Happy Home Happy Life: How your home can dramatically improve your mood

“Your home should be your sanctuary, the thing that rises up to meet you”

Oprah Winfrey

A major study across ten European countries found that 75% of people who are happy with their home are also happy in life. Therefore, The Good Home Report by the Happiness Research Institute shows little difference between the feeling of happiness with our homes and happiness within ourselves.

We all want to feel at ease and happy in our own homes. But with the pandemic and our financial security tested, how do we feel happy within our physical space, without spending the big bucks?

Moving Across Country

We recently sold our quarter-acre river view house in Tasmania. The move for work across the country to Far North Queensland has been quite an adjustment. No Ugg boots or heavy coats are needed here in the heat and humidity of the tropics. It’s been quite a wardrobe and lifestyle change, to say the least!

“A home is a place where you know you belong, a place to relax while the world moves along.
A home is a place that you look at with pride, loving each room and the people inside.
A home is a place where your heart feels at rest, a place filled with sunshine and all you love best.”

So, we have gone from owning a house to renting for the first time since we were students. But this time we have two young sons and a dog in tow! Like everyone else, adjusting to Covid has meant uncertainty. The ebb and flow of everyday life changes day by day with lockdowns and restrictions. Working and schooling from home have led us to seek meaningful and creative activities where we reside.

Living with others, especially kids can mean our home lives can often feel chaotic. It’s no secret that living among clutter can negatively impact our mental health. How can we be expected to think clearly when our physical space is in disarray? 

So, with this in mind, I’ve come up with some simple but highly effective ways to make your home happier!

• 1/ Rearrange your furniture to optimise space. After all, a change is as good as a holiday. Swapping out heavy, bulky pieces or moving them to the back of the room is an easy way for your home to instantly feel bigger, brighter and clearer.
• 2/ Nurture your space. A quick spring clean every now and then will not only help you to refresh your home but also offers the opportunity to be present. This weekly organiser for all our activities has been a great little addition to our home. A great, cheap find from k-mart.

• 3/ A great way to add more laughter and love to your space is to share your home with the people you care about.  Have discretion with who you invite in, however! Your space is sacred after all.

Download my FREE printable quote book by completing the form to the right!

Home is wherever we are together.

• 4/ Add greenery! Research shows that it doesn’t matter if you have a big yard, a balcony or nothing at all. Adding greenery where you can is a surefire way to lift your space and your mood.
• 5/ Don’t be afraid to bring your personality into your home. My Naturopath hubby and I love all things holism, nature and age old wisdom. Crystals, incense or candles are a wonderful way to bring magic into your home.

• 6/ Feeling at home in your body is just as important as feeling at home in your space. I believe the home should be where we take the best of ourselves, not the rest of ourselves and loving and embracing the vessel that houses you, I believe is a big part of this. Affirmations, activity and time having deep relaxing conversation’s over coffee sure create the right energy in your space.

To move or not to move?

With so much economic uncertainty, stress and anxiety, the real estate market at all-time highs, take time to pause and reflect. Make small uplifting changes to your home environment and bloom where you are planted, rather than counting on that next place to bring you happiness.

Download my FREE printable quote book by completing the form to the right!