Creating Calm in Your Home
Whether it’s stress from work, parenting, or just life, our homes can often feel like battle grounds instead of safe havens. While they should be a place where we can find refuge, the reality of day-to-day living often makes that ideal harder. A calmer home is still within reach though, and here are some simple tips to help up the peace-factor in your home.
Tidy Up - Creating space and decreasing clutter in our homes can have a similar effect on our minds. Studies have shown that cleaning can reduce stress by giving a sense of control over our environment. It can also increase focus and boost our mood. Running that vacuum, doing that pile of dishes or picking up those toys all over the floor allows our brains to breathe a little.
Use Your Nose - Scents play a big, albeit unseen, part in the feeling of a home. That’s because our sense of smell is so connected to the part of the brain that also regulates mood, emotion, and memories. So the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, try lighting a candle, burning incense, spraying a perfume or air freshener, or even baking a batch of cookies. If you associate good feelings with a certain scent, try to incorporate that to give you a sense of calm, coziness or comfort to your home.
Turn Up the Tunes - Playing soft music can create calm, but so can upbeat music when it helps stave off an irritable mood. Playing fun music can help you or your family members (read: unwilling children) get through an undesirable task. An impromptu dance party can also set a positive tone. The right music can help increase productivity and bring an added measure of fun to your home!
Plan It and Post It - Another way to decrease stress is to have a plan. Looking forward to weekly or monthly schedules and then posting them publicly for the household to see is a great way to create an added measure of calm. Keep a calendar visible in a common area so everyone in the household is on the same page and privy to the same information.
Don’t Forget to Breathe - Sometimes all it takes to turn a stressful moment into a calm(er) one is pausing to take a breath. If kids are bickering, or spouses are disagreeing, or work-from-home is causing a headache, try a meditation practice of taking a few deliberate deep breaths. Even pausing for a few moments can help create a calmer you, and at the end of the day, your influence matters more than you know. You have the power to create the home you want. Be the calm you wish to see in the world!
These are just a few ideas that will hopefully help in the quest for calm.