The Higher Faith- Quote by George MacDonald

“They try to believe in the truth of his word, but the truth of his Being, they understand not.”

George MacDonald

Design Affinity Part 4: What Keeps Us Centered

Welcome to part 4 of Design Affinity, a series that aims to help you embrace your dreams, passions and who you really are and inject that into your home décor.

What does it mean to be centered? Many have tried to explain the terminology but to tell the truth it isn’t easy.  To be centered is a feeling inside that is recognizable but not so easy to put into words.  I would explain it this way:  To be centered means you have something in your life which keeps you grounded.  It is a base point which you focus on which keeps you emotionally and mentally stable and helps you feel balanced inside.  When you are centered, you feel confident and often feel serenely peaceful.  It is something which you feel very strongly about.  This can be a spiritual or religious practice, your family, your business, your relationships, your goals or even physical exercise such as weight-lifting or yoga.  What keeps me centered is my relationship with God, my family, writing, caring for other people, books, prayer and meditation.  Love is at the centre of all of these,  Loving others and meditating and books keeps my spirit tuned and humming.  With centeredness also comes expansion simply because love grows.

You may be at a very different place than me.  It may be that for you it is your job or your art or poetry that keeps you centered.  It may be something else.  When you think about what centers you, what images come to mind?

Here’s my idea.  Whatever room you are decorating or working on, have at least one item in it that is symbolic of the thing which keeps you centered.  It can be a painting, some personal art work, a sculpture, a framed poem, a religious item such as a mezuzah or a lotus flower…anything that is meaningful to you.  For instance, I have photos of my children in three of my rooms and books in every room (except the bathroom).  In my bedroom, where I do most of my reading and meditation, I have these two sculptures:

The small one is hard to see but it is made of jade and it’s a baby whale on top of its mother which my daughter gave me.

When you add something to your décor that centers you, every time your eyes rest on the object, it reminds you of what is important-what fills you up with peace and stability.  Below are some more examples but keep in mind that what you choose has to inspire or be meaningful to you.

I love this sculpture as it could remind someone to embrace life with joy.

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Simple message.  It can mean to believe in God or yourself or whatever is personal to you.  You can also get letters to spell whatever you want.

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When it comes to lighting candles especially with the lotus holder below, it can have an instant calming, centering affect.

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The home-owners below used a collection of photo art which is personal to them.

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This collection of photos is a wonderful reminder of family love.

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Wall art sculpture is another way to show personalization in a room.

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A self-created montage of images that are important to you may be a mystery to everyone else, but you will understand.

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Wall decals of your favourite quote, saying or life inspired message can add interest and drama in a room.  You can choose different fonts and wording of your choice.

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That concludes the Design Affinity series.  I hope it has given you lots of inspiration to design your personal space in a way that is meaningful to you.  It is possible that having a room decorated this way can help you stay focus on what is important and aid you in manifesting your dreams.

Design Affinity Part 3: Colour Evocation

Welcome to part 3 of Design Affinity, a series that aims to help you embrace your dreams, passions and who you really are and inject that into your home décor.

When we see a room or an item of clothing, we are often drawn to the colour or repulsed by it.  It is all subjective however as we are influenced in part by our culture and other factors.  So while a white room may give one a sense of purity or spirituality, to another it can feel like being in a hospital.  Our preference for colour tells a lot about ourselves. The use of colour in a room can often have a powerful effect on our moods,emotions and sometimes even our behaviour.  Therefore, the  colour we choose for a room should be chosen carefully and should resonate with who we are and how we want to feel.

So let’s take a look at the symbolism of colour which is typical in our western culture.

Red is the colour of passion, romance, and sensuality.  Notice how the red walls make the room below feel warm and inviting? Because red is an advancing colour, this room gives the impression of being wrapped up cocoon-like which makes it also feel comforting.  If it was a lighter, brighter red room, it would feel more energetic so if you want to go red, choose carefully.

