Creating beautiful spaces

A lot of my spiritual practices are grounded in ritual, by which I don't mean sacrificing the rat from my bins to the gods over a fire in the garden, whilst waving big sticks around dressed like Stevie Nicks. The word ritual may be replaced by less stigmatised words like routine or habit. I feel unnerved, for example, when I don't start my day with writing in my journal, coffee to hand. I'm sure many of us have a morning or nighttime routine, where we are used to doing something in a certain way or order.

There is a sense of safety in the familiarity of these routines. We can set up an atmosphere or mood by anchoring into ourselves and our surroundings through ritual, before we embark on a task or journey.

It is a grounding experience when we connect to our personal space by doing something that brings us joy - I am as basic as scented candle fans get - and it is widely accepted in the law of attraction that our outer worlds reflect the state of our inner worlds. Writer and interior designer, Michelle Ogundehin, says,

'If wellbeing is the goal, the most important question to ask yourself is not “How do I want my home to look?”, but “How do I want to feel inside it?”'

I invite you to ask yourself, what is your relationship with the space that you're in at the moment?

The ancient Chinese principles of Feng Shui are based on our energetic harmony with the natural outer world. In the same way that you might have a habit of starting your day with a refreshing shower, or ending it with a book in bed, we can ground into ourselves through a connection to the creation of outer beauty - something that simply is, that we can appreciate and love, and that gives us joy without the need to change or judge it.

Whilst I believe that everything starts with our connection to our inner spirits - which affect our perception of the outer world - I also believe that our outer world can be extremely helpful in grounding us into the present moment, as well as reminding us of our connection to the world without having to judge it.

So as we are spending almost all of our time at home, wherever that might be, how can we pay attention to our spaces to inspire creativity, flow and improve our mindset? Maybe it's giving your room a good spring clean, buying a candle, or collecting some wild flowers on your daily walk to brighten up the house.

'The objects we are drawn to are not haphazard, they are material expressions of something intangible but vital that our soul wishes to bring to our attention, they are clues, in other words, and we should decipher them as such.' - Claire-Louise Bennett