Inner Wellness Ideas to Create in Your Home

People so often get caught up in the aesthetics of their home not understanding how profound of an emotional and psychological connection that we as human beings have to our environment. We are sometimes able to create beautiful spaces, but do feel as though they serve our holistic wellness? I want to show you how to have both, thinking intentionally about the space you already have with some wellness tips!

Through this post I want to make sure that my readers, and my clients most of all, are introduced to this connection between their environment and their well-being, and that they can control how their environment supports them through holistic living.

I want you to be able to look at your environment and be intentional about how you live your life so that you can experience the healing that you mindfully have introduced for yourself.

A great exercise to start with is to think about those places in your own life already that promote peace and wellbeing within you. Is it your favorite beach you used to spend hours exploring as a child? Perhaps it’s your grandmothers English garden? Or that time you and your girlfriends went to the high desert for an unforgettable vacation. There are feelings within these special places that we should focus on recreating in our everyday environments, so that we can connect back to our desires, and through out desires, our deeper selves.

For me personally my favorite place in the world is Woods Cove in Laguna Beach. It’s magic. Small enough of an ocean cove to feel as though it could be all yours. The smell of the jasmine , honeysuckle and sea spray when you walk down the concrete steps. The feeling of the warm sand and hot sun on your skin. Soaking up the rays until you must jump under the waves to cool off in the healing ocean. This is my happy place, and I aspire to create more of these feelings in my home. Whether that means colors, textures, smells, and images that I surround myself with.

Thinking holistically about your wellness in your environment is so important because your home shouldn’t just be something nice to look at, or something that primarily impresses others, it should support who you authentically are and who you want to become. Invoking feelings within you that lift you up and inspire you so that it can be a place of connection and rest from the outside world.

Often when thinking about working on our home we turn to what looks pretty primarily. I think that is what a lot of people have been taught the priority should be, and thats what the design industry often perpetuates. “Unfortunately, many leading trends in residential interior design today don’t align with what research finds is best for our mental health.” -psychology today. Thinking what would I like to look at instead of how do I want to feel, or how does this space facilitate the activities that make my life worth living? The idea of nature vs nurture is a huge element of human development. We must engage deeper with creating an environment that not only looks good but feels good for us.

We should really try to shift our perspective here to realize that our feelings are so much more important than the way a room looks. When we create a space that makes us feel good, we are creating a space in which we can be our best selves, and bring those higher selves into what we bring to the world and our relationships. People that are rested, energized and inspired are people that can positively contribute to others, making the world a better place for everyone.

More than an environment that looks good to the outside, don’t you truly want something that serves your highest self? What if I told you that you can have an environment that truly works for who you are, without sacrificing your aesthetic. When you focus on your inner needs when creating the environment around you, you automatically create a beautiful space that also has substance and meaning for you.

Shifting from aesthetics to holistics (:characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole) opens up your path to wellness. When you approach design from a place of serving your desires you stay in alignment with who you truly are instead of reaching for a superficial picture primarily.

If the way things look to the outside world is your prerogative then you are at risk of making concessions in your environment that don’t actually serve who you are. They may just serve the fads of the time and what others deem to be beautiful. You are a real human being who needs an environment that works for you and supports you and not just a room that looks good on the outside.

Through this article I want to illustrate some easy ways to start where you are in creating an environment that supports your well being.

These ideas should serve to analyze the creation of your environment so that you can decide for yourself intentionally what is and is not serving you directly. It’s time to experiment and see what feels right for you!

These suggestions are not by any means the end all, these home decor ideas should help you start understanding what is and is not working in your own environment and what else you may need to get to a place you love that includes wellness design!

