No doubt about it—transforming your space can seriously impact your life. I’ll never forget when I moved out of my dark, ground-floor level apartment into a light-filled studio on the top floor of the same complex. It was like my entire life changed—I felt a new sense of energy and creativity that I hadn’t experienced in my old cave-like apartment.
My move came at the perfect time in my life—I was going through a serious creative slump, and change my physical space revitalized me—but unfortunately, you can’t ditch your lease every time you need a bit of creative inspiration. Thankfully, there are a few things you can do at home to get the energy flowing, boost your personal well-being, and inspire positive changes in your life. These home rituals might be a little wacky—but hey, they work!
Burn sage
Smudging, or the burning of herbs and spices, is an ancient ceremonial tradition that’s used to clear energy in your home. It’s a wonderful way to refresh the energy in your space and instantly refocus your intention, and the smoke from sacred herbs is thought to get rid of bad spirits that might be chillin’ in your house. (Eek!) Try smudging your home whenever you feel like you need a bit of inspiration, when the seasons change, or as an intentional daily meditation.
You can use bundled herbs like sage and lavender or dried pieces of wood like cedar or palo santo to complete the ceremony. Open a few windows, or at least make sure you’ve got a cross breeze happening—you don’t want to set off any fire alarms! Then light the bundle on fire, and as soon as it begins to smoke, blow it out. Let the smoke from the bundle or wood rise and circle; if you want, waft it into each corner of your space while repeating a mantra or positive thought.
Not only will it make your home smell delightfully woodsy and campfire-like, energetically clearing your space just feels good.
Diffuse essential oils
Essential oils sound great in theory—nice-smelling natural oils that boost your mood and make your home smell nice—but do they really work? Turns out, they totally do. According to the National Library of Medicine, getting a whiff of different essential oils can help with anxiety and depression, improve emotional well-being, and even help strengthen the immune system.
We’re big fans of essential oil diffusers that double as humidifiers, especially in the winter when the skin is prone to dryness. Just add a few drops of your favorite essential oils into the diffuser and wait for the benefits to kick in!
Turn off the TV
At the end of a long day, sometimes the only thing we’re up for is to change into our favorite pair of sweats and scroll through Netflix. But that might be the worst thing you can do to help your body calm down and chill.
The blue light that’s emitted from your television, computer and cell phone has a deleterious effect on the body’s circadian rhythms. Exposing yourself to blue light before bed means that you definitely won’t get the best night’s sleep—and researchers have linked blue wavelength exposure to the causation of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Not good. Make sure you get your beauty sleep by avoiding looking at screens at least two hours before bed (or you can wear these sweet blue-blocking sunglasses if you really need to get through Stranger Things).
Throw out toxic cleaning supplies
You’ve heard about the life-changing magic of tidying up—but what about the life-saving truth behind detoxifying your cleaning products? We admit it’s borderline-hippy status, but making your own home cleaning products is really easy and way better for you than using typical home cleaners.
Many popular cleaning supplies—like the ones that you probably keep below your kitchen sink—contain hormone-disrupting toxins. When your body is exposed to these toxins, either through inhalation or skin contact, it can mess with your body’s natural hormonal response. Because hormones are responsible for everything from our mood to the way our bodies store fat (yes, your cleaning products could be making you fat) to our reproductive health, it’s pretty important to make sure they’re healthy. Switch to green products that are approved by the Environmental Working Group; when you do, you’ll notice big changes in the way you feel—we promise!
