Finding Your Sixth Sense of Home

By Laurel James

“A house is built of walls and beams. A home is built with love and dreams.”—unknown

What is Home to you? Is it a place to live or is it a place in your heart? I say it is both!
When people can get in touch with the creative and unseen aspect of Self inside and imagine and feel what they want in a home, delightful things happen. I call this getting in touch with our sixth sense of home. It’s a place where we set the stage of intentional placement in our mind to manifest our true home—inside and out.

No matter what culture we live in, the décor in our homes sets the stage and plays a role in our lives. Our values, personalities, and spiritual beliefs share the same space with our items, artifacts, and knick-knacks. All together they provide an external expression of our personalities and styles. Intentional placement is an exterior symbol of our true selves and our hopes and dreams.

Oftentimes, if we are not conscious of object placement in our homes we can send the wrong signal. For instance, I was in my new home for one year following a divorce when I realized that I had only a single chair placed in almost every room. As I walked through the spaces, I became mindful of how I had been unconsciously giving off a signal that I just wanted to be left alone; I had been unintentionally sending vibes that I did not want company! At that moment, I became aware of what I wanted with a clear intention, and that is to share my life with positive friends. I needed my home to be welcoming and to reflect my core values of love and Joy.

Therefore, with intention in hand, I created a front garden complete with a table and chairs to greet my guests upon their arrival. I bought a dining table and placed it in a welcoming spot near a beautiful window. Then, I grouped two chairs and a sofa together upon a circular rug to encourage my friends to gather, and I placed this inviting conversation area in the center of my home.

Knowing what I wanted to attract gave me a clear picture of where I needed to place my furniture and decorations. Moreover, how I set the stage in my physical home was now in sync with how I wanted to live my life and connect with friends and family in both my inner and outer worlds.

Using your sixth sense with intentional placement is a timeless way to design and decorate that never goes out of style. In your mind’s eye, how do you need to feel to be at home? What do you want your home to reflect about you? What does your dream home look like?
Over the past 20 years, I have helped many people answer these questions and tap into their inner awareness, which is essential in the process of creating a living environment with intentional placement. Initially, this involves getting clear picture of what you want.

Next, you develop a purposeful design according to your personal values, dreams and desires. Knowing all of this, you can then focus on the esthetics, and choose furniture and decorations that can support your unique home life.

The Design Prescription

The first step of the design prescription for you is to identify a personal goal. Look inside your center. What helps you to feel good in your inner and outer home? Decorate from the sacred place within your heart. What are your core values? These are the guiding principles in your life: your values, beliefs and sense of purpose. Your needs help you focus and drive you toward action and achievement.

Choose just one of the needs or wants that you feel is important in your life right now. Place it with intent in your heart and mind. Consider what it means to you, how it makes you feel and how it could help you and others in your home life.

The second part of the design prescription is to intentionally place something in your home that symbolizes your desires. Decorate your home in a way that that represents to you what it is you want in your life. Placing something in your home with intent can consciously and unconsciously remind you of what you want every time you walk by it. For example, have you ever traveled somewhere and brought back a special item, artifact or piece of art for your home? When you see that decoration in your living space it can instantly bring back the memory of those travels. If an object can bring to mind a fond memory, so can the intentional placement of your décor. Like a forget-me-not, that decoration can help remind you of your positive intention!

Your heart is at the center of your being. There is synergy between your feelings and values and the placement of your decorations and objects in your physical space. See with clarity and peace that you do have insight at your center to design an environment that reflects the true you. You have all the knowledge and imagination you need to create your heart centered home!

Feeling + Placement = Home

Laurel James is a graduate of Ringling School of Art and Design. With over 20 years experience as an Interior Designer she has helped hundreds of individuals and families with their living environments. She has founded the process of Interiorology to help others thrive and find the positive aspects of their home lives. She has created “inner principles” that will bring awareness of what we need to flourish in our living spaces. This article was taken from a chapter from Laurel’s new book Interiorology-Home Design Within, How to Create a Living Environment that Reflects the True You. For more information visit www.Interiorology.org

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