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As many of us continue to spend the majority of our time indoors, our homes have become a safe haven, workplace, classroom, restaurant, gym, and so much more.
Making your home a calm space is key to nurturing wellness and fostering positive mental health for both yourself and your family.
To help families bring mindfulness into the home, not-for-profit organisation Smiling Mind has recently launched its new Family Program, in collaboration with Medibank. The free program aims to make it easy for families to establish an at-home mindfulness routine, offering the tools and resources to set up positive mental health habits now and in the future.
Smiling Mind’s CEO and clinical psychologist, Dr Addie Wootten, shares her tips for creating more mindful, calm spaces in your home.
1. Choose calming colours
There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that the colours you surround yourself with can affect how you feel. If you want to create a more mindful, peaceful home, choose calming earthy tones and avoid drastic colour changes from room to room. Light blues, greys and purples are a great option.
2. De-clutter your space
If you are easily distracted and find it difficult to focus, it’s probably time to assess the things you surround yourself with. It’s true that a cluttered space often leads to a cluttered mind, so give your space a tidy!
3. Create a calm corner
While mindfulness can be practiced anywhere and at any time, setting up a designated space in your home is a great way to establish a meditation routine that will help you bring mindfulness into your day to day life.
Whether it’s an entire room or the corner of a room, try to find a ‘calm space’ where you and your family can enjoy some quiet time away from the rest of the house.
To help calm your mind, try using a guided meditation. The ‘Brain Break’ exercise in the ‘Any Time’ section of the Families Program in Smiling Mind app, provides visual cues throughout the meditation which can help to improve children’s focus.
4. Bring the outdoors in
Spending time in nature is a great way to practice mindfulness and helps to reduce stress, increase happiness and improve sleep. To mimic the feeling of being outdoors, incorporate natural elements such as indoor plants, wooden textures and earthy tones into your space. If you’re not much of a green thumb, a dried floral arrangement is a great low maintenance option to bring a touch of the outdoors in.
5. Engage your senses
A great way to become more mindful is by focusing more consciously on your senses. Introducing a mixture of textures and neutral décor to your space will help to create a feeling of relaxation, while plush furnishings and comforting scents create an overall sense of comfort.
6. Make a meal
Another way to bring mindfulness into your home is via the kitchen. Following a recipe and making a meal with loved ones can be grounding and foster connection. There’s something comforting and calming about entering a kitchen filled with delicious aromas when a meal is being prepared.
Next time you sit down to enjoy a meal, try a short meditation beforehand. So many of us rush meal times however, this is a crucial time for the family to be together. Mindful eating has so many positive benefits from increasing enjoyment to reducing stress.
To help guide your practice, open the ‘Savouring’ activity found in the ‘Meal Times’ section of the Family Program in the Smiling Mind app for inspiration.
To access all free content within the Smiling Mind Family Program, created in collaboration with Medibank, download the Smiling Mind app today (available on iOS and Android) and navigate to Family Program under All Programs.
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