Creating a Home for Your Soul

How do you start to create a home that is truly for your soul?  One direction would be to consider Feng Shui.  Find out more from LuAnn Cibik, founder of Inner Harmony Feng Shui; teacher, consultant, and lover of all things energy, nature, and feng shui.

There are so many different types and forms of Feng Shui, but they all have the same goal. 

That goal is to enrich, enhance, and make your life the life you want it to be. Now, many times, those of us who love Feng Shui – we read a lot of Feng Shui books and we get involved with a lot of details of five elements and the bagua.  But sometimes the most important things you can do include some basic, powerful steps to create your home as a home for your soul. 

One of the things that I find most powerful with so many of my clients is that in looking at creating a home for the soul, we have four different key areas. And a lot of times they are missing one of those key areas. So even though they’re doing some corrections, enhancements  and wonderful things in that area, it still doesn’t make me feel like it perfectly supports them and their life because they’re missing one of those four key areas.So, let’s talk about those those four key points so that you can take a look at your home and see if you are maybe out of balance in that area. 

So, the first key item is that your home needs to make it feel like you belong there. Now that is a huge area to take a look at. That is everything from when you walk in the front door. 

• Does it represent who you are? 
• Does it represent your goals, your values, your interests, your hobbies? 
• Are there pictures of your beloved’s in there, your family, your your friends, your pets, your totem animals, whatever it is. 
• Does it reflect who you are? 

So many times people go with a trend. And there’s a very minimalist trend right now, which is cool. But it creates a space that is devoid of personality that doesn’t feel like YOU in there. Then it’s not ever going to really feel like your home. So you could still have a minimalist space. But take a look at those key things that are on display. Are they just what cool thing you saw on Pinterest or are they something that truly reflects you? 

And that could be anything from a favorite color that you use as an accent. It could be a picture of a place that you adored going. It could be something that represents you and your family heritage, anything that would connect you to that home and give you that sense of yes, you belong here. You also want to look at those things for everyone who lives there, do they all have a place to sit at the table? Is there a place for everyone? Because if we don’t actually create that place for everyone, there’s a sense that somebody doesn’t belong. 

So be a detective – take a look at your home. See if you have everyone represented who lives there, and a sense that they belong. Your family could be the traditional kind of family members or your family could be your four-legged friends. Everybody needs to have their place and feel like they belong.

Second, is that your home or your space needs to connect to nature. And I’m sure you know, you’ve heard the term biophilic design and that’s where we’re pulling representation of nature into our homes. It’s because as human beings, that part of us really relaxes the best when we’re around things from nature ; as architects and designers are finding out more and more. That’s the way to create this design that makes us really feel at home.

Now, how do you do that in your home? There are lots of ways. 

• You can use colors that are from the nature around your home. So for a color scheme, look outside, walk outside, see what color the actual earth is, what color the bark of the trees are, the leaves of the trees, the things that are in your natural surroundings. As you start to pick those up and bring them into your home, it connects your home with nature. 
• Another way to do that is through artwork in your home. Maybe you’re going to have pictures of favorite places in nature. Maybe your artwork is of animals or flowers. Maybe you incorporate that through the textures on artwork (not just artwork), of wallpaper, or designs on pillows, like think of all of those little ways that you can bring in that connection to nature. 
• Of course, you can bring actual nature in, right? Rocks and stones and crystals. There is such an emphasis on live edge countertops, and having natural stone. All of those things bring nature into your home and it’s a great way to reflect that. 
• Another way we can look at that is through the lighting in our homes.  Lighting can be as simple as opening up the blinds and the draperies so we let the sunlight in, or even choosing what kinds of light and lighting is within our homes through our light bulbs that give a more natural light. It also means taking a look at honoring the seasons in that way that we turn the lights down at night. So don’t keep all the lights blaring until you’re ready to go to bed, right? Start to decrease it at night so it feels like a more natural progression. And I’m talking about seasons. It’s also seasonal decorating, right? Keeping in line with what is going on outside and bringing that energy in. Those are all ways that you can connect your home to nature, no matter what your design style. 

The third key area might seem really obvious, and that is your home needs to feel safe. This is key! In that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we need to feel safe. 

But it’s more than just having locks on the doors. It is about feeling safe to be who you are. And so many times I see people creating their home so that when their acquaintances and friends come over that there’s nothing that might feel controversial in their home. But if you are somebody who adores oracle cards, you need to have a place in your home where you can do that. If you want to be a writer, then you need to create a space in your home that honors the fact that you are a writer. So feel free to be who you are in your home, it needs to be expressed. 

There are times when an individual is living in a family situation where they don’t even feel safe to be who they are within their own family. So, find that essence – maybe in a bedroom, in a closet. There’s a way to express who you are and be safe. This is a key to creating a home for yourself.

And the fourth key – and no less important – is sacred space. Your home should feel sacred. It should feel like a place where you and the divine can connect. So whether you do that through intention altars, or something else – you create sacred space for yourself. Your home should be a reflection of your belief and your spiritual beliefs as well. 

LuAnn Cibik is a Master Educator of Interior Alignment®, which is the Feng Shui and Space Clearing school founded by Denise Linn, well-known author and teacher. LuAnn has been a full time a Feng Shui professional since 2002.  And she is proud to be an active member of the Foundation Council for Interior Alignment® and past member of the IFSG Board. Prior to creating her own business, she worked in the corporate world in IT and healthcare.  She now runs her successful school, Inner Harmony,  teaching feng shui. soul coaching, space clearing and more through her online and onsite programs.