're engaged and so I think all these skills

31:13

and planning and planning with the end in mind and visualizing for the client

31:19

because clients struggle with seeing this end result because all they see is

31:25

the status quo they only see what where they're at now and so I bring this perspective of this is where it can be

31:34

this is like and I draw I propose like I imagine it for them with

31:40

utmost confidence because I I've experienced it myself and so beginning

31:45

with the end in mind I'm able to start at the end work backwards and then

31:51

execute so wonderful and do you often work with children in the family and

31:57

their spaces because you know a kid's bedroom and a kid's play area can OB sometimes be the most

32:04

chaotic messy area I know that you know the amount of times we've rearranged my

32:11

son's like play area actually to to be fair my wife does it a lot more than I

32:16

do and she's brilliant at it because she'll switch the toys in and out so you know he's staying stimulated and if we

32:22

recognize that he's not engaged in a specific type of toy as he gets older then we kind of you know

32:28

we pass that on we' Thrift it or save it for the the next bundle of chaos that

32:33

comes along um but uh yeah like can you give us some examples of like working

32:38

with kids in the family because obviously the family is a family it's it's not just it's not just the Mom it's

32:44

not just the dad it's not just you know it's it's a it's a living breathing crazy organism at

32:51

times yeah this is my passion so obviously combining both areas of my my

32:58

my experience and my career um my passion is to eventually work primarily with children especially children who

33:05

have exceptionalities or things such as ADHD or Autism um because I see them first of

33:14

all kids are amazing at absorbing and learning through modeling and examples

33:21

um but they they also are very capable regarding their psychology of taking on

33:28

this concept of letting go I think they're very capable of it but it's very hard because you know they're very

33:35

entric as well and attached so I've worked so far with just

33:41

one boy who was eight and we did his bedroom and it was something I I wasn't

33:48

really sure how it was going to go but it really blew me away he was amazing um

33:55

he uh perhaps has ADHD like a lot of young boys are very hyperactive um and working with him it

34:04

was so magic because I have this ability to use distraction in a really positive

34:10

way with kids and so working with him I was able to facilitate the same process

34:18

I do with adults keeping it really simple but what I would do with him is I would always pass things over to him so

34:25

we would just be bantering and chatting and I would always just say like hey can you put this over there or hey here like

34:31

can you and so it wasn't like we were sitting still we were always moving around the room and I'd be asking him

34:39

questions and there was never a moment of boredom so I was creating this Flow State we were both engaged there was

34:46

never a question of what to do next because every destination box was laid out and it's funny because in the moment

34:53

and especially because I'm not their parent he was able to make really quick decisions and he was able to really

35:02

Express his special interest and showcase them accordingly and what ended up happening

35:09

is the dad especially reflected that there's just way less conflict because

35:16

even if his room wasn't a total disaster there was always this tension around

35:22

tidying the bedroom and so without this they had so much Harmony and they

35:29

were almost bonding more and what's really neat is I've been checking in and like yeah his room like can have stuff

35:37

on the floor but he's able to care for it so much easier because we've labeled

35:42

things we've made everything super accessible because that's the thing with kids is they just need things to be

35:48

really easy so if there's a container don't put a lid on it like keep it open

35:53

make sure it's labeled make sure it's big enough that it fits everything thing cuz once it's full we all have that

36:00

experience we're like we want to put something away but the container is full so we're like What do we

36:05

do and so I've heard that he has slowly cleared off his like Lego display table

36:12

because he likes it to be kind of clutter-free and you know he he just has like a

36:19

simple amount of things and he loves his room now and I think my favorite part of

36:25

working with him and I this was a bonus I have a label maker and labels are

36:32

essential absolutely essential because for whatever reason our brains we like

36:38

won't put something into a container if it's not that label like we have this

36:44

weird we have to at least for me and I'm noticing this with clients it's like a rule you can't break the rule you can't

36:51

put like a pair of shorts in the Lego box like so with him I I I was like okay

36:58

like we're going to make some labels and uh he's like oh really and I was like yeah like I have this label

37:05

maker and he's like cool and it was such a beautiful tool because I'm kind of

37:10

tired of making labels like I know how to type and print it's like a tedious thing and he's like can I make them and

