There's Something About Being Merry

By Cyndi Seidler
05/19/06

There's a precept for being happy that says "Try to treat others as you would want them to treat you." What if we applied this precept to our living areas? Do you think we could make our living environment happy?

I know for a fact, by personal experience, that rooms show emotion. I've prove it to you.

See, I keep my office pretty tidy and, as a result, when I walk into it, the room smiles at me. The room is actually happy and greets me with a cheerful attitude. The great part is, that cheerful feeling rubs off on me somehow.

Then, on the rare occasion I leave the office untidy, the greeting is not so friendly. In fact, it is downright unfriendly. I could swear the room acts like I've offended it.

This is often the case when I'm at a person's home or office that needs organizing. My first view of the space makes me feel unwelcomed. The space is clearly unhappy and, when you look at the owner's emotional condition, it is evident that they are themselves unhappy in that space.

Some spaces might even yell at you with a warning, "Get out of here! Run for the hills!" Or, more apathetically, "Enter at your own risk."

I've been in places where these kind of warning signs are invisibly plastered around the room and it's intimidating. You may not be able to see the signs with your eyes, but you can feel it. Just like you can't see "unhappy," but you can feel it.

So obviously, the condition of a space can reflect the emotional condition of a person in that space. If you feel like putting this to the test and want to try this at home, make sure you have taken all the necessary precautions to prevent long-term emotional injury.

First, keep your escape route clear in case you feel like making a mad dash out of the room. You don't want to trip over anything.

Secondly, set a timer for a certain amount of time in case you end up trapped inside the room and forget you can leave. This sometimes happens when you get into an unhappy room and wind up spending a lot of time in it trying to get things done. The lingering affect takes longer to recover from.

And lastly, I suggest you play some pleasant music to offset the unpleasant environment you'll be spending time in. You may not notice the lowered emotional affects so easily.

Once you're ready to spend time in the unhappy, disorganized space, observe what happens. Notice whether you start to feel sad, overwhelmed, flustered, unable to focus, or just unable to get anything done. Try not to stay there too long, as I said earlier, or these affects will stay with you longer.

Now, finish the test and tidy up the room. Get it organized. Maybe even paint it or rearrange the furniture; whatever it takes to make it happy (the room, that is). Then do the test again. Only this time, you won't need to take the precautions you had to previously.

Go back in the room and do whatever it is you do there: work, relax, watch television, read, etc. Notice how you feel now. I'm betting it won't be an adverse emotional state.

The lesson is: You treat the room well, and it treats you nicely. You treat it bad, and you feel bad in it. So, if you want to lift your spirits, try making your space happy.

My space loves me and I love it. And, we're living happily ever after.

There's Something About Being Merry

By Cyndi Seidler 05/19/06

By Cyndi Seidler
05/19/06