The month of February helps us get in touch with our sensual side. Most people assume that means spending a little extra money, when in fact you can be “cents-ible” about sensuality.
Everything affects your senses: touch, taste, smell, vision and hearing. You must become in touch with how important it is to awaken your spirit and live every day in an atmosphere that feeds your passions. You’ll always know when someone is in touch with their sensual side. It shows … from their clothing to their home.
Have you ever met someone, male or female, and said, “Wow they are really sexy?” Maybe it was what they were wearing or how they carried themselves, they always have that certain something.
When I walk into someone’s home and it’s fabulous, yet, warm and inviting and comfortable enough to curl up on the sofa with a glass of red wine and a fur throw, I think to myself, “This is sexy!” The whole idea is that a sensual home makes you feel special. It’s filled with things that appeal to all your senses—what you see, feel, hear, touch and even taste. When you connect with your sensuality, you begin to live well. The dictionary meaning of sensuality is: 1. The capacity for enjoying the pleasures of the senses. 2. The quality of being pleasing to the senses.
We’re talking about improving the quality of your senses in your home and reaping the benefits in your life, simply by thinking about the things that make you feel sexy and incorporating them into your home. Start with something simple.
When you “romance your home”, you’re romancing yourself! You reap tremendous benefits. You become someone who lives life experiencing every moment to its fullest. Believe me, just one or two simple things can make all the difference. It’s not a big deal to light a couple of candles, have fresh flowers whenever possible or use the crystal instead of staring at it in the cabinet. That’s what worked for me. Now figure out what it’s going to take for you to romance your home.
This February, start a year-round ritual of romance. It doesn’t have to be for you and a romantic partner. What sort of environment recharges you? Think about using all of your senses. If you could, what would you do every day to “escape?”—Even if just for ten minutes. Let yourself be romanced by your home.
What Are You Waiting For?
TIPS:
• Add a pair of sofa pillows in any gorgeous velvet or silk! If your heart skips a beat when you see them, then you know they’re perfect for you.
• Drape a luxurious throw of fur, cashmere, mohair or hand-painted velvet over a not-so-exciting chair or ottoman and watch it come alive.
• Start a collection of odd-sized silver or crystal candlesticks. Grouped together, they become more than they ever were alone. Place on a mantle or in front of a mirror for double pleasure.
• Think about replacing those plain, ordinary white shades your lamps are hiding under with “something in red,” black silk with beading or perforated leather.
• Stop treating your windows like they don’t matter. Lavish them with the attention they deserve. Spoil them rotten with yards of decadent silk and velvet. Inexpensive fabric works just as well, if it has the look! Plenty of yardage adds weight and gives the appearance you’re trying to achieve. Your windows will never know the difference.
• Arrange small, rounded bouquets of roses in several colors together. Place in unexpected hideouts for little aromatic sensory surprises. Bathroom, bedside, desk, kitchen, closets. By the way, just about any flower does the trick.
• Play more music … and turn off the TV every now and then. It’s so important to remember. Guys, you may be visual, but we love to be moved by the groove. Some great CDs to have on stand-by: Maxwell, anything by Sade, Steve Tyrell (“Standards”). If you really want to get adventuresome, dust off the Marvin Gaye (“Sexual Healing”) or Barry White!
• Find a signature fragrance for your home as well as yourself. There’s nothing sexier than your mate cuddling your pillow with remnants of your scent lingering! Did you know that vanilla is the number one fragrance men are drawn to?
• When choosing candles and incense or even aromatic room oils, don’t mix scents! Choose one and make the rest the same or scentless. Too much of anything isn’t sexy.
• The sexiest room in the house should be your bedroom! Hide those computers. It should be a place that’s comfortable as well as seductive.
Create A Ritual of Romance
A friend of mine was struggling a bit in her marriage. She had two small kids, another on the way and just couldn’t seem to find the time for herself and her relationship. One night we decided that what she needed was a nightly ritual so that she could unwind at the end of each day. She started a routine where every night she and her husband would put the toys away and clean the dishes together before putting the kids to bed. Then, when they came back downstairs, the space was once again “adult space.” They would just sit, talk and spend time together. Sometimes it was just 10 minutes, other times it was an hour; either way, it was time spent in a relaxing atmosphere to recharge themselves.
Change Your Home, Change the World
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