Build your happiness from a holistic design
As you read this title, you may be wondering: Can happiness really be designed from a design? My answer is 1000% yes. There are tangible and intangible aspects that sometimes are not given the necessary importance and affect our happiness. The way in which we decide to have our environments influences the activities we carry out and our state of mind for better or worse. For example, having an integrated and open social space is not the same as having a space segmented by walls. The function of how we design our spaces greatly influences how we inhabit it.
The goal of holistic design and how we apply it at Mind & Light is to create healthy spaces. Taking into account that all the elements are interconnected and have a positive impact on the well-being and experience of those who inhabit it. It seeks to implement concepts of harmony, balance, order and sustainability.
So before I tell you a bit more about holistic design, I want to unpack both words.
Design – “is a project that indicates the function or functioning of a place or an object before it is created. It is imagining how a place or a thing could be different and how that difference could affect us”.
Holistic comes from the term holism, where it analyzes something as a whole or as a whole and not only through its component parts. Its holistic adjective is the one that accompanies any name to which we want to give a global, integral or total meaning. In this case, a holistic design where we cover the body, what? The mind, how? and the soul, why?
A holistic design is a living and constantly evolving design, just like all human beings. It is born from the heart and the internal purpose that we have towards that space and how we want to feel in it. So it all starts with you.
What should you take into account to achieve a holistic space?
- It should represent who you are. That will achieve a unique result with a lot of personality.
- It should feel like a space where you feel comfortable, safe and where you can recharge your batteries.
- Put aside trends and focus on what you like. Taking into account colors, textures, elements that make you feel comfortable.
- A space that fulfills the function of your daily activities. First imagine what activities you are going to do in it. Then, shape it to make that happen in the best way.
- A space that looks good, works well and feels healthy.
Our homes, workplaces and cities should be places that guarantee our physical, mental and social well-being. In an investigation carried out by the World Health Organization, they expressed that exposure to inadequate light or unfavorable views abroad increased the probability of depression in people up to 60% and 40% respectively. This is already a fact for me by default because personally in order to feel good, I need a space with natural light, ventilated, and orderly, and I feel like I can comfortably spend hours there.
Remember that holistic design is not just something that looks pretty. Context, function, human experience and sustainability must be integrated in a balanced way.
I want to finish this article by recommending a book that I have loved to read and I have taken the phrases that I have put in this blog. I have connected a lot with it because I feel that it is a diary that I’m writing and what I would like to convey to my clients, loved ones and people who want to live a balanced and healthy life in all its aspects.
In the next blog, I'm going to give you several more in-depth tips on how to apply holistic design in your spaces.
“Design can inspire us to be better humans, to change the world in a positive way, and if we harness the power of design, we will have the tools to improve our quality of life.” HYGGE HOME: How to make your home a happy space. Meik Wiking.
A hug,
Nela.
PS: I wrote this blog after taking a walk by myself, then lit my Mind & Light candle, put on meditation music, and started writing. That's how important it is to me to live holistically.
