Our homes may not be big enough to accommodate all the chill nooks that are listed in this post. However, when there’s a will, there’s a way. You certainly wouldn’t need a dedicated space for each relaxation activity, so let your home multitask for you.
Productivity, the efficiency rate by which we achieve valuable results using fewer resources, was introduced in the late 19th century, and now rules our lives with us being hardly aware of it. We’ve been fully immersed in this culture at work that it has now bled into how we are at play. We don’t even think much about BEING. Just DOING.
This post aims to help us go back to ourselves. This is an assortment of previous articles we’ve written about this topic to invite our readers to really disengage from the busyness of life. Go back to pursuits that may still whisper their value to you, but that have been made invisible or unheard because of the tyrant called productivity which many of us are wont to glorify, or which have become an unquestioned and insidious habit.
Home Gym and Wellness Space
3 Home Gym Color Palettes that Make You Actually Want to Work Out
Home gym may be too big a term for a quiet, clutter-free corner that you’d need for an intense or gentle workout or a silent sitting meditation. Because honestly, you’d just need a few square meters. Just make sure you have enough space to do your stretches and asanas without hitting furniture or walls. Also, find a way to stash your equipment like kettlebells, dumbbells, yoga mats, blocks, resistance bands, and whatnot. Either put them in a huge bag, a recycled box, or a clear plastic container.
For your meditation sessions, a zafu cushion or a standard chair would suffice. No need to light a candle or incense or have a Buddha statue in front of you. These are nice-to-have, not need-to-have accouterments. If you have the space, decorate away. Start with a low table.
Read this link to see some intense colors for your workout space. Usually though, if this area is a pop-up gym-cum-meditation space in your living room, you won’t need to do any painting.
If you wholeheartedly throw yourself into the workout or stillness sesh, all you need to focus on would be the movement or the stillness, and your mind and body. Good luck with reining in that monkey mind.
Screening Space
I’ve seen many a basement or family room turned into a serious home theater, but usually these are in huge homes found in North America. If you’ve got one of those, do send us photos at [email protected]. We’d be happy to share those photos and talk about it here in this blog,
Just like the home gym, a home theater is not necessary. Just use your existing screens…ultra-large next-gen TVs, computers or laptops, or even mobile phones. Enjoyment of films can be had at the word go. It would help if you have a ritual going on, like a movie date night alone or with the family, a good film to watch, and some munchies to add to the calories that you may need to burn during your exercise sessions.
I don’t know about you but I’ve got a really long list of videos under my YouTube Watch Later playlist, not to mention hundreds of films under My List in Netflix. But as the title of this post indicates, I prefer to chill and not be pressured by apps. Go with my flow is the mantra.
Music Cubbyhole
I love this article written by Moby Disc. He talks about his music obsession and what he does with this…stashing it all under the staircase. But as he wrote, he has not even shown us his piles of LPs. When he and his wife want to chill, they have a green sofa to lounge on while they spin some records. Good thing they have similar tastes in music, although she does say that some of his choices are junk. Oh well, compromise is key. Headphones, anyone?
Music is a great healer—releases the “feel good” hormone dopamine when you listen to something upbeat, decreases levels of the stress hormone cortisol when you listen to something relaxing, helps you focus when you listen to instrumental or lo-fi tracks, triggers vivid memories and emotions (so do choose music that brings back good memories), helps you sleep when you listen to ambient music… So what’s not to love about music? You can even play something that makes you feel like the heroine in your own movie, from sweeping epic soundtracks that evoke grand adventures to the nostalgic, whimsical melodies of Studio Ghibli that bring to mind complex, independent, and resilient characters…that’s you 😀.
Music is a great partner to have when you are dreaming and manifesting while relaxing.
