HW THE EDIT
BE HAPPY!
Recent research has shown that your home is key to happiness....
The home is so key because it is literally is the seed of our identity, a place of our core values, where we connect with ourselves and family
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What makes you happy? Your job? Your income? In fact, recent research has shown that the answer to this question is actually your home. ‘If you are happy with your home, you are almost certainly happy in life,’ reported a recent report by Danish think tank, the Happiness Research Institute. The Good Home Report found that the home is ‘almost three times more important than what we earn and five times more important than our employment status or whether we have children.’ Why? ‘Our homes shape our lives,’ says Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute, ‘The home is so key because it is literally is the seed of our identity, a place of our core values, where we connect with ourselves and family,’ continues design psychology coach and interior designer Rebecca West, author of 024
Happy Starts at Home: Change your space, transform your life (CICO Books). ‘And between the ages of about 30-50 years old, the home is especially powerful as it rooted in our identity and who we want to be.’ Victoria Harrison gathered together research from around the world on the relationship between the home and happiness for her book Happy by Design (Aster). She says, ‘If our home is not supporting us, we’re missing a trick.’ But what makes a happy home? Choosing a look and style that reflects the way you live and what makes you feel good. ‘You need to reshape your home according to your life,’ says Rebecca. ‘It’s about where best to invest your time and energy in your home to make it work better for you.’ Here’s what to consider...
