Think of how you feel when you walk into a neon-lit McDonald’s on some busy city corner, versus how you feel walking into a cool, silent Catholic cathedral in a quiet Italian city. There is a profound difference, isn’t there? Our surroundings affect us in a subtle but powerful way.
This is one reason, I think, why I felt such emotional urgency to choose a nice house on our last move. I had come to the point where I felt exhausted on many other accounts and saw no inspiration around me in this new city (culturally devoid, and bland in other ways), so my psyche craved a nice surrounding in the form of a house. It might sound shallow, but it’s a natural psychological phenomenon that there are times in life when we seek environments that send us a subtle message to remind us of what we long for: be that order, stillness or a wild life.
Whether we can or cannot move to a home that more closely resembles our ideals, we can outfit our rooms in ways that speak to us, and that make our families and friends feel a certain way when they enter. Bright, garish colors and sharp angles will agitate (or energize), while neutral, sunny colors and soft curves will soothe our sense. Clutter will distract and make us feel overwhelmed by the many things yet to do. Organized boxes and files may still contain plenty of work, but they give us a sense of control. It’s such little things that are significant on a daily level. Fresh flowers on the bed stand or on the dining room table share the natural life with us indoors. A bed in a niche with beautiful (clean!) sheets gives us a haven in which to recuperate. I have noticed that a cleaned up bedroom even helps my son to fall asleep better.
These little things take only a few minutes to do. Take an hour, one day a week, to rush around, setting things in order. 10 minutes of vacuuming, 10 minutes of wiping the mirrors and other glass surfaces to a shine, 5 minutes to make the bed(s), 5 min to pluck flowers from the garden (or pick up at the deli when you do groceries), 5 min to stack the books neatly on the coffee table and next to your bed, 10 min to throw out junk mail and any other clutter that starts to accumulate during the week, 5 min to tidy your closet,… and spend a few more minutes on any other area in your house that needs a touch of beautifying.
What are you doing to send supportive, refreshing messages from your surroundings to yourself and your family?
I’m glad you shared this with me, Leni. I especially liked this portion – and it speaks to me:
“Clutter will distract and make us feel overwhelmed by the many things yet to do. Organized boxes and files may still contain plenty of work, but they give us a sense of control. It’s such little things that are significant on a daily level. Fresh flowers on the bed stand or on the dining room table share the natural life with us indoors. A bed in a niche with beautiful (clean!) sheets gives us a haven in which to recuperate. I have noticed that a cleaned up bedroom even helps my son to fall asleep better.”
I am *still* admittedly in the process of de-cluttering my life. I know I was rather neat & organized at NU, but I ‘lost a sense of control’ after college, and am now struggling to get it back. I’m not quite where I want to be with maintaining a neat, tidy, organized, clean home, but it is my goal, and one that I’m working towards.
And you are most certainly right that a clean, tidy bedroom helps one sleep at night.
p.s. I want to send you photos of my bedroom and the potential re-arrange we discussed on the phone the other day before I go through with it…