4. Create beauty in your life

Besides taking time to appreciate the restorative power of the beauty of nature, you’ll find it helpful for your inner journey to make your personal environment as uplifting as possible.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to run out and purchase something beautiful. More often, it means getting rid of a pile of clutter or a profusion of objects, each of which has lost its importance because it has become one of the crowd. A single vase on a shelf can have more value and significance to your life than when it’s surrounded by a lot of other objects that detract from its singular beauty.

Or it can simply mean creating beautiful empty spaces. I have an artist friend who for years collected valuable objects d’art from other artists and from her travels around the world. Her home resembled a museum, and one practically had to conduct a tour of her living room in order to fully appreciate what each painting or piece of sculpture had to offer.

She recently made the decision to get rid of all of it. She looked around her home one day and realized she no longer knew what she thought because her mind was so distracted by things. Not only did they take up space, and not only did she have to worry about their getting broken or damaged, but she had to keep them dusted and lighted and insured. She created a beautiful, contemplative space by letting go of all the objects she had previously thought she couldn’t be without.

Take a close look at the things you are surrounded with, both at home and in your workplace. Sometimes we can go for months or years without noticing, at least on a conscious level, some aspect of our environment that is less than pleasing.

Take whatever steps are necessary to make the places you spend your time in as inspiring, beautiful, and liberating for your spirit as possible.