I struggle to find space in my house that’s not a free-for-all.  I’ve been over it before: we live in tight quarters, share the space with housemates to boot, and our bedroom is also the living room, playroom, and storage space.  I have a desk, but it’s not currently situated in a way that I feel like using it, and has become a collector space.  It’s also regularly raided for tape, paperclips, paper, cutting mats, etc.  About the only spot that the boys can’t reach is the top of my dresser, and it’s amazing how I feel when that space is tidy, and has only a few of my favorite things on it.  It becomes a sacred space, one that’s calm, reflective of my personality, clean, and enjoyable.  My mind rests when I see it, especially amid all the clutter of life around me.

Every mom needs a sacred space.  Not just sacred as in untouchable by anyone else, but sacred in that you don’t violate it either.  No ‘things to ebay’ pile, no calendars to hang, no stuff that got moved from one spot but hasn’t found a new home yet.  I stopped writing this to go clean those very things off of my dresser.  Admittedly some went to the desk, but still … the dresser is clean! 

That’s my sacred space in the photo above: including my battered-but-been-with-me-since-I-moved-out-of-my-parents-place” dresser, the handkerchief a dear friend bought for me years ago, a handmade candlestick, a tiny pottery dish from another dear friend in Japan, an oragami star, a photo of an Inca family that reminds me of my trips to Peru as a child, and wee pottery jar from my SIL (with a spider necklace hidden inside).  The spotted old mirror was my grandmothers.  It’s my sacred space, and I always feel better when it’s clean.

Do you have a certain spot that’s your quiet space?  A mantle, chair, windowledge, or room … something that the rest of the household knows to leave alone?  Do you respect it too?  I think it’s important to have, even if it’s tiny.