Changing focus

Can small changes to our living space improve well-being by altering our focus?

Wow. That’s quite a question.
But I’m not thinking of improving well-being in terms of being calmer, more relaxed, more chilled. Neither am I thinking about moving furniture, changing colour schemes, nor dipping into Feng Shui.

My question is about changing the place we inhabit, the inner space we peer out from when we perceive ourselves within society.

What led my thoughts here?

I read an article about a young woman who fought back against the tyranny of body dysmorphia and an eating disorder by removing mirrors from her home for a month. She had set herself free.

I also read an article on how we’ve been wrong about ‘time’. Sure, we can read a clockface, judge how long 5 minutes is, know whether an event took place in the past or will happen in the future. We are actually quite awesome. But what about our perceptions? Why does time drag when we’re waiting, or have nothing to do, or are lonely? Why does it race by on an exciting holiday, or when we have a massive list of things to accomplish?

To me ‘time’ as a construct is another oppression. Would removing clocks and watches help to tame it? Confession here – I haven’t worn a watch for years; even as a teenager I really did not see the point. And yet I’m punctual and rarely reach the end of a day feeling that it had dragged or raced by.

Conclusions?

That’s difficult to state categorically. But I do feel it may be worth a try – to consider the negatives in your life, most especially those rooted in false constructs or the unfounded opinions of others.

• too fat, too thin? too tall, too short? against whose ‘normal’?
• too pale, too dark? too clever, too dumb? against whose ‘normal’?
• too rich, too poor? too busy, too calm? against whose ‘normal’?

That which we strive to live up to are often the benchmarks arbitrarily erected by others. Face the barriers, break them, set yourself free.