This 3-Step Mini-Meditation Will Guide You to a Better Home

The January Cure is all about refreshing and organizing your home for 2019. We tackle one assignment each weekday throughout the entire month. It’s not too late to sign up, and you can visit the Cure page to catch up with the assignments so far.

You’ve heard of nose blindness, yeah? It’s the idea that your brain gets so used to a certain scent that you lose the awareness to actively smell it. Turns out your brain is wildly efficient, and it will have you completely overlook things that haven’t changed in a while in order to focus on more pressing and stimulating matters.

That’s why tonight’s Cure assignment is all about focus, and changing the way you see your space. Because if your nose can get used to pet stink after an hour or two, imagine how much of your home you aren’t really seeing anymore.

Take some time tonight—at least 10 minutes, but up to an hour or more—to really see your space without the usual distractions. Then, we’re going to use that fresh perspective to choose a project from our list.

I’ll break it down into steps for you:

Start by identifying a room or area that you most want to improve. Find a place in that room that you don’t often sit in—an idle chair, or even just on the floor facing a different direction than you’d normally see this space from—and sit. Turn off your phone and the television (off! all the way!), and just stay there for as long as you’re able.

You can turn on music, if you prefer, just make it something light (maybe instrumental) and unobtrusive. I like to have a glass of wine while I do this one.

Once you’ve found a good spot, I want you to focus and observe the room around you. Spend time with each of your senses. How does it look and feel? How does it smell? Next, imagine removing the “stuff” from that area—the furniture, belongings, everything. Then mentally start rebuilding, adding back in only what feels right and looks good in your mind. Make mental notes of the changes you envision.

Next, start thinking about the rest of your space. What other rooms can you look into from where you’re sitting, and what parts of them do you see? Get up and walk around. Spend time standing in doorways and picturing what each of your rooms look like to somebody stepping into them for the first time. Then sit down in an unusual spot to see each of those rooms from a new perspective for a moment.

You can set a timer to tell you when to stop the exercise, or just let your mind (and your life) decide when you’re done.

The goal of this mini-meditation time is to give you clarity about how you truly want your home to be, which makes it the perfect time for you to choose a project that you’re going to get done this month.

Once you’re done with the meditation, go ahead and grab the list of projects you made last week and choose one that you want to tackle during the January Cure.

A good choice is one that will fit these criteria:

• A project that can be completed this month, in a few hours. Remember, you’ll be busy with the rest of your Cure assignments, so don’t get overly ambitious in your choice—stay practical on the time commitment required.
• A project that will make a noticeable difference in either how you use your home (organizing, flow), how something works (repairs) or how things look (decluttering, cleaning, decorating).

Once you know what it is, highlight it or circle it and make a commitment to getting it done.

Remember that your to-do list is a roadmap to many satisfying projects you’ll do for your home in the coming year—right now you just need to choose one small-ish thing to bite off and chew during the Cure. You can work on your chosen project anytime, of course, but we’ve built in time during the Cure specifically for you to spend on this task, so don’t worry about getting it done immediately. If you’ll need special materials or tools that you don’t have, consider taking the time to order them or shop for them this week.

Once you have a project in mind, that’s it for today. Tell us in the comments what project you’re taking on this month!

Visit the 2019 January Cure Main Page

Download the printable PDF calendar: January Cure 2019

Share your progress on Instagram: #thejanuarycure