Filling Your Space with Joy
I just read a great article this morning in Oprah Magazine by Life Coach Expert, Martha Beck, called “Interior Decorating For a Happier Life”. In this article she shares her thoughts on how “Your surroundings are an expression of your inner state. You can’t change your life without changing your stuff, and you can’t change your stuff without changing your life”.
She goes on to explain that when you fill your space with joy, you lift your spirit, too. So now instead of filling her space with meaningless objects and piles of debris, she takes the time to fill her rooms with things that “energize and delight” her. There are several elements that make her feel at home:
- Artwork- She’s a “megafan” of Kuan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Compassion….so she surrounds herself with wall art and statues her as a reminder to live from a place of unconditional kindness.
- Vision Boards- these self-made collages hold her deepest desires and subconsciously remind her of the intentions she’s set out to manifest.
- Spirit Guides- These are books that calm and feed her spirit until she feels much braver than she believes she is.
- Love Pictures- photographs of friends and families that provide emotional warmth and light
- Her Menagerie- inspirational things that aren’t objects but living breathing beings….humans, dogs, horses, squirrels and birds…creatures that each remind her to keep enjoying life, whether through playing, resting, feasting, cuddling, rambling and rejoicing.
She ends by posing a series of questions…
“When you look at your home, what kind of self-portrait do you see?”
“Do the things around you spark happiness?”
If your answer to the last question is "Not really", her advice isn’t to throw everything out, but to start decluttering and adding a few new things slowly, one area at a time. Maybe start with a cluttered dresser and clear a space for a small vase with fresh flowers, then move to your bedside and add a framed picture of that makes you smile, then maybe move to your bathroom and add a little something on the wall that inspires you daily to live intentionally or add an inspiring quote to your fridge. The long and the short is, that before you know it, “one day you’ll wake up enveloped by your own most compassionate, wise, creative, loving self in three dimensions and living color. In every way possible, you’ll be at home”.So, what kind of things do you fill your home with that spark happiness for you?Leave a comment below...I'd love to hear from you!Xo,Kajal
