Dressing Your Mind, Body, Soul, and Space

I love choosing my outfit. Whether it’s skinny jeans and a tee-shirt or something dressier like a skirt and boots, what I wear reflects my morning’s mood, feelings, creativity, and confidence. On rainy or gray days, I wear neutral colors; on days when I feel happy or excited, I wear brighter colors and more accessories. My outfit is how I present myself to the world. Sometimes I intentionally choose my clothing to create my desired vibe for the day, even if I’m not feeling it yet. On less confident days, I often wear skinny jeans or tight-fitting pants. They make me feel safe, like a big hug that supports my body in standing upright. When feeling light-hearted and carefree, I chose a loose flowy skirt, boots, a long necklace, and dangly earrings, going about my day floating from task to task as if bouncing from cloud to cloud in the clear blue sky.

Since the pandemic began, I’m not dressing like I used to. I miss the creativity, self-expression, and opportunity to create my body’s “environment.” I am passionate about my environment’s power, whether it’s my clothing and accessories or the space where I live, work, and play. My skinny jeans are waiting in my closet for their chosen day. Now they feel divisive at the waist, restrictive, uncomfortable, and unyielding. These feelings lay heavily enough in the world today. Leggings, yoga shorts, and cotton tank tops make me feel comfortable, free, flexible, light, and accepted. The waistband of my jeans cannot judge my new muffin top. I may not be able to control the outside world, but I can create my environment.

Now more than ever, I believe our homes can be a sanctuary from the stressors of life. There is great truth to the old saying, “it feels like coming home.” Our limited ability to venture outside of our homes has put a whole new perspective and value on our spaces. For many, our homes are now our workplace, school, gym, theater, restaurant, playground, studio, spa, and playing field. They are the places where we can be creative and flexible, yet have order and boundaries. Our homes used to be a central hub, where family members and roommates came and went from school, work, sports, and social outings. Inhabitants are now home together, all or most of the time. We are navigating this new way of life and getting to know each other on a deeper level. Our spaces are much more than a place to rest our heads at night.

My wish is for you to feel that all is well in the world when you step into your home. Upon entry, the familiar feeling, scent, and peace feel like a soft blanket that swaddles you and everyone who calls it home. Home is the place where we should be able to be our true selves. A safe space to make mistakes, try new things, and develop healthy relationships with ourselves and others. Although I’m not creating unique, expressive outfits every morning, I create my space each day. My home has always been my “canvas,” a reflection of me, filled with items that bring me and my family joy. Due to COVID-19, we spend more time in our home than ever. I love this, and it also poses challenges. The “style” cannot be changed every day, like my outfits.

We refinished our outdated kitchen cabinets, replaced the hardware, and painted our front entry a fun color while sheltering-in-place. Somedays, I desire yang energy: colorful, vibrant, bright, and loud; other times, I long for yin energy: muted, calm, quiet, and dim. I also want to easily change the vibe of our space, “dress it” for the current activity, mood, and people present. The tattered gray sectional couch is appearing dingier than ever, and the new one won’t arrive for six weeks. It has been fun discovering ways to make changes weekly, daily, and even hourly in our home.

One of my favorite ways to change our space is playing with vintage Kantha (KAHN-taa) throws. For centuries, women in Bangladesh and the eastern states of India along the Bay of Bengel have practiced Kantha, the tradition and craft of creating quilts from layers of old saris and discarded cloth. The colorful cotton fabric is hand-stitched together using a traditional straight running Bengali embroidery stitch. Most of the material is thin, threadbare in places, and feels like my favorite well-loved tee shirts. Some cotton pieces are thicker, but all are comforting, cozy, and unique. For a fun, upbeat, happy vibe, I cover the entire couch with them. For a calm, subdued feeling, I fold one or two with the desired pattern displayed and drape them over the sofa’s back. I use them as lightweight blankets when the air conditioning feels too cold in the middle of the night, as a throw on our antique love seat, as a table runner, and for warmth on chilly mornings while sitting at my computer on the front porch. When I want to change the vibe in the room, I flip the throw over or grab a different one.

Our dog, Lucy, on our loveseat with one of our Kantha throws.

I love turning something old into something useful, meaningful, and beautiful. In our society, often filled with disposable, poorly crafted items, I cherish the feel and smell of solid antique wood, heavy-duty hinges and hardware, old glassware, timeworn books, and vintage cloth. These re-purposed natural cotton throws are functional art, made of unwanted items. They don’t contain new inks or dyes, make a low environmental impact, and create something useful, providing us with warmth and beauty. Most importantly, when I wrap myself in them, they soothe my soul. I feel the strength, passion, perseverance, and love of the women who wore them. Especially during this unprecedented time in history with a pandemic, a recession, social distancing, working and learning remotely, and the absence of large gatherings and events, they give me strength and hope. I smile with thoughts of the camaraderie these groups of women across the world felt, sitting together after working in the fields and completing their daily house chores, telling stories, laughing, and empowering one another while making stitch after stitch with their tired hands. When I wrap myself in them, they soothe my soul.

What soothes your soul? Savor that feeling when you are your true self, who you want to be, and doing what you love. Then create a space in your home that empowers you to be your best self.