Blue is a colour that is calming.  It is the colour of the sea and sky.  It is favoured mainly by conservative people who like things orderly and peaceful.  The colour scheme in this room is very relaxing. It is a room for someone who wants to retreat and relax.  It is also minimalistic and the white coupled with the blue gives it an added feeling of airiness.  Even though the wallpaper is a busy one, the multi-shades of blue on the white background has a calming effect.

Yellow is a cheerful, sunny, inviting colour.  It is often favoured by hopeful, positive people.*  The colour is a good choice for this landing at the bottom of the stairs.  One can imagine that it would be difficult to walk down the staircase slowly.  The colour invites you to prance down the stairs.  The windows looking out to the garden seem even more inviting because of the yellow walls.  The warmer orange colours on the cushions seem to add a bit of reassurance as yellow can sometimes feel a bit provoking.

Orange is a warm, festive, vivacious colour often favoured by extroverts.  It is often viewed as an autumnal colour. Used in this bathroom it reminds one of a sunset seen whilst on holiday.  It makes the room feel warm and relaxing.  Having a bath in this room would make one feel deeply contented.

Green is the colour of nature.  It is a cool and restful colour said to promote harmony and stability.  In this living room, the green is fresh and tranquil.  It reminds you of being outdoors on a spring day.  Although it is a cool colour, darker shades of green can feel warmer.

Picture sourced from House Beautiful Magazine

Purple is a colour that is associated with wealth, wisdom and enchantment. It was the colour of the robes worn by kings and queens of old.  The scheme in this room gives an impression of being in a palace or the home of a fortune teller or wise woman.  The colour of the curtain is rich, the wallpaper dark, the sofa more of a violet/lilac shade while the chair is vibrant.  It has an air of mystery and contemplation to it.

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Pink is the colour of femininity,  It symbolizes love, romance and virginity. It is considered a somewhat childish colour and sometimes a colour of health (as in rosy cheeks).  Pink can be used to make a room feel sophisticated as in the example below.

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The colour brown is a composite colour of red, black and yellow.  It is earthy, the colour of woods and rich soil.  Chances are if you like brown you are stable, dependable. love the outdoors and are down-to-earth.  Brown in a room can feel both warm and sophisticated.  I especially love it combined with teal like in the example picture below.

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White is the blending of all colours.  It symbolizes purity, holiness, youth.  It is also symbolic of starting over or starting from the beginning like a blank canvas.  In some cultures, it symbolizes death and re-birth.  As mentioned before, some people relate it to hospitals or coldness. I tend to think of colour as cleanliness but if you choose to have an all white room, it isn’t going to be easy to keep it that way!  Personally, I don’t recommend it if you have children or pets.  White was chosen for the nursery below as babies are pure and innocent as the colour white.

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Black is white’s opposite as it is not actually a colour.  Black is the absence of colour.  It is equated with evil, death, power, sophistication (as in the little, black dress) and mystery (as in the night sky or dark cloaks).  Designing a black room takes a bit of know-how.  The example below is clever as the large mirror reflects a lighter adjoining room.  Over all the effect is gorgeous!

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Colours of course can be used with other colours.  The predominant colour should be something you are happy to live with.  Choosing a colour that has the symbolic traits of who you are will make you feel more at home with your colour choice.

*Warning: Research shows that the colour yellow is a bad choice for nurseries as it makes babies cry!

Design Affinity Part 2: Exploring Our Daydreams

Welcome to part 2 of Design Affinity, a series that aims to help you embrace your dreams, passions and who you really are and inject that into your home décor.

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We all daydream from time to time.  Some daydreams are those that we hope to make a reality and others are for self-entertainment.  Have you ever imagined what it would be like to live somewhere else or fantasized about going to the moon or wonder how it would be to live in the 1920’s?  Have you ever put yourself in a film you were watching or a book you were reading?  Our daydreams can tell us a lot about  ourselves and can really aid in knowing what we’d like to see in our own homes.  For instance, what sort of décor do you think a person would have who fantasizes about having their own vineyard, loves foreign films and books with romance in it?  What about a person who loves sci-fi books and movies about super-heroes and daydreams about living in a large city?  How about someone who dreams about helping others in need , creating works of art and living in Africa?  Get the picture?  The last person may not have any artistic ability or any aspirations to live in Africa but something about these daydreams are innately them.

