Clear Your Mind….
I just got back from a wonderful week with my family in Italy. The history, the art, the architecture, the sights, the food – Amazing! But with any vacation, location is really only part of the story. Of course, being able to spend the time together as a family made it all the more special. But one of the best parts of any vacation, whether it’s a week in Europe or a long weekend a bit closer to home –is that it pulls me out of my routine, makes me “think” throughout a day instead of following my “to do list” for the day, and takes the humdrum of “typical” and “auto pilot” actions away, at least for a while. In essence, it gives me a chance to “clear my mind.”
And though we can’t always have that time away when we most need it, how great it is to have spaces that give us that time away even though we are at home, spaces that support us in our efforts to relax, recharge, and clear our minds. After all, nurturing, relaxing, recharging – that’s what our home spaces should be and do for us before anything else. Here are a few spaces that do just that.
No matter how busy your mornings are, breakfast in this kitchen (by Cheryl Scrymgeour Designs),with its marble countertops, serene white cabinetry and soft blue accents, will definitely deliver some serenity.
I love the elegant simplicity of this bath which fills the space with peace and luxury.
This cozy window seat (mix&chic.com) gives new meaning to the word “retreat.” Even the architecture of the space encloses you and pulls you in from the “busy-ness” of the household around you.
Love this outdoors retreat, surrounded by beauty and tranquility of Mother Nature at her best.
And from Barbara Barry, the final word in tranquil interiors, I leave you with this supremely peaceful and serene living room.
Hope you enjoyed looking at some of my inspirational “relax and recharge” spaces. Here’s wishing you all the best in creating this kind of relaxing space in your own home.
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I love New Year’s Resolutions, goal-setting, re-evaluating, “re-do’s”, “Let’s try it agai occasions when we realize that even though we mess up, make mistakes, misjudge, get side-tracked, we all have the opportunity to push that imaginary “do-over” button and go again.
For some years now I have allowed myself a six-month “re-boot” around the beginning of July to check in on my goals, commitments, etc. Maybe it is because my birthday is in July, so it truly is the beginning of a new year for me. Or maybe it’s because it marks halfway through the calendar year, a good time to check in and see where we are on all things “goal” and “planning” oriented. And, I think, when July rolls around on the calendar, I instinctively start thinking of summer’s end, fall commitments, cooler weather, holidays – a new forward focus for the rest of the year.
has really been following me, peeking around the corner, hinting to be discovered, teasing me by being so obvious and at the same time well-hidden, for quite some time. As Glinda the Good Witch told Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” – “You’ve always had it, my dear.” And I truly have.
Your experience is quite probably different than mine, but I think it’s safe to assume that we all at one time or another find ourselves in life situations we didn’t really plan or think about, a new baby, an “emptying” nest, retirement, losing a spouse through divorce or death, a new marriage, a blended family.
Just because we have reached the end of one chapter, and even if it is the last chapter we planned, the chapter we never thought to plan beyond, it doesn’t mean “The End.” Rather, it is a new beginning, a new adventure, a new chapter.