The beginning of a new year is always the time for good intentions, we evaluate how much can be improved in ourselves, in relationships and friendships and, above all, in our homes. It is the time for budgets and the desire for change: in some cultures it is customary to throw unused objects, old memories and broken shards from the windows, in others the windows of dark rooms open to let out evil spirits.

The propitiatory meaning is to free ourselves from negative energies and from what is unnecessarily present in our lives, making them unnecessarily heavy.

Bad luck and old beliefs aside, we forget, too often, how constant the relationship between us and the environment is and how much it affects our mood: in fact, through our senses, a real relationship of empathy is established between us and space.

Psychology reminds us how the mind is strongly influenced by the physical dimension of existence. It is not possible to separate the psychological aspects from the material aspects of life. It is therefore our duty to work hard to create a better environment, so that everyday life is lived with the right harmony and energy.

The 4 points described here represent, in our opinion, the path to get back into possession of our life and the surrounding space: these are 4 concepts on which to reflect, to which follow concrete actions.

Only by acting, in fact, will we be the creators of that change that will profoundly affect the quality of existence.

1 | detonating

Do you ever get into houses and run into war scenarios? Spaces out of control, disharmony of the parts, inconsistent colors, corners abandoned to their destiny, plants without leaves, accumulated objects without a sense and magazines of the last century scattered everywhere.

Do you know why all this happens? Because the home environment can be transformed into a real time bomb. The incredible thing is that it is we who choose the bomb, we are the ones who undermine the field and we are still the ones who light the fuse.

We can do without bothering Freud to understand that all this occurs without being aware of it, but this does not improve the situation, on the contrary, it often makes it unsolvable if there is no external intervention that is able to re-conscience the consciences to the right awareness.

We like to call this intervention “detonation” because it is equivalent to defusing a real bomb.

It is good that the detonation takes place before the bomb explodes, bringing us back to reality before it is too late.

Postponing the action will mean approaching the explosion of the bomb, and the time spent inaction will only make things worse, making them increasingly complex and difficult to manage.

2 | decluttering

Many of you have already met this English term, here on the web, in some magazine or elsewhere.

But what exactly does that mean? We open the Cambridge Dictionary to the word declutter: “to remove things you do not need from a place, in order to make it more pleasant and more useful”. Now, let’s look around, analyze everything around us, and ask ourselves this question: which things, which objects, which memories and which clothes are actually beautiful and useful? How many and what things represent, instead, an element of disorder, heaviness and disharmony of the house?

Let’s be honest with ourselves, because the tendency to accumulate is natural, as if objects were a lifeline to cling to in difficult times. In fact, it is exactly the opposite, the accumulated objects will be the anchor that will drag us to the bottom. And all this will happen without our realizing it.

The recommendation is to devote a small fraction of our time to eliminating what is superfluous. By lightening the environment around us, we will lighten our spirit, freeing it from ancestral incrustations.

Only in this way will we be able to have a clear vision of the situation, and only then will we be able to intervene on the styling of the house, by purchasing something really missing or capable of conferring identity and beauty to the space.

Because a house crammed with objects and disordered, will never allow us to understand what changes to make to improve the style, energy and soul of the environment.

The surprising and positive thing is that you too will change once the space has changed, and it will be like being born again.

This happens because we are in constant empathy with the environment in which we live, in an aesthetic, sensual and energetic relationship, without interruption.

Do not consider decluttering as an apology for minimalism, if anything, it is a praise of reductionism.

Less is more, especially if the “minus” we choose is the right one for us.

3 | Detoxing

We are at a good point: we realized that the house was about to explode – and we with her – and we detonated the problem in our mind, becoming aware of it (detonating).

We then moved on to the next phase, to action, and we lightened the spaces from all those material incrustations and accumulations of objects now present without logic (decluttering).

Now we can sit on the sofa, take a deep breath, and give ourselves some time to free our mind from the material heaviness that the house transmitted to us (detoxing).

Do not forget the concept of empathy, and how much we are all in continuous interaction with the environment. We repeat it because it is a central point.

By having a chat with a psychotherapist friend, we had confirmation of how much a material and stylistic intervention on the home can be truly effective for the mind and spirit: it can be a real therapy.

Think about it: freeing ourselves from useless objects will mean freeing the mind from a ballast that was dragging us to the bottom.

The phase following decluttering, therefore, will be a real detoxing, to use an English term often used in the world of vices, nutrition, and everything that is addictive.

We must detoxify ourselves in order to regain a correct awareness of the real desires, of the changes we want to make to the spaces, being conscious of them, finally.

4 | DESIGN

We made it!

We defused the bomb of an out-of-control house (detoning), we lightened useless and accumulated senseless trappings (decluttering), and finally we cleaned our mind from psycho-physical dependence on objects (detoxing).

And now? Now we can have fun concentrating our energies on what is really needed.

By the term design, we intend to refer, in a general sense, to all those furnishings and accessories – possibly also works of art – which contribute to the harmonious design of the house, by virtue of the functional, stylistic and identity aspects specific to the client.

Let me be clear, any new purchases must not and cannot be transformed into an alibi to refill the house irrationally and compulsively. We take the utmost care not to fall back into the same mistake from which we hardly got out.

We must be able to shift the focus of attention to real well-being, beauty and the general harmony of the environment, as well as its functionality, because entering a home must always be a pleasure, not a nightmare!