Exercise 4:

Below are a few questions to help connect your daydreams to who you are. Ask yourself these questions and write down your answers.  If you find there is more than one answer you would give to any of them, write them all down.

1. If you could have a chance to  live either temporarily or permanently some place far away, where would you live?

2. If you were given a time machine to visit a place in time as you are now and not to change any event in history, where would you go?

3. If you could put yourself into one of your favourite books or movies, what would it be? Who would you be? What would you be wearing?

Exercise 5:

When you look at your answers, what images come to mind? Jot down any thoughts of what sort of things do you expect to see in your design scheme based on your answers.  Begin collecting images based on your answers.  These can be conceptual or literal  images or even interior design images or  home accessories if you happen to come across something you feel connects with your answers.

Image for my collection 🙂
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Design Affinity (part 1): De-Mystifying Ourselves

Let’s get started!

Who am I?

It’s one of the most profound yet mystifying questions ever asked throughout history.  Sometimes we think we know the answer only to find later that we have changed our minds.  Yet, if we were to look at all the ways we have answered this question since we were young, we may just find that all the answers we gave were in fact correct.  The truth lies deep within us.  Were we not a dancer even if we didn’t perform in front of an audience?  Were we not an actor even if we were not chosen for the part in the play?  When we were nine years old, were we not Scientists when we explored everything with our magnifying glass or when we learned to identify the different species of birds or trees?  Are we not poets if we write for our eyes only?  Is who we are based on an audience or a degree or how others see us?

You may have stopped believing in who you are so long ago that you may not even be sure who you are now.  I have a friend who has always made her living as a Secretary.  She has also tried her hands at many other things.  She took flight lessons, went to bar-tending school, passed a course in web design, sang in a band, became a mother, cared for her ageing parents and throughout it all was a time manager.  Who is she?  Some might say she’s a Secretary because that is what she does for a living.  I say she’s all the above and more.  I also see her as a Giver, a Comedienne, a Carer and a Great Friend.

I have a throw on my bed which is made of patches of intricate pieces of fabric.  There is velvet, moire, brocade and embroidery.  At first glance, it appears to be green but if you look closely, there is red, rust, magenta, olive, emerald, brown, slate, blue, beige and white.  So many colours and textures in this one throw.  Its beauty is made more so by its intricacies.  How plain and ordinary it would be if it had been made of just one simple fabric.  Each one of us is a fascinating, multi-faceted being waiting to be discovered and re-discovered over and over again.

Exercise 1:

I have made a list of adjectives.  Some of these may describe an element of who you are.  Take a moment to read each one slowly, preferably in a place where there are no distractions.  Now pick 5-8 words which you feel best describes you.  If you think of words which are not on the list, feel free to use those.

Exercise 2:

Now, look at the lists of Professions below.  Which of these do you have an affinity with?  What career do you aspire to?  What are your hobbies? Choose 4-6 professions which resonates with you.  It’s best to choose not what you do for a living but what you feel in the privacy of your own heart.  If you think of some which are not on the list, use those if you relate to it more.

Exercise 3:

Next, I want you to get involve in an activity that you really connect with; one that touches your spirit.  This can be listening to a piece of music, reading your favourite poem, gazing at a work of art or the stars in the sky. Or you may choose to pray, meditate or go for a nature walk.  Whatever you choose, it must be something that resonates deep inside you.  Once you have done that, look at the two lists again.  Would you pick the same adjectives and professions?  If not, choose which words you would now pick which best describes who you are.  Compare the words you chose the first time to the words you chose after your activity.  Which feels more true to you?  You may want to spend some time exploring this a bit further by getting involved in activities that reflect your chosen words if you are not already doing so.  If you are not enjoying it, don’t assume they are not the best words to describe you.  You just may be out of practice or need to explore further in a different way.

