It is said that you can tell how a person is feeling, what’s going on in their head, and how settled or unsettled their spirit is by analyzing their environment. If this is to be true, you should be able to walk into a person’s house and tell by the cleanliness of the place, just how clear their thought process is; but the true depiction of someone’s headspace lies in the aura of their bedroom.
The bedroom is the first place you dwell in once you wake up in the morning, and the last place you dwell as you lay down to go to sleep. If you’re anything like the average working person in the US you’re hopping out of the bed in just enough time to “rush” to get ready for work, barely having time to make your bed, put your clothes away, or do a cleanse. If you have children this makes the transition from hom
to work even more hectic and chaotic, so, what does this mean for when you return to your “sanctuary?” Clothes thrown everywhere, makeup and hair accessories spread out across your vanity, and shoes trailing from the closet to the front door that aligned as you grabbed your bags and sprinted to your vehicle. You may not have thought much about the correlation of your mental health to your room space before you ran across this blog post, but you may begin to take second thought after reading this.
Most people always think of the sanctuary as the huge room in a church or an area in someone’s house set up “altar-like,” but really, a sanctuary is wherever you find peace. Going into this next decade it is imperative that you understand: peace should be cultivated at home, in your very own space. Your personal atmosphere on the daily basis sets the tone to your mental state throughout the day, so here are a few tips to ensure that your sanctuary maintains a peaceful and healthy aura:
1. Take time to declutter your space.
- Hopefully you aren’t a pack rat, and like to hold onto things for it is proven: holding onto things that no longer serve true value, gives off the same feeling as when you emotionally hold onto things or offenses that have hurt you in the past. It is highly recommended that you dedicate an entire weekend to this. Get rid of clothes you no longer wear/fit. Remove items that may have been left by an old partner or friend that no longer serve you, (yes this means giving ex best friend that favorite sweatshirt back or trashing it). Holding onto garments that were someone else’s is like holding onto a part of their spirit and if that spirit was toxic… GET RID OF IT. Move around your furniture so that it creates the most space, allowing you to benefit when maneuvering and engaging in healthy practices, which transitions into the next tip…
- Create daily therapeutic and healthy habits to be practiced in your sanctuary.
- Meditating, yoga, praying, reading, writing; all of these are examples of things you should practice in the serenity of you room. Decluttering allows for you to easily engage in these types of activities. It is very hard to concentrate and hear from your inner self when there is chaos and clutter all around you, so remember that tip 1 is essential before embarking on tip 2. Being that you start and end the day here, your sanctuary should be a place where you cultivate peace and harmony, and what better way than one or all of the above! It is also helpful to stand in your mirror and verbally affirm health truths about yourself, your desires, and what you want to see manifested in your life on the day to day basis. Don’t have a mirror in your room? GET ONE. You can also take dry erase markers and write these affirmations and quotes on it! (Feeling jazzy!? Brew you a nice cup of hot chamomile or lavender tea to accompany this “YOU” time.)
- Be stingy with your space.
- Not everyone should have access to your room. Unless in a serious relationship, it is highly recommended you socialize and entertain in the living areas of your home. Even if your pretty cool with an individual, you never know what they may be going through. Allowing them into you sacred place is allowing whatever baggage they have right along with them. When one deems something as sacred the immediate thought is to protect it, so protecting your space, is protecting your peace and this all aligns with setting healthy boundaries. Friends don’t like it? Friends not friends.
- Don’t bring any frustrations from the current day into your sanctuary.
- When you arrive home in the evenings, most times you’re feeling stressed, frustrated, or drained from the work day, and being social with colleagues, family, and/or partners. Before you enter into your room, stop and say, “I have started and completed this day. Anything that happened before this very moment has come and gone. I rid myself of all negative and unwanted feelings and thought processes and I leave it here at the door. I enter my sanctuary with good intention, healthy truths about myself, and a peaceful energy.” You set the tone for the aura and energy that surrounds your sanctuary so start and end the day with the right energy. If you can remember to do so, say this affirmation before you exit your vehicle.
Your sanctuary will possess some of your most prized possession, will witness your deepest insecurities, and will comfort you after you’ve had to be superhuman out in the real world. Make sure you treat this small space as a priority on the same caliber you prioritize maintaining someone else’s space in your work environment. If the foundation is not solid and peaceful, the workplace eventually will not be either. Take these tips and implement them to the best of your ability before this shift into the next decade. You will thank yourself in the long run and begin a new year with fresh and healthy intentions! Sending all positive energy your way!
By: Shawana Ward