It should be a given that everyone enjoys their own home, and finds plenty of satisfaction in the time they spend in it.
After all, we are all mini kings and queens when we are in our own homes. How could you not feel positive and enthusiastic when you are surrounded by all your personal belongings, are able to totally relax and let your hair down, and have the ability to decorate and organize things exactly how you like?
Unfortunately, though, even though that’s the ideal, the reality is that a lot of people don’t really enjoy their homes half as much as they should – perhaps because their homes are completely chaotic and cluttered, and perhaps because they are so distracted by whatever else might be going on in their lives, that they can’t really bring themselves to “stop and smell the roses.”
In any case, it’s obviously much better to actually be able to find opportunities to enjoy your home, than is to just sleep and eat there, without ever feeling truly grateful for the blessings that you have.
Here are a few tips for finding opportunities to enjoy your home.
Decorate and organize in a way that uplifts
Obviously, you’re going to enjoy your home a lot more if it’s actually organized and decorated in a way that feels meaningful and uplifting to you.
First and foremost, you’ve got to get your home into decent order if it isn’t already. As the Japanese cleaning guru, Marie Kondo demonstrated pretty clearly on her show, a lot of people live their day-to-day existence with homes that are either totally messy or totally cluttered.
Get rid of junk, recycle what you can, and then go through your belongings to consider carefully which items you actually want to hold onto, and which ones it may be better to get rid of.
When your home’s been tidied up, consider whether the general layout and decor style actually matches your personal preferences or not.
If not, make an action plan for transforming things. That may mean hiring a professional patio door installer, researching vintage oak furniture, or paging through some home and lifestyle magazines for a bit of interior decor inspiration.
In any case, decorate and arrange your home in a way that you actually like.
Do one thing at a time and be mindfully present
One clear reason why you might not be properly enjoying your home to the extent you should, is that you might just be too perpetually distracted to actually pay attention to what’s right in front of you.
These days, it’s common for all of us to try to “multitask” as much as possible, as a way of compensating for the perceived time crunch that comes with living in a highly busy and fast-paced world.
The thing is, various psychological experiments have very clearly demonstrated that multitasking just makes you more stressed and is unhealthy for the brain. It is possible to miss all sorts of blatant and important features of your environment if you are distracted.
So, in order to ensure that you’re actually able to enjoy your home, make a point of doing one thing at a time, and being mindfully present wherever you are. Don’t constantly check your phone for social media updates while you are cooking. And if you are relaxing in a comfy chair with a good book, don’t simultaneously attempt to watch television.
Remove distractions and background noise from your life
In addition to people trying to “multitask” too much, it’s also the case that life is frequently just so “noisy” these days that it can be very difficult to actually pay attention to what is right in front of you. And, when you do settle down, your thoughts may still be racing at a hundred miles per hour.
According to the famous Norwegian explorer, Erling Kagge, “silence” is one of the things that is most missing from modern life, and the consequence of this is that we are frequently unable to get in touch with the deepest parts of ourselves, too, and to appreciate what’s right in front of us.
Importantly, what Kagge means by “silence” isn’t just (or even mostly) the absence of sound. For Kagge, “silence” is about removing the constant stream of information and mental clutter that keeps us completely preoccupied and out of sync with the present moment.
If you want to enjoy your home more, then a good place to start might be with removing some of the common distractions and background noise from your life.
For example, shrink your web presence a bit, and don’t be too caught up in what might be happening on social media. Then, turn the TV off, and don’t fill each calm moment with the background noise of a show or news bulletin.
When you calm things down in this way, there’s a good chance that you’ll be much better able to enjoy what’s actually in front of you. You may begin to notice and appreciate more just how cozy your sofa is. You may take satisfaction in seeing the way the light streams in through the window. And you may just feel a lot more “at home” in your own home.
Engage in relaxing and uplifting hobbies
One excellent way of enjoying your home more, is to engage in more relaxing and uplifting hobbies and projects in the home, as opposed to just going about the chores of everyday life, or “killing time.”
You could, for example, set up an artist’s easel in a spare room and get involved in painting, or, you could set yourself the challenge of becoming adept at a new style of cooking, or you could take up something like woodworking.
The more fun and fulfilling things you actually do in your home, the more likely it is you’ll feel positively about the home in general, and will have a good time there on a regular basis.