My hand is on the door, waiting to close it behind me as I’ve done without thought so many time before…walking the kids to school, biking to the park, heading out for dinner. But this time I won’t return. I hesitate, looking back into the empty rooms, our first home, so full of life and love… now just memories reflected on bare walls. Kids giggling on the sofa, little round faces open and joyful; pillow forts under the chairs; friends gathered in the kitchen, laughing, cooking; babies born. Our home resonating with our life and love, resonating ‘heart, home and health’. A cherished life, cherished memories. I feel the weight of passing time. I close the door. |
heart, home, health is the life-blood of our dwellings, expressing the essence of who we are and what we care about, keeping us nurtured, providing comfort, creating our sanctuary. It is the life energy that creates beautiful and meaningful spaces…beautiful designs that make a house a home, unique and personal, full of life and love, bringing us happiness and health.
heart. Design flowing from the heart – authentic design – captures a deep sense of purpose, sincerity and meaning. It expresses the truly personal and meaningful – personal inspirations, ideas and desires – and, as such, breathes life into an otherwise mere assortment of pretty colors and shapes. To me, authentic expressions – these unique inspirations, ideas and desires – create in design a sense of intrigue and of connection. They provide glimpses of the deeply personal, like peeks through a window, revealing unknown truths and stories…and leave a desire to know more, to delve deeper and understand better. Like the broad brushstrokes of organic touches in my home providing glimpses of cherished memories, running barefoot in the sand, little chubby hands filled with seashells and smooth stones. When I see these authentic expressions, I’m draw in and I feel a sense of connection – like being let in on a ‘close to the heart’ secret…a sense of shared meaning and the intimacy of inclusion and connection.
home. Design resonating with ‘home’ similarly captures this intimacy – the intimacy of personal needs, desires and goals. Design that imbues a feeling of ‘home’, I think, is born from expressing and supporting unique personal needs and desires – a design that helps you get what you need and want… Its design that digs deep into what makes you thrive, then expresses that in a physical space supporting that uniqueness, helping you feel safe, nurtured and content. It imbues a sense of sanctuary, a very personal space for which there is no substitute, where you feel safe, nurtured, and comfortable – the place where ‘you can be you’, you are loved and you feel good. For me, this is represented in a space where I can cozy up with my kids, sink into deep pillows and burrow under a soft throw and hang out, reading or chatting and hearing about the day’s happenings…my second is a private space where I can go and lock the door, Zen out and not worry about my mess.
health. Heart and home are, to me, the core of meaningful design; and design that flows with ‘heart and home’ also flows with good health. Health, I believe, is inextricably connected to heart and home – all three concepts are woven together and interdependent in a way that, from my perspective, is profoundly important…and personally transforming. I have spent lots of time pondered this connection of heart, home and health, so evident within my experiences as a nurse …in my journeys shared with patients through deep sorrow and joys, some surrounded by love and hope and others in meager isolation and despair – journeys palpating with the resonance of heart and home, enmeshed in the experience and expressed in the physical. I see over and over, people who have ‘heart and home’ in their surroundings (their unique needs represented and supported in their surroundings) are happier, have brighter outlooks and hope; they respond better to treatment and they heal more quickly; they are more at peace in their situation and they live in joy. My colleagues, in person and in the health literature, share similar stories. In these experiences, I have learned that the resonance of ‘heart and home’ in our surroundings is powerful and profoundly connected with our health and wellbeing. In my home, resonating with our life and love, I cherish this connection of heart, home and health.
Heart, Home & Health are, to me, what makes design meaningful and worthwhile. Design born from and resonating in ‘heart, home and health’ is important, in our lives and how we live life…it keeps us happy and healthy…it is the design I love and strive for and that I share here.
Have a beautiful week!
xo
shelley
Comments
Post a Comment