Home spaces play an essential role in shaping, performing, and regulating our emotions as well as providing a platform for social relations and networks.
At home, it is crucial that we realize our living spaces can be designed to promote happiness. Simply incorporating certain design elements such as sunlight, rugs and natural wood room dividers can significantly affect mood.
Light and Airy
An airy room can have a positive effect on our moods; its brightness evoking feelings of happiness and optimism while darker tones can evoke anxiety or depression.
Furniture and decor in a room can also have a dramatic impact on our emotions. Clutter can make an otherwise cozy room seem cramped; while well-arranged pieces create the sense of space and openness.
Neuroscientists Moshe Bar and Maital Neta conducted an intriguing experiment where participants looked at neutral objects that differed only by shape. Subjects were asked to make snap judgments of objects with sharp angles; their subjects preferred those with rounded edges – suggesting our brain associates sharp angles with danger; this may explain why rooms with round walls and furnishings tend to promote calm feelings more readily than rooms without. Their findings align perfectly with Feng Shui principles – an ancient Chinese practice designed to promote health, wealth and good fortune by manipulating one’s environment to promote positive emotions as well as health, wealth and prosperity!
Cozy and Comfortable
Although research on the relationship between home space and mood remains relatively new, people have long tried to influence their environments to foster peace and happiness through ancient practices like Indian Vastu Shastra or Chinese Feng Shui. These forms of therapy have existed for millennia.
Arranging furniture that makes the room cozy and relaxing can have a dramatic impact on your mood, particularly seating arrangements that encourage social interactions rather than those which are more impersonal and clinical.
Artwork, personal objects and decorative elements can significantly elevate the ambience of any room. Studies have demonstrated that people enjoy spaces more when they feature beauty and personal expressions such as books that bring the room alive; group them by color for maximum impact! A curved bookend or vase can also help soften sharp angles.
Sense of Spaciousness
Are you seeking ways to bring more peace into your home? Consider creating an impression of spaciousness within it. Studies have revealed that people tend to favor an open layout over something that feels confining and cramped.
Create the illusion of space by keeping furniture proportional to its surroundings and arranging it so eye movement can travel unbroken across an unbroken expanse of floor space. Furthermore, consider pieces with rounded edges instead of sharp ones as studies have demonstrated our tendency to perceive sharp angles as more dangerous than their smoother curves.
If you want to create more space in your life, start practicing Beginner’s Mind. This state of wide-open awareness allows you to take in every moment as it presents itself without immediately filtering or categorizing it based on preexisting beliefs. With such an open mindset comes compassion and peace amidst any hardship.
Visual Access to Nature
Researchers have demonstrated that people who have access to nature (real or virtual), can become more relaxed and focused. Simply adding plants or images of nature into an office environment can have tremendous therapeutic potential; but, for optimal effects, viewing should not include anything threatening as this may increase stress levels further.
Connecting with nature may have its roots in human evolution and our dependence on trees and vegetation for survival. Being exposed to nature also increases cognitive therapy effectiveness for treating depression and anxiety while simultaneously decreasing stress levels.
Lighting can have an incredible effect on one’s emotions. Brighter lights can produce an energetic vibe in workspaces and living areas, while cooler colors such as blue encourage relaxation. Even rug textures have the power to alter how we experience rooms: soft textures can soothe while sharp textures promote energy and focus.
