Make Your Home a Happier Place
When we think about ways to make ourselves happier, we tend to think about doing some form of activity that we would consider to be fun, we do not normally refer to what is going on in our home. However, our home environment can have a substantial impact on our mood.
The old saying ‘ home is where the heart is’ will always stand true. However, the physicality of home living will always have a profound effect on our happiness; it plays a significant role in influencing how we feel affecting our sense of wellbeing. The home should be a safe haven where we can escape regular, everyday pressures, and surround ourselves with the people and things we love.
There are a number of ways that we can create a happier, and in turn a healthier, home, and given that reports show that our homes account for 15% of our total happiness it is important to consider a few. Here are the simplest ways to make your home happier:
Create a positive space
Find a space within your home where you feel most comfortable and are free to express yourself. It can be multifunctional, completely private or super sociable, the choice is yours – but make sure your space epitomises your happy place. Fill it with home comforts and personalise it to really make it yours. There are lots of ways to do this; you can paint it with warming tones, add personalised photos, leafy green plants, sumptuous soft furnishings with colourful cushions, throws and rugs. All of these minimal touches can help to make a significant impact on your at home happiness.
Research shows the secret to human happiness is the creation of strong bonds with family and friends, so why not open up your happy place to those who make you the happiest?
Bring every room back to ‘ready’
To really maximise your time at home in your positive space, it’s important to pay close attention to all of the rooms within your home. Clutter causes stress! Therefore this simple hack is mood-boosting and simple: take a few minutes in each room to bring them back to ‘ready,’ fluff up the cushions, make your bed, put away clean clothes, and try and do this each time you leave if you see something out of place.
Let the natural light and air in
Lighting has an incredible impact on mood – both positive and negative – and living in Scotland often makes natural light hard to come by. However, the positive effects of natural lighting is undeniable. It helps to connect us to the outside world and is important for our body’s internal clock helping to balance out our sleep and wake cycles. For this reasoning, position your furniture near windows, allow the natural light to flood your home with minimal window dressings, bounce natural light around your hope with the help of mirrors and try to spend a small portion of your day outside to embrace the natural light in all its glory.
Open up those windows! It does not have to be for a prolonged period of time, but it is recommended that you open them for 10-15 minutes each day after you have just woken up. Leave your bed unmade with the duvet pulled to allow the fresh air to dry them. Once you are ready close all the windows, make your bed, and this simple will improve your air quality in your home within a matter of minutes.
Bring in fresh flowers and plants
The best way to introduce nature into your home is by bringing plants in. Plants are a great way to remove toxins from the air, and as an added bonus they look good too! They also help to lower stress levels, along with improving the quality of your mood.
Create multi-sensory spaces
Aesthetically pleasing visuals within your home can only take you so far, in order to make your home your happy place you have to be able to feel it. You need to use all of your senses.
Sight
Start by introducing exposed wood in your rooms. Warm wooden surfaces create a source of wellbeing as they help to reduce stress levels. These timber surfaces have been known to help lower heart rates and blood pressure levels and consequently creates a relaxing and calm space that enhances your sense of wellbeing.
Smell
Candles and oil diffusers have profound effects when introduced to the home. Be sure to choose natural essential oil scented candles as these have been known to help you to relax.
Touch
Soft materials and furnishing help to create a sensual feeling: velvet, linen, wool, silk etc. You can add these sensual feelings to your everyday amenities, through your sofa material, the cushions you choose to decorate with, even your bathroom towels add to the sensual feeling within your home.
Our homes are an extension of who we are – what we do within the walls of our dwellings has the ability to structure our moods, it disturbs our productivity, and impacts your overall outlook on life. It has been proven that making the smallest adjustments within our homes can have a significant impact on happiness. Give some of these tips a try to help yourself achieve a happier lifestyle – remember it does not have to be anything drastic. It’s remarkable to see how a few tweaks to our everyday habits can become a catalyst for meaningful optimistic change.
