Why Nurture Your Home?
Take just a moment to reflect on all of the ways that your home serves you. Whether you have been in your home for 30 years or 3 months, it offers you shelter from the elements, a place to unwind, or to celebrate. Hopefully, it is a place that is there for you when you need to escape from the rigors of work and simply living in our fast-paced world.
Research shows that gratitude offers many positive effects, including its effect on our buying habits. In this wide-ranging and fascinating white paper prepared for the John Templeton Foundation by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, the writers share that ” In one study, the relationship between gratitude and materialism could be explained by people’s levels of life satisfaction: Grateful people may be less materialistic because they feel more satisfied with their lives—and thus, ostensibly, don’t feel much of a need to acquire new things in order to feel more satisfied.” Wow!
Anyway, I digress! I wonder if you have had this experience? You become inspired (or fed up!) with a particular area of your home and you work diligently to make it functional, beautiful, and more clutter-free. Then you go about your day-to-day life and one day notice that your lovely area is, well, less than lovely now.
How do you feel when this happens? I really want to know! But first I invite you to answer the question for yourself. Why? you ask ~ because the way that you feel about your spaces and how you tend to them will affect how successful you will be at making changes that will produce lasting results. If the feelings that surface are not comfortable feelings, that is totally OK!
9 Steps To Nurture Your Home
Just like a child, a seed, or an idea, without nurture, your home will not thrive. Below is a quick list of 9 steps to nurture your home and offer it the gratitude and appreciation it deserves.
- Take photos of any areas you wish to nurture or improve.
- State your intention or goal for each space.
- Be honest with yourself about how much time and energy you are willing to devote to nurture this space over time.
- Break down your intention/goal to specifics.
- Take inventory and make note of what is currently in this space.
- Identify 1 habit that will make it easier to nurture this space
- Commit to regular times to nurture this space.
- Share your vision and goals for each space with others in your household.
- Take an “after” picture and celebrate!
Step-By-Step, With Expert Tips & Examples!
Take Photos of Areas You Wish to Nurture.
It is wise to choose a small space to begin with so that you can experience success. The “before” photo will also help you to see how far you have come. If you wish, you can then visually share your success with others!
State Your Intention or Goal For Each Space.
Your intention can really be anything that you desire for this space. It can be as simple as “I want to be able to put something pretty in this space.” Other possibilities are “I want to be able to find things when I need them” or “I want to have systems to collect ___________ here either permanently or temporarily.” You might close your eyes for a moment and envision the space as you would like for it to be.
Be honest! How much time and energy am I willing to devote to nurture this space over time?
On a scale of 1-10, how willing are you to do what it takes to keep this space clutter-free?
How much time are you willing to devote to achieving your goal each day or each week?
What we give our attention to thrives and your home is no different. Sadly, it will NOT declutter and nurture itself. 🙁
Break Down Your Intention To Specifics.
I will be happy if this space only collects ____ for less than a day or I do not wish for anything but ___ to be in this space.
Your intention may also be about the way you want to feel when you look at this space rather than the nuts and bolts of what can live there. After all, your joy and satisfaction with your space is really what it is all about!
Take Inventory.
There may be some things that you put there intentionally and others that you are surprised to discover. You may even have a lovely “so that’s where that went” moment. 🙂
- Using your inventory list, consider what types of things are in this area. Identify the ones that actually have a designated place to go and set them aside to distribute later. It is best to resist the impulse to start distributing things right away, as you may not make it back to your space if you get distracted. Instead, have a “transit” container that you can carry around after each nurturing session.
- Now think about the things that it is less easy to identify an existing home for. A pro organizing tip is do this by category. You may have discovered hair and beauty supplies along with clothes that need to be washed and things that you mean to do.
- Are there treasures in this space? If so, consider giving them the spotlight in a special place or altar.
- For to-do items, you may wish to store them all together in a project box, identify a time to do each task, and add each task to your to-do list. For each “project” ask yourself these 3 questions:
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- How high is this on my priority list?
- How long do I estimate it will take to do?
- When will I commit to doing it?
Identify 1 Habit To Support You In Nurturing This Space
What is one habit that you could implement to keep the items that creep in from landing there? A few guiding questions are: Where else might each thing or category of things go?
For things that have a designated space but are not getting there, reflect on what simple tweak could offer a new productive habit that will help things get to their designated spaces more easily.
Use our free printable “Mastering A New Habit” chart to assist you in solidifying any new habit(s).
Commit To Regular Times To Nurture Your Space.
Male a commitment to yourself to work some regular times into your calendar or schedule. Treat them as sacred. If “life happens” and you choose to do something different during your scheduled nurturing time, simply reschedule with yourself as you would with a friend you made plans with.
Mindful decluttering and organizing is an opportunity to “make friends with yourself” and give yourself the time you need to nurture your space as freely as you give your time and energy to those you care about.
Share Your Vision!
Do you need support from others in keeping this space the way you want it? Have you shared your vision with them? There are few things worse than pouring your heart and energy into honoring a particular space only to have other people wreck it!
Take An “After” Picture!
After you have the space looking the way that you want it to look and feel, take an “after” picture and do a happy dance.
Get Into Action!
I hope you are excited and ready to begin nurturing your home!
A fantastic way to get into action and identify new productive habits is to join a supportive community of others with similar goals.
Join my private “Declutter Your Life ~ Free Your Spirit” Facebook group for free trainings and support!!
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I love this! Such a soulful, peaceful and practical approach. 🙂
These little hacks i will be able to declutter my home and get everyone in the house to help as well.