What It Means To You
My Home, My Haven
When I was little, I had a four poster bed. It was ivory and the canopy and bedspread were white with purple roses. It made me feel like a princess.
My favorite bedroom ever had mosquito netting and fabric draped from the ceiling with beautiful rich fabrics in gold, red and purple. It felt like a scene from 1001 Arabian Nights. It was beautiful and it was totally me. It was my haven. My bedroom must always be this way, it is my power center. It is where I go to meditate, sleep, read, and gather myself.
Next to the bedroom was the powder room and bathroom. There was a big tub that I could sit in or I could lay in with my long legs sticking up out of the water, but I couldn’t ever find any kind of position in which I was fully submerged, making it entirely pointless to use. So I took my big old tub and boarded it over with a top from an old desk, added a futon mattress and pillows, covered it in purple and gold fabric and added gold curtains to make a window seat. I would sit there for hours writing in my journal and gazing out at the greenbelt behind our house, watching the sunset…napping.
My bedroom must always be this way, it is my power center. It is where I go to meditate, sleep, read, and gather myself.
In the home that I’ve built with my husband, we have elements that are important to us. We have our own little “library” filled with books that Scott has carried with him for most of his life. The same fabrics that I had from my favorite bedroom are present here, his collection of skulls and his collection of bull figurines blend with my collection of Angels and brass candle sticks. It so represents who we are as a couple, his harsh edges complement my softer ones. Our living room reflects that.
Our spaces can nurture us or they can drain us. Spaces have energy, everything is energy, so let’s take a look at how you are using your space!
What does home mean to you?
Where is your sacred space?
How can you nurture your body, mind and soul by creating a home that you love?
What are your essentials? What needs to be there? What does your dream home look like?
These are all questions that we will seek to answer in the Hearth and Home unit.
Let’s Talk About Comfort
What does comfort mean to you??
List 5 things that mean comfort to you…and why.
Your dream kitchen
What are the elements that make up your dream kitchen??
Is a kitchen important to you?
For my husband and I, food is how we show love, so the kitchen is the center of our home. We love to cook and our dream is to have a beautiful spacious kitchen one day…
Begin your exploration of kitchens in a sensual way…begin your image search and find photos that appeal to you, don’t use words, just feel into the picture and if it feels right, choose it! Aim to get a good sampling of 5-10 pictures.
Now… have a good look and see what they have in common…take note of what you love, write your narrative about your dream kitchen and add it to your discovery journal. What have you learned??
dream kitchen
another dream kitchen
yet another dream kitchen
and another
light and airy…check, light colored, natural textures, interesting that the lighting is similar on two of them, lots of storage, deep drawers, cupboards for displaying my china, an island….hmmmm loving it!!
The Welcome Home Exercise
Welcome Home
Home…a place of comfort, a place of renewal and rejuvenation, a place for storage and piles and messes, the place where you cook, socialize, sleep, dream…it means so many things!
This exercise is about graphically mapping out your life and how you are living it. It’s about integrating the person you are now and creating a blueprint for the person you desire to be and the life you want to have.
So…let’s get started…
First, let’s create your rough sketch of your blueprint.
Start with a box.
Now…add more boxes. You need at least 10. You can draw it free hand or use your computer, your goal is to lay out a floor plan for your dream home. Do this intuitively, and label the boxes…living room, family room, basement…whatever fills in your dream
Types of rooms you may want to use:
Bedroom Great Room Basement Garage
Den Office Kitchen Gym
Dining Room Living Room Game Room Bathroom
Use what’s familiar, or use what you desire. It’s up to you to design your blueprint!
Remember this is an intuitive exercise.
Got it done? Great!
Step 2
Your life elements:
Now, take the following elements and place one in each room of your home
Spirituality Relationships Family Health/Body Job/Career
Someday Entertainment Success Fashion/Style Mystery
Now that you’ve got your map, it’s time to dig in and figure out your why.
For each element, ask yourself…Why did you place the things the way you did? What insights can you gain from this?
And…is the house that you designed one that you recognize? Have you actually lived there?
Examples
The house I drew is the house I lived in from the time I was in 8th grade until I graduated from high school. I loved this house, it was big and airy and was on an acre of land. There were lots of people, I was at my most confident…and I so so wish my mom had never sold it! I drew the first square and realized that I was drawing this house after placing a few more squares around it. It’s my idea of home.
Family & Career are in the formal dining room and living room because this is my public self, and likewise this was where we entertained guests. We rarely spent time in there unless we had company. Likewise, I am very aware of the face I put on for the public in my career and to some extent with my family. You would think it would be less formal with my family…but it’s just not. I am working on it tho.
Spirituality is in the kitchen/great room because it’s the core of my being, it’s where my heart is, it is where I create, where I feel at home, where I feel safe
Health is in the garage because our garage was always a mess, it was where we piled laundry, and stored junk…we never actually had a car in there. I am slowly regaining my health but I’m not all the way there…hopefully I can move it inside soon
Relationships is in the Master bedroom because that was my parent’s room and they had a solid relationship. It worked for them even tho others didn’t quite understand it. It was solid. My relationship with my husband is much the same.
Someday is in the master bath…well because I had no place else to put it…it was the last thing I thought of and that Is probably significant
Mystery is in bedroom 3 because that was my room and I am often a mystery to myself, yet, it was also my haven, my safe space, MY place and I am comfortable with not knowing everything about myself it just felt right to have it here
Style is in the bathroom because that is where I spent a lot of time in my teenage years…and not something I really think about as an adult. I wear what is comfortable and convenient
What It Means To You
My Home, My Haven
When I was little, I had a four poster bed. It was ivory and the canopy and bedspread were white with purple roses. It made me feel like a princess.
