Engineer to Organizer & How to Clear Your Mind and Energy with Organization- with Connie Lockhart Ellefson-

[00:00:00] Bettina M Brown, In the Rising Host: Hello, hello and welcome to In The Rising Podcast. My name is Bettina Brown and I thank you for your time for being here. This podcast is all about living a life that's in alignment with your hopes, your dreams, and your goals, and turning your back on that shame blame game that does nothing for anyone.

Also having a little bit more adventure in your life. And sometimes that adventure is following your heart and your passion into doing something that you were not quote unquote trained for. And that is exactly what my guest today, Connie Ellison has done. And I'm excited for you to hear about her journey.

So Connie, I am really excited to speak with you on this evening, and I understand also that you are in the same time zone that I am. Are you a Mountain Standard? . Yes, I am. I am as well. I'm in the state. Right below you. Great. Cool. ? Yes. Yes. And I understand that you have just finished your fourth book, clear the Space, feel the Rush, all about clearing, and How Physical Clearing helps open your mind, refresh you, give you energy.

But I'd like to start at the beginning because writing a. is something that many people want to do, but very few people journey into that. And I also read that you are by trade an engineer, so I definitely wanna see , how we went from that step to today's step.

[00:01:37] Connie Elfson: Well, in around after nine 11. I lo I was laid off four times in six years.

My particular degree, civil engineering, it's land development and it goes up and down with the housing market. So that stuff was all kind of up and down. After nine 11, people were just depressed or whatever. So I, yeah. after the fourth one, I said, I think I need a new career. And I remembered that I enjoyed tidying up my desk after a project was done, or even every day, more than I enjoyed the work.

So I thought maybe I should try professional organizing. So that's how I got into that line of work. And I had an idea for the book early on. That was quite a while ago. Because I have to confess, I'm a recovering organizing book junkie. I have read so many books and tried so many different methods. I get all excited about 'em, and I go through the system and then I'd stop at the 90% mark and I would never complete it a hundred percent.

So after I did that several times, I. There must be something else going wrong than just going on here, than just the, just the method. Like, yeah, it's not the method, it's something else. And so, I realized that the emotional clutter that led to the possessional clutter in the first place, your belongings is probably much bigger than like the underside of the iceberg versus the tip of the iceberg.

So we think it's the stuff sitting around because we can see it easily, when really it might be the emotions that are causing that. And then I realized if you're not in good shape physically, if you've. Too much junk food lately, or you haven't gotten enough exercise or whatever, then you, you may be having some body clutter that is slowing you down.

So I decided to write a book that would be based on all three of those concepts and. Someone could start anywhere. They didn't have to start with the stuff, they could start with the emotions or the physical body. So that's how I set it up.

[00:03:39] Bettina M Brown, In the Rising Host: Yes. Share, share your journey on emotional, decluttering and where you are now, what, what you've learned from your own experience writing this book.

[00:03:48] Connie Elfson: Okay. Well, I, I got interested in energy healing long ago. Things like, I had a, I had some chiropractors that did a thing called neuro emotional technique, that it goes, uses the meridians, that the, the acupuncturists use the Chinese medicine and you can, you can, they can release old emotional wounds in a pretty short time.

and I noticed I felt huge re huge releases from that, from emotional decluttering cuz it's basically you're getting rid of a block that's somewhere in your nervous system. And then I learned about some different methods that you can do on your own. You don't necessarily have to go through a professional, although that does tend to shorten the process quite a bit.

. Learned a lot of this stuff, and for me, I thought about, I'm a scientist in a way, being an engineer, but if you think about e equals mc squared from from Einstein, and you take, you know, C, the speed of light is a very big number. So no matter what you weigh, whether it's a, you know, whatever you weigh, it's some number, but the speed of light is huge.

So that means there's a ton of energy tied up in each person. So it seemed kind of made sense to me that energy healing would be more powerful than something chemical or whatever, but I'm so, I'm a big, I'm a big believer in nutrition too, so I've gotten lots. improvements to my life just from pinpointing my nutrition.

