Big Love

This is an important step to aid in relaxation

When I was a child my room was a safe haven and place to let down my guard. It gave me a comfortable place to read in bed. To listen to music and relax. To set aside cares and worries of the world outside.

Today, home has come to represent these same values and needs. I look to my home to be my sanctuary, to provide a calm and peaceful place set apart from the hustle and bustle of the outer world. Calm is a physical sense that the home can provide, as well as a visual calm.

What is a visual calm?

When looking around a room, the eye and subconscious mind takes in the surroundings. In the home, this includes many things: the state of the room, general cleanliness, and items that are in the space. This can be pleasing, it can feel right, or it can lead to a stress response.

I will provide an example of the the opposite of visual calm, visual disorder. Currently, my living room space is in a mess. I am in the process of putting away Christmas tree ornaments and lights, books, and stockings. However, the task is only half complete at present. The space is in visual disorder, my eye notes the items on the desk rendering it useless, the coffee table that has a small tower of things needing to be boxed up, the desk chair holding more items.

I know that these things need to be addressed because each time I look at them I go, ugh! Also, they don’t look as good as they did when in use. My next steps are to pack up the items into their boxes. Then put the boxes away until next year. This will return the living space, desk and coffee table in particular, to a state of visual calm. Things will be in their set places, surfaces available for use, and the eye will visually relax as it scans the area. Then I can relax more too, mentally and physically.