We are watching our world restructure around us. Largely without our input or consent. There is a fine line between recognizing what you can’t control and the tendency to give up entirely. The best way not to tip over the edge into hopelessness is to find the things that we can control.
And that brings me to today’s topic. Our environment. Many of us are spending larger amounts of time at home than ever before. So what better time to start healing home…than right now?
A Story:
I have always been the queen of a messy room. Partly because if i put things away i forget about them…out of sight out of mind… then I run out and buy something exactly the same or i run across something that would have made life oh so much easier…six months after i needed it. Consequently, my “filing” system for everything looks a bit like a hoarders nightmare.
Many years ago, my mother read something about a child’s room being an indication of their mental state. And she hovered in my doorway, clearly worried about the state of affairs in my brain. And rightfully so….Mine mirrored hers.
Our brains, at least according to Anthony Gregorc and his MindStyles Model, tended to operate the same. We were both Abstract Random. Picture a tangled blackberry briar with no discernible order or clear pathway through. That’s how our minds appear to a casual observer. To us? Everything has a place and everything is in that place. Our brains are more like a neatly sown veggie patch.
The good thing? We can pick up books and read the last sentence first, then jump to the middle and read a bit more and if we were still interested, we might eventually get to the first page. But rarely do we have to spend time reading a book cover to cover. Our brains pick up things in chunks. We conceptualize. Which sounds like a not bad way of doing things, until you take a peek into our private domain. Stacks of papers, organized according to subject, but because each one could belong in several different categories, depending on which way you look at it, they never actually hit a specific file in the drawer. Clothes? Same thing. That red sweater I pulled on to go to the grocery store at ten o’clock at night. Worn once for 20 minutes. Not clean enough to put back in the closet. Not dirty enough to toss in the laundry hamper. Not bad enough to wear around the house, not good enough to…well…
….the piles go on and on.
Today’s Idea:
1. Take a look around you. What does your environment reflect back to you?
Our environment says so many things about us. And (could be a chicken or the egg thing here) we are a product of our environment.
Is there mess everywhere? Is everything exactly in order? Have the orderly things been there since 1942 and the dust piled up around them attests to that fact?
For a moment, just look. You can walk from room to room for this bit or just look around you at the moment. Right now, we are taking stock.
Ask yourself one question….if you walked into this room, not knowing who’s it was…what would it tell you about that person?
2. Let’s get emotional…
How does this room or your house make you feel? Relaxed? Happy? Uptight? Embarrassed?
3. Now here’s the big bit…
How do you want to feel in your environment?
Happy, relaxed, uplifted, energized. What do you need from your environment in order to be the best possible you?
Think of a time/place when you were that way. On a mountain top? In the throng of a big city? A library? A park? The office?
4. How can you make the space around you mirror the place you feel generates the best you?
The easiest way to do this is to distill that ideal environment down to a few words. Let’s start small here.
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Pick your couple of descriptive words.
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Pick one room or a part of a room that is totally yours to play with.
For me?? I love beauty. I need quiet to regenerate. Could be mountain, beach, forest…doesn’t much matter. But my elements are Quiet. Beauty.
So, because I live with my family, I am not going to try to set up a space that nurtures me in the game room….where everyone else is…it is never quiet…and it’s never clean….
My bedroom or my office (prefaced by the word “my” as an indication that no one else is going to mess with my space once get it perfect for me) make the most sense.
And then I am going to set about the overhaul.
Quiet takes on many meanings. There is the actual sensory bit. Then there is clutter. If there are too many things around (testament to my nature), they call to me to put them away or dust them or do something with them. Also, things that need fixing are loud. Whether it is a crack in the wall or a leg on a chair, there will be no peace until those things get handled.
Once the “noise” is gone, then I can add beauty. This may be with plants or rocks or paintings or a fluffy pillow.
I find as I do this that every improvement I make, bestows a new level of peace…so the journey is fun and filled with positive feedback.
Give it a try!
Happy Healing Home!
My Spiritual Center 