37:17

I was like of course and he was so excited to spell out the labels so it's

37:23

like a spelling exercise to print them to stick them on himself like it was so

37:29

empowering and now like everything is labeled and he it's it's just like a

37:34

double win so it was it's really awesome yeah that's massive and obviously every

37:40

time he looks at that label and looks at that box he was part of that process like part of the creation of that area

37:46

and yeah kids never forget that type of thing never yeah that's really cool um

37:52

how do you feel that your work supports the mental health of your clients hear it true hope we see all about supporting

37:58

um mind and body Health um through you know nutritional means but you know

38:04

having our having our space whether that's our business or our you know

38:10

personal um home it's really really um connected to how we

38:16

feel and how we feel is a big part of our state of being and you know if you

38:22

come home to a a disaster after an anxious day or a stressful day at work you know you again

38:28

you're just like continuing that continuing that state and we know how dangerous chronic stress can be to to

38:35

the body so like how do how do your clients um benefit through their mental

38:41

health with the work that you do yeah I recently heard a term called

38:47

cognitive carryover and I think that can be connected to the piles of to-dos um I

38:55

think that without our wish um if we see objects or

39:02

things that spark um I need to do that I need to repair that I need to return

39:08

that I need to fix that whether we are directly paying attention or it's just in our periperal it definitely sends a

39:15

message to our brains and it says you know you you haven't done this yet and

39:21

it stays with us and I think that is what chronic stress is it's this we are

39:26

unaware of it but we're living in this heightened cortisol um State because there's all

39:33

these messages coming at us and no matter how much we try to ignore it

39:38

they're there and I like to use the example of a really clean white hotel

39:45

room um I think everybody can relate

39:50

that stepping into a really clean like really white bright hotel room just feels

39:56

incredible and feels really calming and relaxing and you can feel like the

40:01

tension in our bodies reduce and what's interesting is we we

40:06

neglect the opposite so we we try to neglect the fact that the opposite is

40:12

also true that having cluttered spaces and um a bit of a nagging to do even if

40:19

it is the laundry and the dishes it definitely can make us tense and in my

40:26

opinion I'm not sure like the science of cortisol and stress but I really feel like it does raise and then there's also

40:34

that conflict so this one family they're saying that it's just like when you when

40:39

you want a tidy and you pick something up but you don't know where to put it there's no designated Zone it's

40:47

frustrating because you feel like incompetent or you feel like angry or

40:52

res resentful at the partner or the person who left it there and so there's like T in the relationship tension in

40:59

your body and a frustration with yourself that you don't know how to and so then

41:07

you just put it down somewh different and then the cycle continues and you're just like

41:13

spiraling yeah like I think everyone can everyone can agree with that and they've experienced that in their lives for

41:20

sure what's a um who's an ideal client for you do you work with many many

41:25

different types of people or is there some that a specific type of person that you commonly work

41:32

with I have worked with a variety of residential and Commercial uh jobs and

41:38

which is nice because it's nice for me to learn uh what I enjoy the

41:44

most and I would say my ideal client is a young family I would love to work with

41:49

a family um who yeah just wants a bit more of a systematic way to easily store

41:58

stuff so that they're not spending time tidying over and over and over again and

42:05

so that they can also engage their children in being more independent and caring for their things I um I also I'm

42:13

really curious about ADHD in particular I've learned that uh people who have

42:22

ADHD um or something in that realm almost thrive in chaos and so it's like

42:31

this double-edged sword it's like they they're kind of a chaotic way of being

42:37

but yet it's not really supportive because they become easily distracted so

42:43

it's kind of finding this way to support young families and um

42:49

neurodiversity and children so that there can be Harmony in the home for

42:56

everyone that's really cool and I think one thing that I've that I that I feel that your

43:02

work offers is is creating Harmony within the family and connecting people because we all um we all live in we all

43:09

live in the space and we all have a relationship with the spaces and the people in the spaces and the stuff in

43:15

the spaces so if we can create like I think philosophies are really really important things to have in our lives

43:22

whether that's practicing some sort of stoicism for example as a philosophy of life you know like it's really important

43:28

to stay conscious of how you want to be in the world and how you want to be in your house and how you want to be in

43:34

your home and how you want to engage with your family like being conscious of the way that you want to do that as your

43:39

like true authentic self will keep you aware of like when you might slip off

43:45

that philosophy and you might be you know on a path that you're not actually like connected to deep down and being

