Cozy and Caring Passing Home

“Warmth, Humbleness and Coziness”

There are times when we feel unbalanced… there is turbulence around us or at least we feel it…. we are not able to follow the rhythm of life; like when we are dancing and cannot do it with pace; the music goes in one direction and we dance in another… for these times a “Cozy and Caring Passing Home” could be a good option. A place with the slogan “Warmth, Humbleness and Coziness”.

WHAT: the idea is to build up a place where the person can get back to rhythm… a temporary home with a very lovely and cozy atmosphere, reminding the “grandma’s house” of the fairy tales…. the guest will feel embraced with a warmth environment; issue that will help the recovery, gain strength and therefore will come out renew and stronger to keep on his life path.

FOR WHOM: for people needing to be cradle, to feel welcome; persons that are going through a mourning, close to a burnout, tough times and similar; people within an emotional unbalance, but not as hard as to need psychological or psychiatric help.

There is a human group for which this project can apply…. It is about the leaders
that don’t practice their leadership. Although we all have “leaders” and “followers” features, one will prevail defining a characteristic of the personality. Sometimes leaders live great loneliness, despite being surrounded by people. Is more evident in those who by own choice, don´t exercise their leadership; the “followers” don’t consider them as part of their group, and other leaders consider them as a threat.  With intelligence, logic and especially warmth, this people will fly! 

In this passing home, men and women from several religions, cultures and beliefs will be welcome; however care should be taken, not to mix people with antagonistic religious or cultural differences.

No inquiry will be done about the problems or difficulties the person is going through; the objective is not a psychological support or similar. A warm and caring space will be offer, for empowering and regrouping.

People can go to spend the day, weekends, or even move temporarily; by the day they could attend their jobs and return to the caring home by night.

WHERE: If possible it will be placed with lots of nature around, trees nearby (to hug a tree can discharge the stress and make even the emotions), birds signing, and at the same time close to the city in order to make it easy to go back and forth from work.
The home will have a garden or terrace which will enable the guests to enjoy the sun, to be in contact with flowers, plants, animals, trees.  Fountains will attract the birds… so nice to see them bathing!

SOME FEATURES
♥    Many of the schemes the guest is use to, will be broken, creating simple and practical actions. This breaking will abstract the person from his situation and tune to other things…. allowing to watch from the sidelines, which will reflect in a more clear and global vision of the situation and life in general. Consequently there will be new things to understand, to see… options and new roads to take that will improve life for him and his environment.
♥    Guests won’t be alone because they will share spaces, although each one will keep its own rhythm and nobody will entertain others… like walking in parallel. No one will assume, neither solve things for others because that is a personal task.
♥    The home jobs will be done by employees and guests, whom will participate making their bed, cooking, sweeping, etc. This will be set according to their willingness and skills, without impositions; however, it will head towards, due to its benefits. Simple manual activities can induce relaxing and meditation states, abstracting the mind. Additionally they can create a homey sense of “nest”, and belonging.
I was lucky enough to have someone to do the dishes, and later had a “wonderful dishwasher machine”. In the last years I have been doing the dishes almost daily… and although is something I don´t consider “super exciting” to do, it has generated huge wellness with wonderful insights…. Issue very important due to the extreme stress I have been through… is nice how life show us the other side of the things…    
♥    In general the environment will imply calm, slow motion, quietness; helping the guests to follow their own processes. As far as possible the tendency will be to do everything slowly and calm, as talking, eating, walking; is expected that this external slowdown will decrease the inner pace with its correspondent quietness. If so, will drive the person to take decisions having a more global vision, also as a result of not being in his regular environment.
♥    While being at home, the trend will be to do more manual work, than television or computer.
♥    As a priority the cook will have excellent flavor! Food will be healthy, balance and enough but without excess. Preferably no alcohol except for a glass of wine with the meals.
♥    There will be items to encourage manual activities such as painting, coloring (mandalas for example), making candles, sewing, embroidery, knitting, puzzles, etc, besides the daily home activities as doing the bed, serving food, doing the dishes, etc. Although it sounds as a “boring home” in practice is about keeping the guest busy without entertaining. Besides people won’t be there for a vacation, but to change their inner pace in a way.
♥    The house will have a reading area or library; a silent room but at the same time the guests will be sharing the space. Cozy and warm decoration will be a must.
♥    Planting and caring plants in the garden or terrace, will be encouraged. Pots with herbs and flowering plants will do.
♥    All around the home, there will be scents that imply familiarity, as the smell of cinnamon or freshly brewed coffee; also the smell of freshly baked butter biscuits!

The Porcupine dilemma – by Arthur Schopenhauer – felt appropriated besides being a nice metaphor 
A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in winter; but, as they began to prick one another with their quills, they were obliged to disperse. However the cold drove them together again, when just the same thing happened. At last, after many turns of huddling and dispersing, they discovered that they would be best off by remaining at a little distance from one another. In the same way the need of society drives the human porcupines together, only to be mutually repelled by the many prickly and disagreeable qualities of their nature. The moderate distance which they at last discover to be the only tolerable condition of intercourse, is the code of politeness and fine manners; and those who transgress it are roughly told—in the English phrase—to keep their distance. By this arrangement the mutual need of warmth is only very moderately satisfied; but then people do not get pricked. A man who has some heat in himself prefers to remain outside, where he will neither prick other people nor did get prick himself.

Have a nice day!!