My Innards Splattered on the Walls. What we can learn from Jung’s experience of home

Beige walls. Why beige walls? I lived with them for years and whenever I thought about painting them I would eventually leave them beige. So, why is that? Because I couldn’t (at the time) figure out what color to paint them. I was frozen with indecision, non-committal.

What was my indecision all about? Why couldn’t I commit to a color?

What is there about our homes that we often overlook?

When Swiss psychologist Carl Jung was building his house on Lake Zurich, he had an epiphany that he shared in his autobiography, Mysteries, Dreams, Reflections.  He realized that our homes are expressions of our deep subconscious beliefs, blocks and needs.

Our homes are a mirror reflection of our thinking and our lives.

For so long, our environments – buildings, homes, public spaces, work spaces – were relegated to an insubstantial role in our lives. They were considered the backdrop, an unnecessary and insignificant influence.

But consider this: Everything about our homes are a result of a decision that we’ve made – both conscious and unconscious. On a physical level as well as metaphysical level our homes say a lot about how we feel about ourselves and our lives.

Everything about our homes is a result of a decision that we’ve made – both conscious and unconscious.

I believe that my indecision was about something way deeper. Indecision about who I am, my authentic self, and how to express my true needs and desires. I felt out of place and craved a deeper meaning to my life. But there was fear in that expression to others.

Therefore, the beige walls.

Observing our homes from this subconscious perspective is an important part of the practice of feng shui. There are many layers to this. We can observe our home and our belongings to get an understanding of our interests, hobbies and passions.

We can look at what we have and what we don’t have or how we maintain our home and property to see how we feel about ourselves and our lives. Our bedroom can give us a peak into our feelings of self-respect, self-care and how we nourish ourselves or not.

From this vantage point we can observe our homes from an objective standpoint. In other words, we should look at our homes as if we were visiting there for the first time. We can imagine that this is a home of a stranger who we know nothing about and start constructing a “story.” I love journaling my thoughts so I can keep track of my feelings about home as they evolve. And they will.

Here are some examples of how this might manifest in our lives.

No path to the front door. If there’s no pathway to the front door this can limit opportunities coming into our lives. There is literally no path for it. In feng shui, the front door has great importance as it’s the main portal for chi to reach us. Perhaps we are intentionally cutting ourselves off from social interaction or career advancement.

100-plus shoes in the closet. Perhaps we are overindulging on the material aspect of life and not looking within for greater joy and happiness. We should consider the space we  will have in our lives (and money to do things we want to do!) when we are not shopping for new shoes!

Collections and memorabilia. If there are lots of collections and memorabilia there is a  strong bond to the past. This isn’t necessarily bad, however, if these items are filling our home, we might want to consider how we feel about our current life. Are we content and peaceful or are we feeling left out of relationships, satisfying work, or struggling with finances? If we are unhappy we should consider why we are craving the past. We can only live in the present moment and this disconnect could create great dissatisfaction.

Stark minimalism. On the converse side, our home might look like a modernist museum. We may have no, or few, objects around. What does this say about us? One client, with similar décor, explained that she didn’t want any live plants because their leaves make a mess. Again, we should consider how we feel about our life. If we are content and peaceful, then that’s good. However, if we feel something is lacking, perhaps health or relationships, we should consider that having a more ‘messy’ home (aka “lived in”) may just be the experience we need to have for a bit. (Remember: life is messy!)

Bright, uplifting artwork. If we are surrounded by colorful uplifting artwork we are connecting with wonderful chi as we move through our home. We are probably a pretty optimistic and content person.

Overall the energy of our home can uplift us or drain us. And let me tell you, those beige walls were draining me. And now? There is not one beige (or light gray, which is the new beige) space in my home and along this journey I have learned to verbally, emotionally, and spiritually express my inner nature as well. And I’ve maintained my commitment to grow into my authentic nature with a strong sense of self.

Consider how you feel about your current life situation and perhaps make some changes in your home. It can have an immediate impact on your life.

Photo by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash

Comments