March 2, 2020

Happy Inside: the book!

I wrote Happy Inside because I believe we need to change the way we think about home-making. I wrote it because, if you’re after positive personal change of any sort, you must first address your environment. And, with rates of chronic disease, obesity, depression and other mental health disorders escalating around the world (even before the Covid pandemic), we need to completely debunk any ideas of home-making as being something frivolous. It’s not. It’s absolutely fundamental to good health and happiness, on a par with nutrition, sleep and exercise.

A home that actively supports and sustains your wellbeing can be a game-changer — your secret super power in today’s profoundly unpredictable world. And yet, I see so many homes that inadvertently sabotage their owners attempts to live well.

Happy Inside is your step-by-step guide to a home that helps you to become your best, most empowered self, regardless of available budget, the size of your home, or whether you own or rent.

For an overview of those steps, please continue reading… And if you already know that you want a copy…

Order a copy from Waterstones,  Penguin, Amazon, A Great Read or via Hive.

Or in the US from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, IPG Books or Bookshop.Org (Released 1 October 2020)

happy inside Chapter 1. Intention

The solution to a home that no longer seems to meet our needs is almost always thought to lie in an upgrade of some sort: more rooms, a larger garden, an extended kitchen. It’s not true. Lean into what you have, not what you lack. The path to peace is not lined with posessions. This chapter is one of the most important chapters in the entire book. It underpins everything that follows.

happy inside Chapter 2 Balance

Before you buy anything new, you must first consider your palette: the colours and finishes you choose for your home. Because, while reducing your possessions will certainly give you a sense of order and control over what you own, this simply creates a neatly organised and tidy home. Not necessarily a happy one.

happy inside Chapter 3 Energy

When we understand the home as a holistic entity that both reflects and responds to those living inside it, it’s obvious that we need to avoid energetic stagnancy at all costs — a state in which the home feels gloomy and we feel sluggish. Here then, we explore the energy boosters to bring inside. And highlight the energy sappers that must go.

happy inside Chapter 4 Action

Ultimately, all of the clutter-clearing, palette composing and thinking about energy is about getting yourself organised to enjoy your home in a way that continually lifts your spirits. But before we can get into the exciting specifics of individual home zones, a word or two on home maintenance and management.

happy inside Chapter 5 Welcome

Mood breaker or mood maker, the entrance to your home is a space of great subliminal power. And the creation of a truly supportive environment involves harnessing every possible opportunity to give yourself an energy boost, which begins the minute you cross your threshold. So how do you want to feel when you first come home?

happy inside Chapter 6 Harmony

In an era when Fear of Missing Out has its own universally understood acronym, recuperative rest and relaxation are not always regarded as the intensely worthwhile pursuits that they are. Therefore this chapter focuses on your main living spaces, but from the perspective of their private as opposed to public use.

happy inside Chapter 7 Gratitude

There’s been an increasingly trend-led drive for ever larger and more ostentatious kitchens flowing unbounded into our living areas. While it’s great that our cook spaces are receiving this much attention to aesthetic detail, do we really need any of this? No. And I challenge its position at the heart of the home too.

happy inside Chapter 8 Retreat

The importance of a good night’s sleep cannot be overstated. Without it our memory and immune function are impaired. Our mood, metabolism and hormones become unsettled. And we cannot be effective or efficient, let alone energetic, in the way we live our lives. Thus, the spaces in which we retire to bathe and sleep are grouped together as the fourth and final zone of the happyinside home.

happy Chapter 9 Nurture

The final chapter covers the finishing touches that should be layered over everything that we have discussed already. These are the details which ensure that your home works for you on every sensory level. Because, from the sounds you wake up to, to the scents that surround you, your connection to a space involves so much more than what it looks like.

 

Book design: Alex Hunting
Illustrations: Nicola Rew
Photography: Emma Harris