What does your home say about you?

"A house is who you are, not who you ought to be."   Jill Robinson

In times past, the home was considered a sanctuary, an oasis of calm in a crazy world. People went out to work and came home to retreat from the world. Nowadays, the line has blurred between home and work for most of us. Home offices are a norm. Some folks work intirely from home. More and more people in America home school their children so home becomes a default classroom/gymnasium/playground. Having the world inside our homes makes it difficult for many of us to create that intimate space where we can retreat, have no distractions, and be with ourselves even for twenty minutes a day.

So where is the sanctuary now? Every home, no matter how small or cramped, should have a tiny space that one can call one's own. Shared space can be turned into personal space with a screne or a curtain. Even if you only have a designated chair, make that your personal oasis. Turn a closet into an meditation space by setting up a small altar, and putting a pretty rug on the floor. Create an outside sanctuary by placing flowering plants to shield it from view. In the best of all worlds, one should have one's own room, and when the door is closed, it means, 'I'm taking some me time.'

Our homes reflect who we are, for better or worse. At the very least, they reflect our prioities. They are our living shells. Like crustaseans, we create an external environment to reflect our internal one. Look around your home today. What does it say about you?

In the spirit,
Jane