Carve out a relaxing nook
What do you do in your free time that brings you to a place of peace and serenity? A space in your home for self reflection is so important, it allows you to re-calibrate your thoughts and get in alignment with your deeper self. Your little nook should be somewhere just for you where you are comfortable and have privacy to be yourself.
Utilize Nature
Allow yourself to get back to your roots. We are a part of nature, not separated from it! Incorporating the elements of nature in your home is so important. Think about how you can incorporate living things and look at what nature has made. This could be something like making sure you have your curtains drawn back to look at at the scenery or a plethora of indoor plants creating fresh oxygen for you. The way your space is laid out should also take cues from nature. “Research from environmental psychology—the wing of behavioral science studying how built and natural spaces affect our health, mental processes, and social interactions—consistently suggests that buildings support us best when they echo the scale and tone of the natural world, through pattern, dimension, light, layout, and sound.” -Psychology Today
Allow for space
The minimalist movement is on to something in regards to wellness in you space. When you keep things simple and clean and allow for negative space, you have space for yourself to think and to feel. It also is inspiring because you have the freedom to feel as though there are new discoveries you can incorporate in your space as you grow.
Air flow and Scent
It’s really important in your environment to let the outside in. Where possible you should open up your windows and allow fresh air to flow throughout your home and cleanse you and your environment. You should also think about what scents bring you peace and happiness and make it a habit to light candles or incense that invoke happy memories for you.
Materials
The things that we wear and that we use should be made from materials as close to nature as possible. Natural materials ground us. Things like having a natural wood floor, or a jute braided rug, or cotton sheets compared to synthetic materials will change the way you interact with your space.
This article from Psychology Today really explains what goes on mentally when we understand the connection between ourselves and our environment, How-to-make-a-happier-home
Reduce outside noise
It is important for you to feel as though your space is yours. You may not always realize the impact, but when you are home and there is excess noise from others it can impact your stress level. Some ways you can combat this is of course having better insulated walls, but besides that, making sure that you have rugs and curtains that help dampen the noise levels!
Declutter
A a lot of us who have implemented some of her practices Marie Kondo really knows what she is talking about. If you have a lot of objects in your space, even if you love them, when you walk into that room all of those things attack your senses. It’s really important for you to talk stock of what you you own and make sure everything that you have in your space deserves to be there and holds meaning for you. If you are interesting in learning more about the Konmari Method click the link. I would recommend reading the life changing magic of tidying up!
Natural light
The light of the sun brings so many health and wellness benefits for us. There is a reason why our furry companions seek out the one sun ray streaming into the room. When in your home look at how the sun is positioned and interacts with your space. Think about how you can best use the natural light to help you engage in the activities that you love in your home. The sun’s rays will energize you and connect you back to the earth.
Ritual
“Ritual- A solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.”
Finding specific actions that speak to you and align you with your deeper self are some of the healthiest actions you can take for your inner wellbeing. Make sure that you create places in your environment that support these things!
Examples of some rituals:
• Brewing a pot of tea and reading in a sunlit window on a Sunday morning
• Drawing a bath with oils and bubbles with a glass of wine on Friday nights
• Doing your multi-step skincare routine and watching your favorite show with some chocolate!
Comfort
What sorts of things bring you comfort? It’s important to create an environment that welcomes you. There are so many environments outside our homes that are less than comfortable for us, the same should not go for your home! Whether that is decorating with your favorite color, creating a big fluffy bed that envelopes you, or surrounding yourself with the objects that you love from your travels, this is wellness decor. Your comfort needs to be a priority in your environment.

I know in my case some specific things stand out as important in my environment. I used to sleep with synthetic materials in my bedding when I was younger, picking out a bed set and pillows based solely on how they looked. When I got older I realized how much I hated getting hot in the middle of the night, tossing and turning when I still loved to sleep under the covers. I decided to make the switch to pure cotton and linen bedding and I have never looked back. If you would like some free help with your bed ensemble check out my post: bedding-ideas

I would love to hear if you guys have implemented any of these tips above into your environment or if you decided to do anything else that spoke to you! Please reach out to me! catherinerosedesign-contact

When exploring incorporating wellness ideas into your environment remember this perfect quote, “if it lowers your vibration then it is not for you, that’s how you will know” -Lala Delilah. Your environment should speak to your deeper self and always raise your vibrations.

Love,

Catherine Rose