The Rooms In My Head – Part 1

The Rooms In My Head – Part 1

Picture it, a luxurious tropical hideaway set on top a cliff top overlooking the shimmering blueness of the Caribbean Ocean. A pristine sanctuary that no one knows about but you. Tall thin palm trees sway gently in the warm afternoon breeze. From outside, soft happy chirps can be heard blending effortlessly with the sound of the waves lapping below.

The fading light of a late summer evening finds you in your room lazily stretched out on a big white fluffy bed. This is just not any bed though, it’s a bed that was custom made just for you -it’s just right in every way… a bed only Goldilocks could dream of. It’s not too firm or too soft, the height is just perfect, the comforter and sheets feel like heaven, and the pillows are a kind of softness you’ve never felt before.

This room was created with healing and deep relaxation in mind. The bed is not the only custom-made thing here. Everything in this room was personally designed for you, by you, for your own healing- a masterpiece of your own personal paradise. This place is not on any map though, so don’t bother trying to have anyone meet you there. This is a place only you can visit.

This is small glimpse into the healing room I built for myself from a guided meditation I did close to 15 years ago. It has brought a whole new meaning to the phase, “Go to your happy place”, for me. Over the last ten years I have spent a considerable amount of time in my tropical themed healing room. So much so, that it feels like a real place to me now. I have found visiting my room in my own meditations to be the perfect way for me to relax and get out of my own way. It is a tool I use to press the pause button and give myself permission to get out of my bubble and recharge. A way to gain perspective, clear the air, and allow the cork to rise…however you want to put it, It’s good stuff. I always feel better after a visit to my room.

The original meditation I did instructed us to take time to purposefully create a room in our minds that would always be there for us when we needed it. A room where we felt completely safe, shielded, supported, and cared for. A protective space we can retreat to whenever we are troubled and weary. A place to experience yourself, ask questions, rest, decompress, have a breakdown, or to just contemplate in the bliss of total and complete privacy.

Like any good guided meditation there is a degree of structure that makes it work best. While your room can be anywhere you want it to be and can look and feel however you design it, there is one obligation you MUST fulfill before entering your sacred space.

Don’t worry its not a huge obligation, but it is, in my belief, the reason this exercise works so well. In designing your room, the very first thing you do is create and entrance door. It can be any kind of door you choose. From the amazing fountain display at The Bellagio to a tiny sized cartoon mouse hole, whatever door you choose to create is just fine. Here’s where the catch comes in. Your door is ALWAYS going to be locked. Locked up like Fort Knox. And there is only ONE way to open it. To the right of your entrance, you’ll create a box. Again, it can be any kind of box you like. I chose a big heavy wooden pirate treasure chest for my box. Every time you enter your sacred space, you must deposit all of your “stuff” in the box in order to unlock the door. All anxieties, fears, conundrums, anger, hang ups, stress, confusion, troubles, frustrations, must be placed in the box otherwise the door will stay locked.

Once you have unloaded all your junk into the box, the door swings open and you are able to access all the healing capabilities your room has to offer. This is the magic of this exercise to me. To have a room like this that I can literally access from anywhere at any time, even just for five minutes, has helped me greatly in my journey to inner peace. There is some real wisdom in the saying “Leave your troubles behind” and having this room is a great

shortcut to creating a real-life adult “time out”, and in my case not having to actually take the time off for that real Caribbean vacation. If you enjoyed this healing “mind room” exercise please stay tuned for next month’s Second Part of The Rooms in My Head where I take you into more detail of the inner workings of my super fun Anger Room. Trust me, It’s a smashing good time.