Creating a Relaxing Home Environment
By Aurora M.
Your home is supposed to be a haven; a place for you to feel safe and comfortable. Whether you’re living in your dream home, or a cramped studio apartment until you can find something better, you deserve to feel comfortable when you’re at home! There’s no point to having a home that you don’t enjoy or want to spend time at.
Aromatherapy
This can look like so many different things to so many people. You can light incense, or you can set up a simple essential oil diffuser to release the scent slowly throughout the day. Having a pleasant smelling home can transport you mentally to a handful of different places, because we associate smells heavily with emotions and memories. Test out lots of different scents until you find the perfect one for your home! Some popular smells for the home are lavender, lemon, and eucalyptus, all of which can help lift your mood and make you feel good. You can learn more about common scents and their effects here.
Music can set the mood
One of the best things about music is how much it can influence your mood. There are tons of ways to play relaxing music in your home to keep you feeling calm but invigorated. You can find lots of playlists on apps like Spotify that are calming, or you can create your own playlist. A great set playlist to try is to search for either spa music, or coffee shop music. Both of these types of playlists will be mellow and comforting. You can play music softly in the background throughout the day to help you feel calm and relaxed.
Add some greenery
Having live plants in your home promotes a positive energy, as this article states. It can even have significant effects on your mental state and productivity. Even if you feel like you’re horrible at keeping plants, or that they often die in your care, there are lots of plant
options for you! Try a succulent or cactus, both of which require much less water and maintenance to survive. So if you forget to water them for a little while, they’ll make it out alive.
If you really can’t keep a plant alive, bring fresh cut flowers into your home every week instead. This will still freshen up your space considerably, but you won’t feel stressed trying to remember to water a plant every few days. This option also gives you the chance to change up your greenery every single week, so you can keep it fresh and try out new things.
Feng Shui
A lot of people are skeptical when it comes to feng shui, but you’ll have to try it for yourself before you judge it. Having your furniture in different positions in your home can promote different types of energy. Even if it’s just rearranging your furniture so it is a more open space, rather than feeling cramped, can create a much more relaxing environment. It’s hard to be comfortable and relaxed when you feel cluttered and like you don’t have enough room. Check out a feng shui book or website and see if there’s anything you can do in your living spaces to free up space and make things a little more comfortable for you.
Blankets, throws, and pillows
Just because the weather is starting to warm up doesn’t mean that it’s time for you to pack away all of your cozy blankets! In order to be relaxed, you need to be comfortable. If you have a pile of blankets and pillows to cuddle with when you’re sitting on your couch, you’re going to be so much more relaxed. It also promotes optimal cuddling, so you win no matter what!
Natural light
Most living spaces have a few windows you can pop open on warm days to fill your living room with fresh air and warm sunlight. A lot of us forget to open our curtains, though, and use artificial light during the daytime instead. Try to remember to open up your windows more often, because it will make you feel better and as an added bonus, it will lower your electric bill!
Majenica
"Time spent with cats is never wasted." ~ Sigmund Freud
