Your home is your sanctuary, your calm in the chaos, your safe space — or at least it should be. Your home may feel more chaotic than calm, especially if you have roommates you can’t really control or children who are loud and boisterous. Coming home can be more exhausting than calming but it doesn’t have to be. You can create a mindful home that brings calm, peace, and comfort to everyone who enters it.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness can be described as “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.”
Sounds simple enough, right? But how do you bring mindfulness into your home?
Mindful Design
The easiest way to create a mindful home is to create spaces in your home that bring you tranquillity and calm.
Color is your friend. Muted colors of white, beige, and cream are often associated with mindfulness but they do not have to be. The goal is to create a space that is true to who you are and if that means a pile of brightly colored cushions or a stand-out feature wall. Ditch the picture-perfect ideas you see online and focus on being aware of how you feel, accepting those feelings, and then creating a beautiful space.
Decluttering is essential to creating calm. Decluttering does not mean getting rid of the things you love but rather it is an intentional removal of the things that no longer bring you joy so you are surrounded only by the things you love. Clear out those bulging drawers, donate the clothes that no longer serve you, sell the toys your children no longer play with. If it seems overwhelming, start with one room or even one drawer. Once you start, you won’t stop.
Invite nature in. Being outside can be incredibly grounding, so bring a little bit of that inside your home. Add indoor plants throughout your home. Add natural elements to your decor, like bamboo or wood. Open up the curtains and windows so you can see and hear what is happening outside.
Add some candles or incense. Mindfulness is about engaging all of your senses. Burning a beautifully fragranced candle or some calming incense can be a wonderful way to make your home more mindful.
Mindful Living
Creating a mindful home is not just about changing your decor and creating harmonious spaces but also about creating sustainable habits in your daily life that bring serenity.
Set your intentions. Before you jump out of bed to start the day, take a few moments every morning to set the intentions for the day. Think about what you want to achieve and remind yourself what you are grateful for. Doing this every morning can set you up positively for the day.
Get the mundane chores done. It is easier to leave the bed unmade or the laundry basket overflowing but getting these rather mundane tasks done will improve your mood and bring calm to your home.
Cook your meals. The kitchen is the heart of the home, and there’s something very special about preparing a meal for your family. Home-cooked meals fill your home with wonderful aromas and bring a family together. Connecting with the food you are eating is also a great way to bring mindful practices into your home. Get everyone in the house involved in the meal preparation and when you sit down to eat, engage all your senses as you enjoy the food you have prepared.
Limit electronics. Avoid adding too many devices to your home. Ideally, you want to keep your bedrooms free from devices, this will allow you to really focus on being in the moment without distraction.
And finally, spend time in your home. Invite family and friends to visit or just enjoy being in the sanctuary you’ve created, filling every room with love and calm.
Your home should tell the story of who you are. It should be the place you can’t wait to retreat to every day and when you step inside it should bring you a deep sense of serenity.
-Laura LeRoux
Photo by Chait Goli (Pexels.com)
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