Contributed by Cindi Pearce, Catalogs.com Top 10 Guru
Is your house chaotic? Do the words “bedlam, mayhem, pandemonium, anarchy, commotion and disarray” come to mind?
If so, you’ve got to start making some changes or everyone in your household is going to end up with an ulcer or in a padded cell.
Here are the top 10 ways to create a peaceful home interior:
10. Silence
Turn off the TV once in awhile. That is a good place to start. Listen to the silence. It’s nice.
9. Calm yourself
Quit shrieking at your partner, kids, the dog and the mail man. Use your indoor voice. Calm down! Get a grip. Relax. Breatheeeee.
8. Enjoy music
Play it. Turn on your stereo system and let the music waft throughout your abode. Of course, head-banging, screeching hard metal rock isn’t going to be peaceful but there a lot of other types of music, nature sounds and spoken word recordings that are extremely soothing and comforting. Doing household work with music in the background makes the process a whole lot more bearable.
7. Purge
Kick your kids out and have your dog de-barked. Bad joke.
6. Feng shui
This is a Chinese philosophy that governs orientation and spatial arrangements in relation to the patterns of yin and yang and qi, which is the flow of energy. Yin and Yang represent the Chinese understanding of how things work. Yin is dark, downward, passive, cold and weak and yang is active, bright, hot, upward, strong and expanding. Yin and yang are moving energies that cause things to happen. Use this philosophy when decorating your home and arranging furniture. It could be that it really works, and you will end up with an incredibly balanced and peaceful interior.
5. Lighting
Select lights that can be dimmed or brightened depending on what you’re doing and how you’re feeling. If you’ve got a splitting headache, which you shouldn’t have if your home environment is really THAT peaceful, dim the lights. If you’re having the party of the century, crank up the lights. Use lights that are soft rather than glaring, perhaps even pink hued light bulbs. Pink is a very romantic, soothing color. And it does wonders for your complexion.
4. Color
Color has a profound impact on our mood and energy levels. Red makes you want to eat. Blues and soft greens are peaceful and calming. Give careful consideration to the colors that you choose for any given room because the wrong color can back fire and keep you up all night or be so distracting you can’t get any work done in your home office. If you are seeking tranquility avoid neon orange or hot pink. Don’t go crazy with patterns on the wall. That can be visually disruptive and disturbing and lead to a mental breakdown or at the very least crossed eyes. Don’t chance it.
3. Meditate
The Buddhists have got the right idea. Create a meditation room or space: Turn your basement or attic or a spare room into a space for yourself where you can do yoga, meditate, chant or just sleep. Ssshhhh. We won’t tell anyone you’re snoozing. Incorporate some of the Buddhist rituals and practices into your meditation time.
Decorate the room with peaceful wall hangings and a Buddha statue. If you want, you can even buy yourself prayer beads, a singing bowl or a prayer wheel. But if you’re a beginner with the practice, skip the shopping spree until you spend some time listening to Dharma talks on a site like DharmaSeed.org.
Once you start doing, the right things to buy will be obvious.
2. Do not hoard
Have you seen that TV show? Egads! Living in an overly-crowded, disgustingly dirty mess of a home is not going to result in a peaceful environment. If you are heading for hoarder-doom get out the shovel and start shoveling. Get rid of that stuff before it buries you alive and makes you miserable. Then organize the things you really need and want to keep, so your home stays clutter-free!
1. Live with intention
If the people who co-exist in the house love, like, respect and are considerate of one another, they can live in a shanty, and it will still be a peaceful home. However, the odds are much better that tranquility will prevail if you put some thought and effort into the design, décor and cleanliness of your crib.