Melinda Smith – WSFS Alumni, Author and Illuminary

Melinda Smith, WSFS Graduate, Author and Illuminary, was featured in the Charlotte Home and Garden Magazine, Spring 2013 issue. Congratulations, Melinda!

She started Balance & Harmony 360², Inc. in 2003 with a mission to empower and educate individuals who are ready to transform their environments and lives based on focus, intention, and balance; changing the way people dream, plan, and do! Melinda has been helping organizations and individuals grow into excellence for over 18 years. She is one of the first in the nation to be a Certified Professional Organizer, and she is also a graduate of the Western School of Feng Shui™.

EXCERPT from Melinda’s book Transform: Make the Choice:

“Our environments and life are constantly changing, in ways we can and cannot see. Our culture tells us to fight this change by starting conflicts with anyone and everyone around us. Deep down though, we all know that nothing we can do will ever change someone else. Balance, harmony, and the changes required to achieve them all develop from the inside out.

Did you know your environment consists of two parts? The first is your surroundings, and the second is you! By changing yourself into what you desire your environment to be like, you are already taking the first step in achieving your goal. If you want peace and tranquility in everything you do at work, home, and in your life, then the first step must be an internal one. Finding that peace requires a choice though, a choice few people are aware they have, and fewer still are willing to make those choices.

Let us say you are swimming down some rocky rapids in a tropical rainforest. How you got there is another story, but let us focus our attention on what you are doing now. You know it’s futile, but you try to swim against the current. For all your effort though, you will soon be right back where you started. It seems hopeless, so you then decide to drift at the current’s mercy. This will get you to a final destination, but there are sure to be a lot off bumps and bruises along the way.

The first example is like fighting change; it will not get you anywhere. The second one is what a lot of us call life. We simply accept whatever comes our way and try to stay afloat until we reach the end.

What would embracing the river look like then? Well, picture yourself swimming with the current. Your mind is clear, and dodging many of the rocks and ridges that you would have hit before is mere child’s play. You reach the same destination, but in one piece, and maybe you even enjoyed yourself a little. You could not control where you went, but you could control how you got there!

Just like with the river, you must be willing to embrace diversity instead of just accepting it. What is the difference? Well while they are both verbs, to embrace something implies a physical action. You can accept or deny anything you want in life, but unless you make a stand and take action, your decisions do not make much of a difference. Finding balance and harmony begins with making the conscious choice to embrace change, and therefore act upon it. Personally, I’m not much of a status quo kind of girl. I like pushing the envelope, asking questions, and making people think about the choices they have each day.”

Melinda’s books are listed here:

Transform: Make the Choice (http://amzn.com/B00E7Q79GG)
Transform: Make Time Create Space (http://amzn.com/B00F5T9S9U)
Transform: Work & Home (http://amzn.com/B00FY5CK5E)