Richard Layard, a London economics professor, lists the seven components of happiness as Wealth (especially when compared to those around you), Family Relationships, Career, Friends, Health, Freedom, and Personal Values. But, bless his heart, Beauty didn’t make his little bean-counting list.
Interestingly, what an American university professor Abraham Goldberg found after his team analyzed data from surveys taken in five cities — New York City, London, Paris, Toronto, and Berlin, was that people are happiest when they thought the city where they lived was beautiful. That’s right, a byproduct of living in a city with beautiful architecture, history, green spaces, and cobblestone streets is an increased level of happiness.
What is true in a large city is equally true on a smaller scale. A daily exposure to beauty in your home or workplace increases your level of happiness, which naturally helps you to live a better quality of life. Living in beauty really doesn’t take much effort. Money helps, of course, but it’s not necessarily as important as you might think.
A simple way to make your home beautiful is to use nature to decorate. Whether it’s a festive evergreen wreath hung on your front door, or a fir or magnolia flocked mantel, or a live Christmas tree in the den — a bit of greenery in your holiday décor will make your winter happier.
My friend Tracy Proctor decorates year round with cuttings from nature and so can you. Try your hand at cutting greenery, arranging cut flowers through the spring and summer, and keeping some pretty potted plants alive during the fall and winter. Do so and you’ll find nature’s textures, colors, and fragrances blessing your décor with beauty and raising your level of happiness all year long.
Every generations connects with beauty differently and that’s perfectly fine. Just as tastes in music change from decade to decade, so to do our thoughts of what is beautiful. Yes, decorating can be confusing because fads are fleeting, and fashion’s rules change. But just because beauty’s definition blurs, that does not make it frivolous. Fortunately, when working with patterns, lines, reflections, perspectives, shadows, and color schemes, the principles and elements of design remain constant.
You’ll discover beauty’s magic only when you allow it to touch you like a lover, deeply and intimately. Beauty is a revelation in the heart. Like a lover it touches us in unexpected ways transforming our everyday belongings into our most prized and cherished possessions. Beauty engenders happiness by connecting us to something greater than ourselves — our tribe, to our history, our divinity. Happiness happens when beauty stirs our souls.
Beauty often starts with something small. For the participants in Goldberg study, it’s about the appearance of their city; when Tracy Proctor decorates, it is found in his appreciation of Nature; for every generation finding beauty is about making deep connections.
Whenever beauty stirs your heart and soul, know that happiness will also will be holding your hand.
Live in Style with Shutters & More for Less!