Design Affinity: Introduction

Allowing her eyes to adjust to the diminished light after just leaving the glaring sunlight outdoors, she felt her way through the dusky hall and came to the foot of the staircase. Her fingertips lightly resting on the bannister which was covered with dust, she began to slowly and carefully climb the stairs. The creaks and groans under her footing did not worry her, instead she felt the assurance in the steadiness of her heartbeat that she was not only safe but being guided to whatever waited for her on the next floor.  

When she reached the top she was surprised to find herself in a garret with one small window.  What was even more surprising is that though the rest of the house had been covered in dust, one pane of the window had been recently cleaned allowing the sun’s rays to shine through like a beam onto the surface of a free-standing, ornate floor mirror. She reached into her pocket, drew out a dust cloth and began to rub the caked-on dust off the mirror’s surface.  She smiled with pleasure as the image being reflected became clearer and more beautiful.  It was not the barren garret room which she saw being reflected.  It was a room she had never seen before but which she joyously recognized as her own.

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When we neglect our homes, they become dusty, dirty and untidy.  Likewise, when we stop striving for truth, goodness and authenticity, we lose our inner beauty by being less conscientious.  If we were to wipe clean all our callousness, our selfishness, our fiery tempers and all else we are striving to correct within ourselves, we begin to reflect beauty.  However, if live our lives emanating others, our falseness is often screamingly obvious.  On top of that, we are not very happy.  We don’t have any reassurance that we are liked for who we are and we don’t feel comfortable in our own skins.  This can also be true when we decorate our homes to please others or to look like what we see in magazines.  We may have a beautifully decorated home but we don’t feel comfortable in it. It may not even feel like home at all.

You may be thinking, ‘I see the point in self-development and living authentically but what does it matter what your home looks like?  Isn’t that just superficial?’  There are several reasons why I think it’s important that your home reflects who you really are.  We need a sanctuary to retreat to after a hard day.  We need to be able to come home to a place that envelops us in warmth and understanding, a place where we feel accepted.  The funny thing is, you probably knew this when you were a teenager.  You couldn’t decorate the house you grew up in, but you probably had a room or part of a room to yourself where you hung posters, strewn lights, tossed a few cushions.  You probably found yourself saying, “That’s so me!” when you found just the right poster in a magazine or the right words in a song lyric.  Your room was your sanctuary where you could be you.

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Sometimes, we forget about our authenticity when we dress to impress or decorate our homes in the style of the latest trends or perhaps we just decide it really isn’t important.  Which brings me to something which I think is even more important that can be accomplished if we really work at it.  I think if we are creative enough, we can decorate our homes to not only be who we are but who we want or are striving to be.  This is after all a reflection of our true selves not yet realized.  What makes this exciting is that our rooms will then be made to continuously serve as a reminder of what we are hoping to achieve and help us maintain our focus on our goals for us.

For the next few posts in this series, we will be discovering (or re-discovering) ourselves, learning some basic interior design knowledge and figuring out how to design our rooms to reflect who we are.

New Series Update

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This morning, I woke up at 5 am and found my mind ricocheting from one thing to the next.  This led me to something that I have found myself often flitting to in the past 8 months or so–the many aspects of wholeness.  When I think of people I know of who have  lived authentically, I have noticed that they also continuously birthed their whole selves. What they give is an integration of all that they are. This involves applying vision and creativity in all aspects of your life.  It begins by digging deep into the part of you where joy lies and allowing it to burst forth like a fountain.  You do it for yourself and then you often find you are doing it for others as well.  There is beauty in being yourself and that beauty touches others.  When you are not being authentic, you are doing a disservice to yourself and you are also limited in how well you serve others.  The great news is, it can also be so much fun!  This isn’t about being religious or ultra-spiritual.  It is about you learning all about who you are.  It is about tapping into what makes you happy in small ways before you even get to the big ways.  

