We’re in such a hurry to live our lives that we often don’t stop to ask ourselves the whybehind our routines and the things we do. We’re so caught up in our roles and stuck in our patterns that we don’t realize that a little awareness and a few adjustments can help us feel less overwhelmed by events.
It is not natural for us to think about ourselves in terms of our needs and values. We are not used to questioning the rules of the system We are not used to turning our talents into our work.
Unless we get a strong signal, we keep moving by inertia along the path that was designed for us.
But why wait for a crisis before re-designing our future?
We don’t have to turn our lives upside down. We can focus on what is really valuable for us at any point of our lives.
What’s important is to have a clear view of the areas of our lives and how satisfied we are with each one. We then need to create space and time for what really matters to us in those “hearts”.
This is the starting point of happy organization.
The heart of happy organization
When I was looking for an image that could represent my happy organization method, my mind kept returning to the heart. Initially, I didn’t understand why. So I reflected on its meaning.
Hearts – with their rounded, harmonious shape, so gentle and soft – have always appealed to me.
I drew colorful hearts in my textbooks, school planners … everywhere There was a dream hidden in each heart: my best friend’s name, the name of the boy who gave me the butterflies, the singer of the song that moved me so deeply. And as an adult, when phones used to have cords, I would scribble hearts of all kinds on a notepad during my long talks with friends. I would fill pages and pages with hearts, a symbol that is so meaningful to each and every one of us.
The HEART is the symbol of dedication, passion and unconditional love. It is also the symbol for FLOW(also a form of love), which is the state that enables us to overcome any obstacle … once we get clear on the WHY of what we are doing.
We can achieve the state of flow in every area of our lives and feel the full power of our infinite beingness andunlimited potential.
The state of well-being comes frombalancein the different areas of our lives: I, I & others, I & work, I & space + time.
And if you join four hearts together you get a clover, the universal symbol of luck.
And what is luck other than living the fleeting moment with happiness and intensity?
This is how a HEART CLOVER bloomed in my hands. And, for an instant, I was a little girl again.
Remember when as kids we used a piece of paper and pen to make chatterboxes that predicted the future? I remember that my friends and I would spend our playtime moving our small fingers inside those origami (we didn’t even know that’s what they were!), discovering what the future had in store for us based on the number we chose and the sentence written under that number.
That’s exactly what my HEART CLOVER does! Each heart-shaped leaf represents a macro-aspect of our lives.
The areas of life we have at heart
- I
- I & WORK
- I & OTHERS
- I & THE ENVIRONMENT
Likewise, each heart has different areas that need to be organized and brightened up.
- During the countless hours spent in school, not one minute was devoted to acquiring awareness of our “self” and our needs and values, let alone of our talents. Starting from the “I” or the “self”, means really understanding what’s important for us.
- Whether we are entrepreneurs, professionals or employees, we are often torn at workbetween what we like doing – which is what we are good at and really fulfills us – and what takes our time and energy away, resulting in less-than-optimal performance. By starting from the I & WORK area, we will declutter, get our goals straight and create space and time, becoming better people because of it, even at work.
- 6. We often struggle when we arewith others (significant other, children, parents, friends). Sometimes we fight or are dissatisfied, feeling we are not giving them quality time and space. Reflecting about our relationships means honoring the other person, giving meaning to what we do together. It means building relationships based on creating value, which makes our interpersonal relationships more enjoyable.
- When weinteract with the external environment, in other words, when we move in our space and time, we often feel worried, deficient or weighed down because we are lacking one or both of these dimensions Doing away with waste, simplifying, and managing objectively limited resources in an agile manner will help us to create the space and time for what really matters to us in the particular stage of life we are in.
The happy organizing formula
When we play with the Heart Clover – opening and closing it, making it become a single heart or two hearts close together – we start reflecting about our life and the meaning we want to give it.
We can either leave things to chance, playing and trying our luck just like when we were kids, or we can make the conscious decision to start “decluttering” from one special little leaf, creating space and time for that area.
Then it’s done! The magic formula – which I summarize asless waste, more value – illuminates the leaf and now the other leaves draw life force from that first step toward change.
And then? And then there’s no stopping us!
Our innermost self wants every area of our lives to be infused with that WELL-BEING.
Do you want to know how you can have your own happy organization?
