Copyright 2021 Carrie Leskowitz
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Carrie Leskowitz:
ISBN: 978-0-578-89393-8 (print)
ISBN: 978-0-578-90728-4 (ebook)
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By Clodagh
T HE PRIMEVAL SOUND OF CREATION: A MANTRA .
Carrie has clarified brilliantly the myth that an interior designer is not just an interior designer, but has to act and talk like a life coach. To make sure she was doing things right, she actually became a life coach, earning a degree and adding this wisdom to her perception about what a homeor indeed an officeis all about.
Since I was a teenager, I have been moaning about the education I got at boarding school that I have never used since, including differential calculus and the names of global capital citiesnever an insiders view of the cultures in other countries, which would have been more helpful. Also, endless sports like hockey and tennis, where I gained only one piece of knowledge about myself that helped: I am not competitive, I just want to win.
Why was I not taught how to live, converse, create my own environment, manage a living space, make love, negotiate, cook, and budget with a manual to consult as I wove my life and designed? Why was I not taught to take care of my body and soul?
You cannot buy kitchen appliances without an accompanying manual. Yet we, with our bodies and souls, are sent out into the world without anything to consult except for our brain. As I say, Life is all practice and then you die. Carrie has practiced for us.
Carrie, with her brilliant professional combination of interior designer and life coach, has created a manual for living that is accessible and understandable on every page. In 13 chapters, she has summarizedwith touching and revealing real-life exampleshow to make positive tectonic shifts in your daily life; how to step back and think before you step forward. She teaches her clients like a travel guide would, bringing them places where they want to go to and then challenging them to go further to discover new places in their souls and to expose dreams they never imagine discovering. In Imprinted past ( ) she describes how memories can be triggered by an object or a color to release that inner private video that we all carry within. She teaches us to examine ourselves and challenge ourselves.
She teaches us that design goes beyond the physical, and good design, together with Feng Shui and healing, makes the invisible tangible.
Carrie understands the tenets of working with the elements and the use of color, light, sound, and fragrance to trigger the senses and produce positive emotions to support wellbeing.
And she knows too many of us are suffocated by stuff. In , Carrie shows how clutter brings stagnation, and even paralysis, which hoarders can experience. She shows us that a home should have a place for everything, with everything in its place. Le Corbusier qualified a house as a machine for living, and this doesnt stop with the walls and windows and doors, this applies to every facet of the interior. Like any other machine, a house needs to be cleaned and fueled and work.
Good design must work.
Carries book is the best gift you can give to YOURSELF AND TO PEOPLE OF ALL AGES as a guide to move freely through space and time without the excess baggage of emotional and visual clutter to hamper their lives. She shows us that unfettered living is possible.
The intensive research which fueled this book is stunning.
Thank you, Carrie, for this life manual. It will help to make the world a better place. It will have a special place on my bookshelf!
Clodagh
One of the top designers in the world and a globally in-demand inspirational speaker, Clodagh is recognized as a leader in sustainable design. She is an environmentalist, philanthropist and inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame. Her projects appeal to all the senses, enriched with unmistakable warmth and beauty though authentic materials and the use of natural elements. Clodaghs newest book, Clodagh: Life-Enhancing Design was published 2018. Her previous titles include Your Home, Your Sanctuary and Total Design, now in its third printing.
Home Is a Metaphor for Our Soul
Y OUR HOME IS WITHIN YOU AND OUT SIDE OF YOU . Whether we are talking about the human body or your living space, they are both vessels for your soul. Your home is so much more than an address. Home is experiential. It should capture your attention, integrate all your senses and allow you to explore whats possible. It should be your sacred, safe space to land; it is your spiritual compass, pointing the direction to your north star. There is great power in making your home into a hOMe.
Think of your home as a giant living vision board, helping you aspire to and manifest goals. It is a foundation for your identity, telling all who enter how you see yourself and what you value. Your home is an anchor in the storm, safely keeping you moored to who you are in a way that nothing else can. You want to intentionally create environments that help you thrive physically, emotionally, and spiritually because there is a deep synergy between our inner state and our outer state. Consciously creating a home that supports you in mind, body, and spiritand that mirrors your authenticityis an act of self-care of the highest order. Your home is a state of mind as well as a self-portrait. Others look at your home and make assumptions based on the picture you paint.
When I talk about om for the home, I am talking about it in terms of energy, an energy whose balance requires that you need to be very mindful and thoughtful in your effort to feel your best in your hOMe. For me, that starts with a stillness that isnt always easy to achieve.