Your home is a reflection of your inner self. So, what does yours say about you? Check out The Mindful Home: The Secrets of Making Your Home a Haven, by Donald Altman. Start the new year off right and make your home a place of serenity and organization.
If your home were truly mindful, it would be pretty, yes, but more importantly, it would nourish your emotional, psychological, and spiritual health. You would see only items with a clear purpose, in every single nook and cranny. That doesn’t mean you live like a Spartan, it just means that you have thoughtfully decided what’s allowed in. The things that remain are useful, or beautiful, or loved, and nothing else. Your outer space is not distinct from your inner space, and the peace follows you wherever you go.
Creating an intentional atmosphere involves acknowledging the impact that your surroundings have on your mental and emotional state. When everything is cluttered and in disarray, it’s harder to feel mentally clear and composed. When there’s space to breathe, it’s easier to be present. Plus, taking the time to wipe down the counters before you go to bed or placing a new bouquet of flowers on the table tells your brain that you’re worth the effort. It might take some time, but these small habits will teach your brain to relax when you walk in the door, and coming home will feel less like just another thing to do and more like walking into a refreshing oasis.
To take the sense of mindfulness to the next level, I consider the way the senses interact with a space. Consider the way natural light can provide warmth without blasting the space, the way soft textures feel beneath the fingertips, and the way the muted tones on the walls can relax the mind without stimulation. The same goes for sound; eliminating loud noises while replacing the space with white noise like a fan or the simple sound of a few leaves rustling can bring focus to the present. Even the way we think about the use of aromatherapy from essential oils or fresh herbs instead of bright scents can provide a calming effect, and when all the senses are accounted for, the space becomes less of a place and more of a tool to regulate emotions.
But one of the greatest effects I’ve noticed about living mindfully at home is how it affects relationships. When a home is calm and thoughtful, interactions within it also become more calm and thoughtful. You have more meaningful conversations when you’re not competing with stuff in the room, and your family feels more valued when the space feels valued. Your kids will learn by example that they should treat their space with respect, and that it’s OK to have less. Your visitors will feel more peaceful without knowing why, because it wasn’t an accident. The effects of a mindful home ripple outward, beyond the home itself.
Finally, mindful homemaking is a journey, not a result. Your needs will change, your preferences will change, your life will change, but the question will always remain the same: is this space serving the person I’m growing into? Take time to check in, whether it’s quarterly, on a calm night when the kids are in bed, or during a moment of stillness, to continue the conversation. When your home is continually nudged into alignment with your inner world, it will become something more than a place to hang your hat. It will become a haven that houses life, and order and peace will not be things to be pursued, but things that reflect a heart that has come to rest in itself.