Dr. Carolle Jean-Murat, MD
Home Should Be Your Refuge
A house in its most general sense is a human-built dwelling with enclosing walls, a floor, and a roof. It provides shelter against cold, heat, precipitation, wind, and intruding humans and animals. A house is called a home when it is occupied as a routine dwelling for humans, and also perhaps domestic animals.
It does not matter whether the structure is large, small, elaborate, or is just a simple room with a packed dirt floor. To be a nurturing home, it needs to be a place where a man or woman feels peaceful, safe, comforted, loved, and accepted.
“A house is not a home when there’s no one there,” as the Burt Bacharach song goes. Can you call your house your sanctuary? Or is your home causing you additional stress? There is plenty of stress from work, traffic, pollution, politics, economics, world events, etc. Is your home your refuge from the hectic outside world?
Here is what I recommend to make your home a place of sanctuary.
- Eliminate clutter: The more space you have to navigate, the better.
- Be aware of toxic substances in your home: EPA statistics show that women who work at home are 55% more likely to develop cancer than women working away from the home because of household cleaners, cosmetics, and pesticides.
- Beautify your outdoor space: It can be from a well-tended yard, an in ground garden, or in pots. I am lucky to have an all-year around botanical garden that I created with love. It is a great place to be in touch with nature and the soul, setting the stage for healing.
- Be in the right relationships: It is better to be alone than in bad company. Your life is a cake, and whoever is going to live with you has to bring the icing – otherwise, no way Jose!!!
- Create a replenishing private spa in your home: Find or make space in your home to use as a place of self-renewal, as your “private spa.” It may not be a tropical island, but if the only place in the house where you can be alone is the bathroom, make it your recharging zone!
- Decorate your personal place to suit your taste: Inform the other household members that when you are in that space, you should NOT be disturbed. After a long day, or any time that you feel overwhelmed, take a warm shower or, even better, a warm bath. While playing with the water, think about something that brings you joy — like walking on the beach, feeling the wind blow on your face, and curling your toes in the soft, warm sand.
- Deep Breathing: When we’re stressed, we tend to take quick, shallow breaths. While in your sacred space, purposefully do the opposite – take slow, deep breaths, inhaling deeply and holding the air for a few seconds, then releasing it very gradually. The result can be excellent for your mind and your body – and a peaceful home for your soul.
Do you have a special space in your home that you can call yours and can be by yourself, with yourself whenever you replenish your soul? If not, go ahead and create it!
Dr. Carolle Jean-Murat, MD is an intuitive healer and a board certified gynecologist by training. She is the founder of the True Healing & Wellness Institute of San Diego in Scripps Ranch. An award-winning author, her next book True Healing True Faith will also be a feature film. Visit Dr. Carolle at www.DrCarolle.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter – @drcarolle.