43:53

aware of that philosophy is super important to not just yourself but your family because because it's more than

43:58

just one person you that that lives in in your family and I can probably guess

44:04

that the things that you implement in people's homes and businesses like span out in their

44:11

lives absolutely yeah there's so many takeaways but yeah I agree it's like if

44:17

you were to remove or at least reduce the conflict and the tension in the family connection um there would be more

44:24

space for yeah just connecting and enjoying each other's company instead of

44:29

nagging each other um and just feeling feeling better as a

44:37

unit um yeah I think that families deserve

44:43

this I think there's this unfortunate normaly that that homes are

44:49

chaotic and that it's a mess and it's impossible and it's hard it is hard to

44:56

develop velop the system so that's why I've done that for you and um and it can be easy I think

45:04

to introduce things like reward systems for kids that like and a whole like

45:11

parenting stuff I think that's where my education background comes in um finding

45:16

ways to H encourage kids to develop better habits and to learn things like it's

45:24

okay to wait and wait is good and you

45:29

know it's important to be really reliable for these kids and these families to follow up and actually

45:37

acknowledge their wins instead of just always nagging that they're doing things

45:43

wrong yeah I think the more the more um the more structures we can put in

45:49

place in the home especially that engages our parasympathetic rest and digest nervous system where people are a

45:55

lot more calmer is going to benefit everybody like and

46:00

even to the point where if if you you know work with you and you're putting

46:06

some things in place in the home which is like bringing everyone's anxiety levels down like I think about how that

46:11

can is going to improve everybody's ability to digest their food better and

46:17

engage their neurotransmitters and other chemicals and hormones within their body and you know literally start manifesting

46:24

a um more harmonious physical and mental body so I think that's really important

46:29

how can people connect with you Emily I think the best place would be my Instagram uh at Les butut better

46:37

organizing um other than that my email Emily Les butut better doca oh and of

46:44

course my website L.C uh I do have a Blog Page there where

46:51

I'm starting to kind of spill out some of my research and this philos

46:57

ophy so yeah and just one more note about anxiety after you said that um

47:04

I've noticed recently more and more anxiety in children uh young children

47:10

and I had anxiety as a child and I remember I didn't know what anxiety was

47:15

I didn't know the word but now as an adult I can reflect back on that's what that was and I just think that yeah like

47:24

kids really deserve a chance to live a har harmonious life and nothing against

47:30

the parents but children mirror and copy

47:35

parents they are being modeled to and

47:40

that's so if the parent is feeling anxious in the home the child will often

47:46

kind of reflect that back and also show up in an anxious way and so it's nothing

47:52

wrong with the parent but I think if we can create more Harmony for everyone and the parent can then model that

47:59

parasympathetic calm energy then I think the child has a better chance to

48:05

overcome and not carry this anxiety into

48:10

adulthood absolutely yeah I mean um children are just pockets of energy and

48:17

frequency and they they pick up and they mimic without question so yeah that's a

48:22

really really important Point well make sure that your website and your Instagram everything is in the show

48:28

notes so people can connect with you do you do remote work do you have like any

48:33

like online courses or anything like that that people can um check in with I don't have any live courses yet

48:41

it's definitely on the radar I'm hosting a live Workshop next week actually on Monday April 12th um and that one's for

48:48

parents it is around creating Harmony at home and it will be geared towards some

48:54

specific systems that can be created right away uh to support a bit more flow

49:00

in and out for their kids things like school work and artwork and the stuff that we just like all hold on to

49:07

Sentimental stuff so that's exciting and what was I gonna say yeah I think

49:16

that right now I I do offer I've tried a bit of on the phone or like on video

49:23

cons Consulting and I find it's it's ch challenging like I can give as much as I can with systems but I much prefer

49:30

working in the home with my clients it's much more effective currently yeah I

49:37

completely understand that well thank you so much for joining me today Emily I really appreciate you coming to the show

49:43

thank you so much yeah thank you for having me Simon this was a treat that it certainly was um okay for more

49:49

information on anything that we've spoken about in this episode please make sure you check out the show notes don't forget to subscribe if you haven't yet

49:56

thank you so much for listening this is true Hope cast the official podcast of true hope Canada we will see you next

50:01

week [Music]