Soulspace: transform your home, transform your life
The Chinese New Year will come in the next week, Woowoo! I picked up this book because most the Chinese family will make a big house cleaning this week - the time for getting rid of the old stuff and buy something new. So I hope this book could give me some inspirations on creating a better home. Yes, I am happy because I choose the right book(I already list a long shopping list and donate a lot of unnecessary things)! This book not only transforms your home but also transforms your life.
I like a lot of the ideas of this book. In the beginning, the writer asked several powerful questions: Where do you live? Where do you feel alive? Where do you feel safe, peaceful, hopeful, and supported? Where can you explore your hobbies, think, learn, and love? If your home is just a temporary holding pen where you leave your things during the day instead of a beautiful space that makes you feel safe and calm every time you walk in the door, something is wrong. Your home is more than a place where your possessions are — it is a place where your body can recharge, where your passions can be fulfilled, where you can safely explore yourself and your desires, and where your soul can rest, be inspired, and soar. Home is about satisfying our basic animal needs: eating, sleeping, seeking shelter. But it is also about achieving transcendence on earth through our other needs, the ones that are the basis of our humanity: beauty, love, and creativity.
Xorin shares his purpose of the home is to assist the people who live within to create the kind of space where they can flourish instead of just exist. And his mission is to weave his wish for peace, beauty, justice, passion, and rejuvenation into all his projects with the intention of inspiring others to live a more soulful, compassionate, and beautiful life. Sometimes, it was a little too much like The Secret or Field of Dreams: if you build it, what you want will come. I liked the focus on only surrounding oneself with things that one loves and making conscious decisions about what one should include in one's personal space. There’s an interesting new trend in home design. Not so long ago, we all wanted our homes to look like they came out of designer magazines. Perfect, not at all functional, but perfect. Now, people are looking for functional beauty, a house that feels like home - your home.
SoulSpace guides us through the basics of making a house a home. The aim is walking through the front door of the house on a really rough day and having that weight suddenly lifted. You’re safe. All you need do is relax and enjoy your home and the people who share your life. Perhaps, the greatest thing about creating a soul space is that no one can dictate a particular style. Each room is uniquely you. You probably already have pieces that make you feel good and have meaning. You may just have rearranged, declutter, or get rid of a few negative aspects. Very nice book, I will implement some of the ideas in my home renovation.