Creating A Home Sanctuary

How to turn your House into a HOME. Heaven On Mother Earth!

 

Ever walked into an exquisitely furnished home and yet felt unwelcome? Or entered a modest apartment and never wanted to leave, it literally hugs you? It is within the walls of a calm and nurturing home that joy and peace is most easily experienced. But if our home is a personal battlefield from the time we open our eyes in the morning until we close them at night, it is more difficult for us to experience peace on earth.

The goal of experiencing peace, harmony and balance is attained by turning our house, the 4 walls/structure into a HOME. A Home that has more character, life-force energy and support for us. Creating a Sanctuary that harmonizes and nurtures our soul.

I believe that since our recent events and wake-up call of 9/11 that it is vital to create sacred space for ourselves. We are spending more time in our homes, not traveling as much – really nesting. I find most of us are desiring to get to what is REAL and important in our lives and to connect with our spirit/soul.

What can be done to change our lives? There are 2 basic principals to understand. The first is that Everything is connected and alive – energy, and the second is that our house directly affects us because it is a connected to us. It is not a lifeless structure just providing protection from the elements.

I think what most people are not aware of is how connected we are to our homes and how it can directly affect our lives. If something in our home is not in harmony or resonance with us, it is actually creating negative energy and can affect us the same way that when the body creates disease when something not in harmony. Most of us take disease seriously! The same attention needs to be given to our environment because disharmony in our homes can actually manifest as physical disease, lack of abundance, relationship issues, family quarrels, and career problems.

The first thing to understand is how much our homes are connected to us, how it directly affects all aspects of our lives, and to make sure that our surroundings are in harmony with us.

The second thing is to clear the clutter. Clutter is an accumulation of things impeding the flow of energy in our homes. Things like a broken object we don’t plan on fixing, unwanted gifts we keep, items which have expired, clothes that don’t fit or we no longer like. . . any object we don’t love or use becomes clutter.

When we clear our home of clutter we are also clearing our lives – again our homes are a reflection of us – changing our home’s energy literally changes our energy.

As an example, cleaning our closets or entire house is a symbolic act of releasing things we no longer need in our lives. It clears away the old energy that may be holding us back.

Our Outer World represents our Inner World. So if we are feeling stressed, overwhelmed (an inner feeling) with family, work and chores, often times we are being affected because of the clutter in our houses or office space (outer world). One way to remedy this or to lighten the load is to go through the clutter and determine if we must keep the item or not. If not, get rid of it. Magazines or books, for an example, piling up for us to read can cause stress, anxiety, and an overwhelming feeling just by looking at them. All this “stuff” is taking up space, physically in our homes and mentally in our minds, and not allowing our goals to manifest or for us to be in peace.

Don’t think because we can’t see it, it does not affect us. Our closets and garage are equally as important as every other room in our homes. We don’t even park our cars in our garages anymore because they have become storage units for us! If we have trouble letting go of items because they are of value to us, take advantage of eBay and sell them!! If we really want to simplify our lives, then be ruthless and move all those unwanted or unused items on. If we have not used or worn the object in 6 months to 1 year, out it goes.

Other aspects in our home that can affect us are:

Space Clearing - Cleansing and purifying our home energetically. We need periodically to cleanse our home’s energy as it becomes stagnant or negative; negative energies affect the health and well-being of the all the people living in the home. There are many effective tools that can be used to Space Clear such as smudging, ringing a bell, tingshaw or signing bow or using the Sanctuary Purification Spray™.

Numerology - Our address (the numbers) affects the energy of our entire home which will affect us. So you may wish to purchase a home or rent an apartment based on the numbers and energy it evokes. Also the Odd – Yang vs Even – Yin numbers will affect energy in decorating. Even numbers contract energy, slow it down and stabilize it. Odd numbers expand energy. By consciously decorating in patterns of the numbers 1 through 9 we can change the way we feel when we are in a room or office space.

Color – The colors chosen in both furnishings and paint affect us positively or negatively, as our bodies absorb color and each color carries a specific vibration.

Cellular Memory - Another basic principal is that everything has cellular memory, and there are strands of energy connecting us to every object and furniture that we own. It is important to check all objects and furnishings in our homes to see whether or not they represent positive memories, because our energy will wane every time we walk by or use an object that subconsciously reminds us of something negative.

The Art of Placement - Chi (energy) is inhaled into the home and flows according to the interior structure. The layout of the rooms, as well as the positioning of the furniture will either be favorable to the flow of energy or will impede it.  If energy is impeded it can affect us directly and in an adverse manner.

The 5 Elements – Feng Shui observes that human beings are made up of  five elements, and therefore, we are most comfortable when all five elements are present in our homes: EARTH, WATER, FIRE, WOOD & METAL. And it is best to have these elements present in a balanced manner. Too much of one element can lead to disharmony.

Balance Yin and Yang – All the items in our house can be categorized into Yin (feminine) or Yang (masculine) and we want a balance to direct the Chi into harmony.

Ba-Gua Map – Using this basic map found in any Feng Shui book showing such areas as Relationships, Abundance, Health, Career when the template is placed over a house’s structure and working with each corresponding area can make significant changes in our lives.

Decorating – Expressing our creativity and personal style can affect us positively. It brings out the richness of our soul. Making us feel comfortable in our surroundings.

Being aware that our HOME is a template for us, and changing the template can affect our energy, health, relationships, abundance, career and more. Every technique employed (such as space clearing, color, art of placement, clutter clearing) influences the many energy fields in our homes. When we can look around and actually see  and understand that everything surrounding us is energy that directly affects us, it becomes much more important to live with things we feel good about.

May our homes be a Sanctuary in these changing times ahead.

©2002 Empowering Light for Inner Journey Newsletter