Home And Spirit first started as a way to integrate all my interests.  I have often felt however that the posts on spirituality, interior design and natural health all seem a bit disconnected from each other.  So what I have decided to do is have a couple of series where we focus on the wholeness of the topic.  So for instance, the first series is Design Affinity which will be posts on interior design.  This series will focus on how we integrate who we are in the way we decorate our homes.  The next series will be on natural health and focus more on whole-self healing.  I have to admit this is a learning aspect for me as well.  This is our journey together.  This will also require a bit of time from me for research and more thoughtful posts.  Those of you who follow regularly will have noticed a bit of a drop in the amount of blog posts lately.  This was partly to do with the busy-ness of Christmas and the increase in hours I put in at work.  However, I will endeavour to publish between two to three posts a week.  So stay tuned! 🙂

Imagining With Child-Like Wonderment: The Visit of The Magi

Over centuries of time there has been much speculation regarding the magi–those men who followed the star which led them to the infant Jesus.  When we are children, we accept the events in stories rather easily due to our un-fettered imagination. Our creativity is birthed from it.  Sadly, as we get older our imagination gets squashed due to ‘correction’ and ridicule.  Yet, all of nature and its workings were birthed from the highest imagination there ever was and it is this same Wonderful, Imaginative Creator who encourages us to become like children.  Adults have speculated over when the events took place and where did the Magi come from and who were they.  If you wish to pursue these “Who?”, “Where?” and “When?” questions–those adult speculative queries based on cold facts, then you have the freedom to choose from any number of books, essays and websites which are readily available. Personally, I prefer not to read the story as simply an account of a historical event. I choose not to ask the adult type questions “Who?”, “Where?” and “When?” but rather to read with child-like wonderment and fearless imagination and ask instead those questions that begin the way all children first come to ask questions: “How?” and “Why?” and then to speculate aloud the way all children do by asking, “What if?”

The biblical account of the visit of the  Magi is a short one, simply written yet significant. The Magi came from the east following a star which they saw rose to the sky.  They were aware of the exact time it first appeared.  They stopped at Jerusalem to ask questions regarding the infants whereabouts and were advised by King Herod to go to Bethlehem.  Yet when they left, they again followed the star which went ahead of them to Bethlehem and then stopped over the place where Jesus was.  The Magi were overjoyed and worshipped Him and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  (Matthew 2:1-12)

And now let us wonder as children and question as children and imagine as children………

The star rose to the sky?

How did the star rise to the sky?  Was it like the rising of the sun?

What if it was like a firework that suddenly shot upward into the sky and then exploded into a star but instead of coming back down, it stayed up?  Imagine that!  It would be very bright!  How come no one else saw it?  If everyone could see it, then Herod would have just sent his soldiers to follow it. Perhaps, they were Astronomers and saw a new star that no one else would have noticed.  However, this star moved!  What if….this was no ordinary star…

How did they know this star signified the birth of a king? I suppose if the star looked anything like the picture above, they would naturally come to the conclusion that this must signify something great.  Why a King?  Why would they even a care about the birth of a king in a country that was not their own?  Yet, they were compelled to follow the star because they wanted to “worship” Him.  Why?

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What if they knew He was more than just a human king?  What if they knew he was God incarnate?  How could they know?   What if they had special abilities such as premonition?  Or perhaps it was something more….What if these particular Magi were just ordinary human beings?  As ordinary as the rest of us…yet, they suddenly just knew.  You know….the way we suddenly know things that are impossible to know.  What if it was the most amazing intuitive insight there ever was and these men suddenly all shared it?  What if this instinctive knowledge did more than just compelled them to follow this star but it also propelled them and this force which propelled the magi to follow the star also propelled the star to seek out the messiah?

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Why do adults fear the impossible elements that occur in the bible?  Why are we afraid to share the impossible that occurs in our own lives?  I wonder if the Magi were afraid that some would think them crazy.  The text doesn’t appear to say so because they boldly entered Jerusalem asking so many questions as to the whereabouts of this infant king that even Herod came to know about it.  And as I ponder on this, it makes me wonder that perhaps we need to exercise our fearless imagination and our fearless faith to believe that the impossible possibilities with all its magic can be realized in any of us and in our lives and perhaps ….it has been there many times throughout history all along.