OT: Your Comfort Zone

Create a Soft Place to Land

Our day-to-day demands can quickly take their toll on our well-being if we are not vigilant about caring for ourselves as best we can. One way we can ensure that we have an opportunity to relax and recuperate each day is to create a soft place to land when we arrive home. This landing pad, whether it is an entire room or merely a small corner of a larger area, can provide us with a safe and comforting refuge in which we can decompress and recover from the day’s stresses. There, we are enveloped in feelings of security that transcend other issues that may be unfolding in our homes. Our landing pads also act as way stations that enable us to shift our attention away from our outer-world concerns and back to our inner-world needs.

To create a soft place to land in your home, begin by scouting potential locations. Or perhaps your entire home is your landing pad in which case you may only need to declutter. Your habits can often provide you with insight into the perfect spot, as there may be an area of your home you gravitate to naturally when you are in need of comfort. Any space in which you find it easy to let go of stress and anxiety can become your landing pad. A basement or attic, spare room, or unused storage area, furnished with items that soothe you, can give you the privacy you need to unwind. If you appreciate the elements, you may find that spending time in a section of your garden or outdoor patio helps you release the day’s tensions. Preparing these spaces can be as easy as replacing clutter with a small selection of beautiful objects that put you in a relaxed frame of mind. Remember to consider noise and activity levels while choosing the site of your landing pad. If you know that ordinar! y human commotion will distract you from your purpose, look for a secluded spot.

The soft place to land that you create should inspire within you the mantra, "I can breath here. I can relax here. I know I am safe here." When you return to your home after braving worldly rigors, you will feel a subtle yet tranquil shift occur inside of you as you settle in to this most personal of retreats and feel centered once again.

 

Darlene...I have my spot and I have been going there a lot lately!!!

Thanks for another great post!

 connie d

Sounds like a lovely idea.

Darlene, we all need a soft place to fall. I have mine and enjoy going there when I need to...which is turning into more often lately but that is alright. Sometimes we need them more times that others. That was a great article and one that we all need to be reminded of. Thanks for posting it.

I wish I could decompress in a stress free zone when I first come home from work.  But hubby gets there first by about fifteen minutes.  When I get there he wants to talk.  And, of course, there is always the "What's for dinner?" question. How do I tell him to zip it for the first 20 minutes without being rude. LOL.
Bev

That is *so* true, Darlene!    My safe place, my soft place to land, is in our bedroom suite.  When my DH and I bought this house, we had the money to make changes to it and so we did.  We knocked down the wall between the master and one of the bedrooms to make a suite, a refuge for DH and me.  In it, we've got our glider rocker and a comfy reading lamp.  My desk and computer are located in here too.  When I need to escape, to decompress, relax, regroup or whatever, I retreat back here.  It is totally bliss and oh so necessary.  I wonder how I got on all those years without it!