Words have a funny way of circling around and showing us the same old things in a new light. This happened when I came across an old saying that I’ve heard many times before about the importance of going into every room of our house everyday. This is the house of the psyche, and these are our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual rooms. They are the four corners of the self and they need our daily attention so they don’t rust up and become unusable. Checking in everyday helps keep things moving, open, and fresh. I think of this now because as we make our way through the long winter it is easy to atrophy and use only a room or two while neglecting the others. Maybe we find ourselves strangely adrift in emotions or moods that come over us, maybe it’s the piercing cold and the deep darkness that keeps us from wanting to let in the fresh air. When what we really need is a thorough cleaning to restore a greater equilibrium.

There is a story I often tell about myself that lead me to touching the four corners everyday. It’s the night I found myself walking up the stairs after a long day only to get up the next day and do the same thing all over again. This is when the thought struck me, if this is it it’s not enough. Long hours at a job with people I didn’t like, endless cooking and cleaning, getting everyone else sorted out with no time left over for myself or anything I wanted to do. That’s when I got the hint. Really it was more like a giant flashing arrow but I am slow on the uptake at times.

The next morning I started getting up two hours earlier to create the time that was mine alone. I began to enter each room of myself on a daily basis. Yoga for the body, meditation for the spirit, journaling for the mind, and drawing to create more inner spaciousness and awareness of the emotions that filled my days. Touching the four corners is about making room for what’s really happening within us. Not only have these hours changed the way I live, they have restructured what’s at the core of my life.

The work we do for ourselves accumulates over time and carries over more and more into the rest of our daily routines. We find our true voice and begin to use it in every situation we encounter. Touching the four corners of the self every day is like opening the windows and airing the place out. That fresh breeze for the soul is something we need everyday not just on rare occasions. The house of the soul needs nourishment and protection in order to reciprocate.

So where is it stuffy? What internal rooms need airing out? A hike, a cup of tea, watching the sunrise, a notebook and pen. Touch the four corners, enter each room everyday and see where it takes you.

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