I just finished reading The Soulful Home Design Guide: Fill Your Home and Life with Beauty, Love, Peace, and Prosperity, and it felt as if the book were speaking to me personally. It was a gentle call to action. Now that my husband and I are both retired and have grandchildren, we finally have the time, and sense of urgency, to create the kind of home that will make this time in our lives more fulfilling and even joyful. From “Identifying Blockages” and “Decluttering” at the beginning of the book to creating a child’s room for my grandchildren, each chapter presents advice Natalia has synthesized from the ancient practice of Feng Shui and modern physics and behavioral science. As Natalia suggests, we need to write down our goals for this time in our lives. Our lives have changed dramatically; we inhabit our home more than ever, and there are three other generations and a dog with whom we share our home on and off throughout the year. We want to feel comfortable and joyful when we are all there together, and we want our family and friends to feel the same. We want our home to be a testament to what is best about our cultural heritage and our family. Most decorating/design books totally ignore this aspect of incorporating our culture to create a fulfilling environment. Natalia offers clear descriptions of both Feng Shui and behavioral psychology that will help us create a beautiful joyful space as well as resonate out into the rest of our lives. Natalia’s writing reflects what she espouses: it is uncluttered and offers specific advice and details that will help us make changes that will impact everyone around us. And her enthusiasm is contagious. I love the examples of how making changes in their homes affected other aspects of the lives of people that she helped.As much as The Soulful Home Design Guide will help anyone just starting out with their first apartment, or someone buying a new home, I think it was written for me, too.