Welcome to Space Study! This series explores practical applications and real-life examples of spatial energetics.
The first morning in any space is disorienting. Navigating the space requires thought and presence. You don’t know where things are or where you’re going. Routines have yet to reveal themselves and you can’t just move on autopilot. At first, you are unsure of yourself, but slowly, the environment becomes familiar. Habits emerge. We fall into certain patterns day after day. We have our favorite seats around the dinner table. We charge our phones in a particular spot. We have corners we rarely visit.
While the patterns are relatively easy to see within a space, the energy they carry can be harder to notice. Next time you visit an area of your home that embarrasses you or a spot you tend to keep sequestered from the rest of the space, notice how you are feeling. Are you ashamed of what’s back there? Is the mess that has you feeling like this? Perhaps it’s you feel overwhelmed when you look at it because it’s just another thing on your endless to-do list. Take note of the underlying feeling.
Whatever you’re feeling within your spaces, positive or negative, I’d be willing to bet visual cues are the culprit. Whilst lines of sight are passive, visual cues illicit action. When we work with them we arrange our space to encourage a certain type of behavior or evoke a particular feeling.
Like lines of sight, visual cues are already all around you impacting your experience. Choosing to work with them intentionally is where things get really fun. (Can you tell visual cues are one of my favorite parts of energetic design!?) Working with visual cues allows us to interrupt these habitual patterns.
Say for instance your bedroom is a mess. Every time you step into your room you feel mortified at the thought of anyone else seeing the state of things. Since the bedroom is a physical imprint of your dreams and romantic life I’m willing to bet you don’t want mortification woven into either of those experiences.
This is where visual cues come in.
We can shift your relationship to your dreams, intimacy, and romance by altering your physical environment. When we rearrange a space we interrupt the pattern. When we intentionally layer in new, positive visual cues we can change ourselves simply through the immersive quality of space.
When I first moved into my current apartment I was dating someone. I had been living with family before and they were kind enough to gift me a mattress when I moved out, but it was old and only a temporary solution. For several months my room was just this mattress on the floor. I think maybe I had a makeshift side table (a decorative box I stuck a lamp on), but that was it. Very bare bones.
I dragged my feet replacing that old mattress and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Several months later, I found a bed frame I liked and took the plunge. In one fell swoop, the room was adorned with a new bed, mattress, and bedding. I even hung some cloud-patterned curtains behind the bed to cover up some odd architectural panels I didn’t like the sight of.
The room was transformed. It felt completely different. I felt completely different!
Not surprisingly within a couple of months, my relationship ended. Looking back, I was holding on to that mattress just like I was holding on to that relationship—clinging to something past its prime because it once provided comfort. Once I changed the visual cues of the room and reminded myself that familiar is not always better I’m not surprised that we parted ways.
I kept these thoughts in mind as I continued to decorate the room. I moved slowly, eventually adding a pair of vintage lamps and matching nightstands. I added a giant paper lantern overhead and a pair of plants in the corner, embedding clarity, growth, and duality directly into my lines of sight. Suffice to say I wasn’t single for very long!
Working with visual cues doesn’t require you to redesign an entire room either. I received a Kindle for Christmas this year and simply leaving it on my bedside table, keeping it close by when I’m on the couch, and carrying it around in my bag has radically changed my reading habits! It’s only been three months and I think I’ve read more books in the last few months than I have in the last two years.
If you don’t like how something is going in your life, rearrange your things. Swap your lamps. Keep a stack of books within reach. Get rid of that broken item that’s been sitting in your entryway for months (just me?). Consider what is weighing you down and where you can lighten things up. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to play with your stuff.
If you want any help applying visual cues to your own home, book a Space Reading! And, of course, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.
-MRD