Can Changing your Physical Space Make You Feel Better?

Try this with me: Go into the room where you spend most of your time and look around. What do you see? Hear? Smell? What is your eye drawn to as you take it all in? Do you notice anything that creates annoyance or stress in your body? Does anything evoke a positive memory or even a smile? Do any judgmental thoughts come up about the space or yourself?

Our everyday environment and the physical space around us have a significant impact on our mood. This is very individualized as one of you may feel very relaxed in a dark, moody, and well-lived-in room while others feel more ease in an open, light-filled space. One thing the research does agree upon is that for most people, living amongst physical clutter incites more mental chaos. Perceiving clutter literally stimulates the production of stress hormones. Knowing we can have a physiological response to disorder and messiness, it helps to find a balance – finding a way to have things that we value and not be obsessive about cleanliness and ensure that our things have a place and actually hold meaning for us.

We can get used to what is around us and have a decreased response to something we are used to seeing or experiencing. In psychology, this is called habituation, and this can include “tuning out” the pile of laundry that is always on the bedroom chair, for example. Even though your dismissal of the overflowing pile of clothes may not be in your conscious awareness, the visual and what it represents can still take a toll on your mental health and influence your mood. It represents tasks undone and some level of disaray.

We can work to identify our automatic thoughts and learn to reframe them if they are not helpful. For in- stance, if seeing the dirty dishes in the sink brings up thoughts of not being good enough or never having a house like you see in the magazines, perhaps you can meet that thought with a more compassionate one: “I’m doing the best I can and will ask for help when I need it.” Or, you can start framing your kids’ game pieces that are still on the floor as memories, not messes.

Beyond awareness of how thoughts about your physical space make you feel, here are some other tips to try in your physical space to enhance your mood:

• Spend a short amount of time each day working toward organization and de-cluttering (tidy space = less mental overwhelm),
• Increase the natural light in your room and con- sider bringing nature indoors with fresh flowers or plants,
• Tap into your senses and identify what evokes positive feelings for you. Perhaps there is a spe- cific color that induces joy and you can include that color palette around the room, with paint or decorative objects with that pop of color. Perhaps there is a scent that is soothing or elicits positive memories, and you can light a candle,
• Pay attention to how the lighting in a room im- pacts your mood. Sometimes we need a bright- er space for more motivation and clarity, while sometimes we may yearn for a space that is dim- mer in order to feel cozy and relaxed,
• Lastly, the objects that are in your room can make a big difference in the feelings they evoke. Find items that bring up positive memories and feel- ings of nostalgia, connection, and gratitude.