So yeah, it's, it's pretty well rounded and you can tell that it one feeds into the other. When you feel frisky, if you've gone for a walk or whatever Yeah. Then you, you feel more like tackling something at home mm-hmm. . Whereas if you've been sitting around munching munchies for a while and watching TV or whatever, you don't really feel the, the energy to get up and do something about.

your belongings, your surroundings. 

[00:05:47] Bettina M Brown, In the Rising Host: And, That's a good point because it's also what, what is here. What I wrote down and what I saw from information from you is that we can't solve the problems with the same mindset that caused the problems. Right? And often that physical clutter is. Demonstration. Describe if there were one or two or three main points that you would like to, to share with someone if they've never heard of this topic before.

What are those points that you'd like to emphasize? In an elevator conversation? 

[00:06:25] Connie Elfson: Okay. Well, I, I had a big flash of insight, excuse me, last December when I was just finishing up writing the book, I realized, , you know how you feel a rush of energy when you declutter a closet or a room or even your glove compartment.

It's kind of a tingly feeling of energy, and it's exhilarating and. , every time you look into that decluttered space, you kind of get that rush again. And then I realized, as I just mentioned to you, if you go for a walk or do a run or whatever for like half an hour, they talk about the rush that, athletes get or people, regular people, those are endorphins.

and it's the same, it's the same rush. And when you get a, an emotional clearing, even if it's something simple like you, you're upset about something and you have a good cry about it, or even a very short cry, you feel better. And that's endorphins. It's the same rush. It's what you get when, say you eat some spicy food and, and your brain thinks your tongue's getting burned.

So it sends out endorphins to relieve that pain. And a few minutes later, Dang. That's some good chili . You just feel really good . 

[00:07:39] Bettina M Brown, In the Rising Host: Yes. Yes. I love that. And, and I live in New Mexico where we live by our chili. So . Okay. Yeah, exactly. Yes, yes. And what you said too is, is this energy that's involved. And often if we're sitting there and we see this clutter, there's such a resistance to get started, right?

That goes back to mm-hmm. . Basic science. Basic physics. Yes. How would you su, you know, suggest to someone how to get over that initial resistance? Cuz it takes a lot less once it's going, but that initial like, ugh. So I don't only get to 90% of the decluttering, 

[00:08:23] Connie Elfson: it's, it's different for everybody. Why they keep things.

So in my book, I. I have several different, I think I, there's eight or nine different ideas to think about that might motivate a different person based on how they think about things. For me, it's like, I like to be a non-conformist, so if Madison Avenue is trying to run me with their advertising staff, I just wanna dig in and fight back.

So for me, that's, you wouldn't know what to look at me in my life, but I'm, I'm kind of, I resist . I'm kind of a rebel, so that that inspires me or it also inspires me to pass along things to someone else if it's been sitting on my shelf. All the energy that went into making that. I'm talking about fossil fuel energy or whatever went into creating that item is just wasted.

So if you hand it along to someone else that can use it, then that energy gets, gets refurbished. It's like resurrected. So that's another type of inspiration. So you have to find a lot of people. They need to look at a dream for how they wanna spend their time, or how they wanna spend their time in that room or in that space.

and that will help start the trickle. And you have to start with things that are really much easier to let go of than some other things. You don't start with your favorite mementos. You start with something dumb that you don't really care that much about. And then once you start getting that little rush from letting go of stuff, then it's much easier to tackle the harder things.

And that's, yes, that's pretty common sense, but, , it's different for everybody. And so we kinda have to respect that and not tell somebody it's a certain way, this way or the other. And if you've, if like me, you've found over and over you're kind of doing the same thing and stopping, then you might wanna go start on some of the emotional stuff first.

Mm-hmm. . So it's, it's kind of, you know, it's, it makes sense if you have a couple different places to go. Come, come up with ideas that may inspire you. Yeah. 

[00:10:31] Bettina M Brown, In the Rising Host: When you share in that space, does someone need to feel that same rush to maintain that space? 

[00:10:39] Connie Elfson: No, it's, that's, that's kind of a misconception from a lot of organizing books, which I love them.