My favorite bedroom ever had mosquito netting and fabric draped from the ceiling with beautiful rich fabrics in gold, red and purple. It felt like a scene from 1001 Arabian Nights. It was beautiful and it was totally me. It was my haven. My bedroom must always be this way, it is my power center. It is where I go to meditate, sleep, read, and gather myself.
Next to the bedroom was the powder room and bathroom. There was a big tub that I could sit in or I could lay in with my long legs sticking up out of the water, but I couldn’t ever find any kind of position in which I was fully submerged, making it entirely pointless to use. So I took my big old tub and boarded it over with a top from an old desk, added a futon mattress and pillows, covered it in purple and gold fabric and added gold curtains to make a window seat. I would sit there for hours writing in my journal and gazing out at the greenbelt behind our house, watching the sunset…napping.
My bedroom must always be this way, it is my power center. It is where I go to meditate, sleep, read, and gather myself.
In the home that I’ve built with my husband, we have elements that are important to us. We have our own little “library” filled with books that Scott has carried with him for most of his life. The same fabrics that I had from my favorite bedroom are present here, his collection of skulls and his collection of bull figurines blend with my collection of Angels and brass candle sticks. It so represents who we are as a couple, his harsh edges complement my softer ones. Our living room reflects that.
Our spaces can nurture us or they can drain us. Spaces have energy, everything is energy, so let’s take a look at how you are using your space!What does home mean to you?
Where is your sacred space?
How can you nurture your body, mind and soul by creating a home that you love?
What are your essentials? What needs to be there? What does your dream home look like?
These are all questions that we will seek to answer in the Hearth and Home unit.
Let’s Talk About Comfort
Your dream kitchen
What are the elements that make up your dream kitchen??
Is a kitchen important to you?
For my husband and I, food is how we show love, so the kitchen is the center of our home. We love to cook and our dream is to have a beautiful spacious kitchen one day…
Begin your exploration of kitchens in a sensual way…begin your image search and find photos that appeal to you, don’t use words, just feel into the picture and if it feels right, choose it! Aim to get a good sampling of 5-10 pictures.
Now… have a good look and see what they have in common…take note of what you love, write your narrative about your dream kitchen and add it to your discovery journal. What have you learned??
dream kitchen
another dream kitchen
yet another dream kitchen
and another
light and airy…check, light colored, natural textures, interesting that the lighting is similar on two of them, lots of storage, deep drawers, cupboards for displaying my china, an island….hmmmm loving it!!
The Welcome Home Exercise
Welcome Home
Home…a place of comfort, a place of renewal and rejuvenation, a place for storage and piles and messes, the place where you cook, socialize, sleep, dream…it means so many things!
This exercise is about graphically mapping out your life and how you are living it. It’s about integrating the person you are now and creating a blueprint for the person you desire to be and the life you want to have.
So…let’s get started…
First, let’s create your rough sketch of your blueprint.
Start with a box.
Now…add more boxes. You need at least 10. You can draw it free hand or use your computer, your goal is to lay out a floor plan for your dream home. Do this intuitively, and label the boxes…living room, family room, basement…whatever fills in your dream
Types of rooms you may want to use:
Bedroom Great Room Basement Garage
Den Office Kitchen Gym
Dining Room Living Room Game Room Bathroom
Use what’s familiar, or use what you desire. It’s up to you to design your blueprint!
Remember this is an intuitive exercise.
Got it done? Great!
Step 2
Your life elements:
Now, take the following elements and place one in each room of your home
Spirituality Relationships Family Health/Body Job/Career
Someday Entertainment Success Fashion/Style Mystery
Now that you’ve got your map, it’s time to dig in and figure out your why.
For each element, ask yourself…Why did you place the things the way you did? What insights can you gain from this?
And…is the house that you designed one that you recognize? Have you actually lived there?
Examples
The house I drew is the house I lived in from the time I was in 8th grade until I graduated from high school. I loved this house, it was big and airy and was on an acre of land. There were lots of people, I was at my most confident…and I so so wish my mom had never sold it! I drew the first square and realized that I was drawing this house after placing a few more squares around it. It’s my idea of home.
Family & Career are in the formal dining room and living room because this is my public self, and likewise this was where we entertained guests. We rarely spent time in there unless we had company. Likewise, I am very aware of the face I put on for the public in my career and to some extent with my family. You would think it would be less formal with my family…but it’s just not. I am working on it tho.
Spirituality is in the kitchen/great room because it’s the core of my being, it’s where my heart is, it is where I create, where I feel at home, where I feel safe
Health is in the garage because our garage was always a mess, it was where we piled laundry, and stored junk…we never actually had a car in there. I am slowly regaining my health but I’m not all the way there…hopefully I can move it inside soon
Relationships is in the Master bedroom because that was my parent’s room and they had a solid relationship. It worked for them even tho others didn’t quite understand it. It was solid. My relationship with my husband is much the same.
Someday is in the master bath…well because I had no place else to put it…it was the last thing I thought of and that Is probably significant
Mystery is in bedroom 3 because that was my room and I am often a mystery to myself, yet, it was also my haven, my safe space, MY place and I am comfortable with not knowing everything about myself it just felt right to have it here
Style is in the bathroom because that is where I spent a lot of time in my teenage years…and not something I really think about as an adult. I wear what is comfortable and convenient