Originally Published August 25,
2003 -- Your Wellness Guide
Closing The Door On The World: Home As A Sanctuary
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As seen LIVE on
top-rated KTVK-TV "Good Morning Arizona" on 10/26/03.
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Upon
entering your home, the environment adds or detracts from what you
feel, how you function, and the overall balance in your life.
Ideally, you want to feel peace, tranquility, and order – a
sanctuary from the world.
Today’s column gives you ideas on how to proactively create that
overall feeling of comfort, sacredness, and harmony so that your
mind and body can refresh and refuel on a daily basis. |
“Home is a
place where we can close the door on the world,” says Debbie Mandel,
author of
Turn on Your Inner Light. Debbie, who is an avid
gardener, told me that you meditate in the surroundings in which you live.
She says
that she has created a backyard garden where she can de-stress. “I find
my balance there,” she says. “Plants teach you to let go because they
grow toward the light. I
recharge my batteries as I work the land – I plant everything with my own
hands. Beauty is at my fingertips. When the world gets really rough out
there, you can plant your own little Eden.”
When making
your home a sanctuary, it’s about making the space emotionally, visually,
and aurally – all the senses and sensibilities – meet your needs, more
than simple shelter.
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Photo Courtesy: Joe and Luanne O'Brien
The O’Brien family has created a morning meditation
space to the side of the master bedroom for their new home. |
Last
year, Joe and Luanne O’Brien decided that they would build a new
home near the Pittsburg, Pennsylvania area. But, they wanted it to
be a special place that would enhance and integrate a body, mind,
and spirit approach.
Luanne told me that in creating a home that would be sacred and a
sanctuary “We
wanted it to be a place that it was separate from the rest of the
world, so we created the space to be very present when we’re home.
Our work doesn’t come home with us, problems don’t |
come home with us, and the house nurtures that. The home is plain and
does not have decorations all over the place. It’s also easy to
maintain. Keeping it clean is enjoyable.”
Her
family came from a home that was much smaller, yet Luanne says that the
size of space has never been a barrier to creating a peaceful
environment. For example, in both homes they have created an area off to
the side in the master bedroom, with two chairs, a window, and a little
table; this is where she and Joe can meditate and read in the morning.
“The
home is a reflection of what comes from within,” says Luanne. “You
express who you are in the home.” Her feeling is that if you nurture
peace and love in your heart, then that will also be inevitably displayed
in the home.
Victoria Moran, author of
Shelter for the Spirit: Create Your Own Haven
in a Hectic World, also thinks that a sacred space at home first comes
from within.
“Very often we want our homes to look like a magazine, a decorator’s idea,
or the husband’s idea, but there has to be enough of you reflecting back,”
Victoria told me from her Manhattan apartment. She says that one of the
first practical things you can do is decorate from within – what makes you
happy.
Victoria
suggests adding as much natural light as possible to uplift your spirit.
Bring in illumination by also painting the walls light colors with some
gloss, adding full-spectrum bulbs, or using torchiere lamps that bring
light up – anything that gives a sunshine effect.
Other ways to invite pleasant thoughts and bring inspiration are to add
positive reminders of your life, your history, your talents, and people
you love through artwork, pictures, and objects. Not cluttering, but
rather adding accents of life and love.
Because your home
sets the mood and the frame of mind for who and what you are outside those
walls, as Victoria says, “What you do for yourself and your home is what
you carry out into the world.”
Terra
Wellington
is a
national authority on creating a wellness lifestyle.
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Wellington