I mean, they're all great. They all have good ideas, but that you just do it my way or this method or whatever, then you'll be good for the rest of your life. But, , it does need to be maintained. You wouldn't assume that you've cleared out an emotional problem and then you're, you're all set for the rest of your life, or you wouldn't assume I've exercised, excuse me, I've exercised, or I've eaten a good meal, so I'm good.

You just have to keep doing it, and you have to keep maintaining your, your space with your belongings as well. It's not, mm-hmm. , it's not gonna be a magic pill. You know, organize it in the correct way. So the main thing that I tell people, number one, my number one decluttering tip is first, declutter the guilts.

Don't spend any time wondering, why haven't I sorted this out yet? What's wrong with me? Because you did it for a reason. And don't hold yourself back from that stuff just because you feel shame or whatever, that you shouldn't, you shouldn't have gotten in this position. It's, it's kind of magical. You may feel the rush over and over, and if you restore it, you put a few things back away, then you may feel that rush again if you want to.

And that's kind of one of the secret tips that I realized with, with just a series of aha moments in the last few months of writing the. I had read some stuff about being happy from Dr. Joe Dispenza. Mm-hmm. , who's the neuroscientist and a, uh, chiropractor who'd gone through a terrible accident 30 years ago or so, and they told him a bike accident.

They told him you might never walk again, and he said, Nope, that's not good enough. So he might over matter. 12 weeks later, he walked out of the hospital. Anyway, he had this experiment he did with the. A group of people in a conference in four days. He asked them to spend 30 minutes a day, like 10 minutes, three times a day, being happy, basically putting themselves in a high emotional state.

And he checked at the beginning and end of that four days with a cheek swab the level of their immunoglobulin A, which is a protein that tells you how strong your immune system is right at this moment. And it had gone up an average of 50% in four days. And he said, so that's. 50% from 30 minutes a day of being happy, and that's way stronger than any flu shot or vitamin C or anything else you would take.

And it's all inside your body. and I, I realized from that. And from a wonderful yoga class I took outside one day under a tree. At the end, we're all looking up at the beautiful tree, and this teacher has a suiting voice and she has this wonderful music, and I'm just like, oh, feels so good. All these endorphins.

And all of a sudden I went, wait a minute. The endorphins didn't come from the Shavasana. music or the tree it, they came from inside me. I released them. Mm-hmm. . I'm the one that produced those endorphins, and from there I moved into the idea that you can actually learn how to turn that on anytime. Mm-hmm.

the, the happiness or the feeling better and it improves your health. So just kind of a domino effect. You can declutter. in any of these different ways, and it's a wonderful process to go through. It always makes you feel better. And you can even, you can even jump right to the end and just decide to be happy.

and still improve your health. 

[00:14:22] Bettina M Brown, In the Rising Host: Yeah, and I'm so thankful that you shared that. I love his work. Mm-hmm. , I have noticed that when I stay in my happy state, I'm able to keep the clutter clear. . Exactly. The bed is made, the laundry's done, and I stay in that state and. , it makes a difference.

[00:14:45] Connie Elfson: That's wonderful.

That's, I'm, I'm glad to hear you say that because that's just a testament to the, the value of staying decluttered and staying happy. So, that's great. Yes. I'm glad you said that. 

[00:14:59] Bettina M Brown, In the Rising Host: Where can people learn more about you and your book?

[00:15:03] Connie Elfson: Well, I have a very nice website that my publisher put together. It's called Clear the space.com, so that's just like it sounds, C L E A R T H E S P A C e.com.

You can order my book there. Read, read More about me. And it's also available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and it will be available in bookstores. 

[00:15:29] Bettina M Brown, In the Rising Host: So thank you so much for being part of In The Rising Podcast. I am so grateful for your time. And if there's someone that you know that would enjoy or benefit from this podcast, I urge you to go ahead and share that.

And I also invite you to leave a heartfelt review on this podcast knowing that the more hands and ears that we put words of inspiration, motivation, and community in the better off we all are. And so I thank you for your time because that is the one resource we don't get back. And until next time, let's keep building one another up.