Reading Nook
Every time I think about books, I am reminded of the Japanese term tsundoku. the practice of acquiring reading materials and letting them pile up all over the house (for years, said my inner voice) while not giving up the thought that I may read them sometime soon…at a later date…in the future…when I find the time…
We are so spoiled for choice these days that that in itself is a tyrant too. I’m not saying that I want to go back to the days when we were offered slim pickings. Being alive today is a double-edged sword. The wide range of choices is a luxury. The discipline to know what you’d like to spend time on redounds to self-knowledge. If you know what you value, what motivates you, what your goals and moral beliefs are, then you can chill. Making decisions on how to spend your time would not be a wild goose chase.
For bibliophiles (real ones and not those who buy books to use as decor), this link provides color palettes to help you make a cozy book nook.
Coffee, Tea, for Me
Coffee and chilling could be an oxymoron. It can work if you’ve found your sweet spot, the exact number of cups of coffee you can drink in a day that would help you relax and feel good. But do remember that coffee is a central nervous system stimulant. When caffeine is consumed excessively, there could be bad effects like headache, irritability, irregular heartbeat, and breathing issues. The solution? Find your personal brew count that helps your focus, alertness, and overall cognitive thinking function. When you want to chill, don’t overdo the coffee.
I love the coffee culture in the Philippines today. More people are turning to local beans and blends, which is great for our coffee farmers all over the the country. So stock up on those local blends and store them in your coffee corner. The coffee drinking ritual deserves a place to call home. As this article suggests, “It’s [coffee] more than simply just a beverage—it’s a warm hug in a mug, a flavorful journey that starts our day on the right note.”
Immerse yourself fully in the coffee experience. Be deliberate about the making of each cuppa. And when you drink that brew, breathe the aroma in. There are about 850 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that trigger the brain’s limbic system to relieve stress, and shift your mind to a state of calm and focus. Chilling is fulfilling.
Home Bar
Alcoholic drinks are a great way to chill, whether you are unwinding, entertaining good friends, or celebrating some occasion, small or big. But let me be the party pooper even before the party has begun with this reminder: drink in moderation, pace yourself, and stay hydrated. Like with coffee, this is again a test in self-awareness. How many drinks can your body take just to the point of having a mildly euphoric buzz? Consider that your sweet spot.
The photo shows latest globe bar Vesuvio from Italian manufacturer Zoffoli Mappamondi. This mobile beverage station is a lovely statement piece to roll out and position where your guests are. This may be difficult to get in the Philippines and most probably wildly expensive. Not a problem. There are other bar carts that you can get. Otherwise, you could also commandeer a kitchen cabinet to discreetly store the booze.
Sipping your favorite beverage while listening to music, watching a captivating film, or reading a gripping book is high on my list of chill things to do.
Dolce far Niente
Ever since I wrote this piece in 2023, I have been practicing the sweetness of doing nothing, “dolce-far-niente-ing” through life as often as I can.
Here are things you can do to open your mind to fully enjoy dolce far niente:
- Equating personal worth with output has been baked into the work environment. Decoupling worth from work may not be easy to do but it can be done. Celebrate other personal achievements, not only monetary accomplishments and job titles. This is called cognitive reframing, when you replace unhelpful thought patterns with more balanced, constructive viewpoints. Shift your focus from external metrics (promotions, completed tasks, KPIs) to internal qualities like empathy, kindness, and integrity.
- Those supposedly very important tasks that you have to remember? Offload them to your gadget or a physical notebook. Don’t allow the micromanager to live in your head rent-free.
- Do you have an inner critic who always calls you out on things, who crack the whip and tell you to be productive? You can reframe that voice to say instead that you need to rest to be in tip-top shape the next day to handle matters more efficiently.
- Schedule unstructured “do-nothing” moments in your day and treat these with as much respect as an important meeting. And when you get home, visit chill nooks in your home that take your fancy.
Let your hair down. Drop the mask. Play and think about pleasant relaxation in carefree idleness. Practice does improve the results.
Relaxation brings peace, health, and a positive attitude towards life. It also helps to often get in touch with who you really are and how you want to live your life.
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