Making Sacred Space For Yourself at Home: A Bliss Bubble

Image of a fluffy low back white armchair facing a window at a tree covered in snow. The window is draped with white sheer curtains.

The holiday season is in full swing!  For many of us this means added tasks and responsibilities from shopping for gifts to hosting family gatherings.  Still, for others of us (including me), the season is complicated by grief as we think of loved ones we’ve lost during the holidays. Work is still going on.  Kids are still in school.  The days are much shorter and the nights are long and cold. 

This is just the time when I need to pay extra attention to my mental and emotional wellbeing.  As fall emerged, I brought back an old tactic from my childhood to give myself some extra comfort.  I call it my nook.  Ahzjah-Netjer Simons calls it her bliss bubble.  During the Black Women at Home interview I did with Ahzjah, we cut up about both having created a sacred spot in our homes where we seek peace and reclaim our center. I asked Ahzjah to describe her bliss bubble and she shared:

Watch a clip from the Black Women at Home Interview with Ahzjah

When I was a little girl, I created little nooks in my bedroom from time to time. This nook might be set up on the carpet between my desk and my bed or, in a corner anchored by my stuffies.  It was a place to hide out from the world, to create my own interior  life of imagination.  I would read there, listen to music, or cry when I needed to.  The nook for me, has always been a place to be grounded. 

For the first time as an adult, I made myself a nook in my office.  This nook is on the floor too.  It is a grounding space, a place for coming back to myself, connecting with Spirit and the Ancestors.  I sit cross-legged there sometimes.  At other times, I recline against the large pillows and let my legs stretch across the futon mattress giving me padding and support as I find connection to Mother Earth. 

Most times I am sitting in my nook in the hour before daylight comes.  I leave bed and come down to my second floor office while the house is dark and quiet.  After lighting a candle, I will stretch for about 15 minutes and then go sit in the nook to meditate.  Then, I plug in the fairy lights I  strung up to give me lighting so that I can read from my day books, review cards that I pulled, and journal.  

Creating your own nook or bliss bubble does not require much.  It’s just a space filled with intention and some comforts.  Whether you have a room of your own or some unused closet space, having a sacred space to check in with and nurture yourself is a balm. If creating a quiet escape at home is on your wish list for the holidays, consider the following: 

1. Find a spot, preferably somewhere that is quiet and where you can be alone. 

2. Decide what you want to sit on - a chair, small sofa, or a mattress on the floor. 

3. Gather comfy items like a blanket and pillows to prop yourself up with comfortably.

4. If you can, add a small table or shelf to the space.  If that’s not possible, use a serving tray or lap desk so that you have somewhere to put stuff down. 

5. Give yourself some lighting - candles (safety first!), a small lamp, or twinkle lights 

6. Have some wall space?  Write down some of your favorite quotes and affirmations on sticky notes.  Use washi tape to put them on the wall. 

7. What gives you inspiration?  Is it a daily devotional, the Bible, a book of poems, a tarot deck, pictures of loved ones, crystals, seashells, or music?  Make sure your inspirations are accessible within your designated space. 

8. Finally, try it out!  What’s missing?  Is there one too many pillows in there?  Make the space your own, adjust and change it up as you go.  

If a specific spot is not available consistently, consider gathering some of those items and storing them in a box or bin that you can pull out when you need them.  It could be that you keep a box with your sacred materials along with a special pillow or blanket under your bed.  Your bliss bubble might even travel with you!  Get a small container (even a metal Altoids container would do). Place some meaningful objects (a quote on a small strip of paper, a feather or dried flower, etc.)  in it, put it in your pocketbook or bookbag and carry your bliss bubble with you. 

As we move through the holidays and into the slumber of winter, I wish you warmth, comfort, and times of intentional solitude to restore yourself to yourself.  You need you!