Creating A Personal Space

We all need a place of our own for quiet reflection, for journaling, for prayer and meditating.

The most important point of the space is it is yours. A space where you can go to focus on yourself for just a little while. Have a cup of tea, listen to some of your favorite music, maybe curl up with a good book, or just take a bath.

Here are some ways to create a personal space for yourself.

Create a nook, using neutral colors to help create the sense of peace. Display favorite artwork and add some shelves to hold mementos or books. If it's not possible to use a corner with a window, add a mirror, which makes the space feel larger.

Create a space displaying special items from your life ??ybe your graduation tassel, a seashell from a fabulous vacation, a special book, incense, candles, etc.

Still no room? What about using a trunk, creating a three-dimensional scrapbook. Fill its nooks and crannies with mementos and the necessary items for creating time there. Close the lid, place candles on top, and start writing in your journal.

Take a bath and create a little space with a special book and candles.

Important elements
Bible
Vacation mementos
Favorite photographs
Candles Mirrors
A View
Comfortable chair
A blanket, throw or quilt
Pillows
Books
Music
Fresh flowers

Share your thoughts

Only those that risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T. S. Eliot

Contentment

In this section, we focus on people doing great things for those around them. We'll find out their advice on how their faith in God allows them to move mountains so that they can take care themselves and others.

For the last 23 years, Donna Carson has worked as a social worker in the intensive-care nursery at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Over time, the nursery employees noticed that drug-addiction was contributing to the kinds of babies staying in the nursery. Many of the babies were born drug addicted and with medical conditions that required a high level of care. Even when a baby was ready to leave the hospital, they sometimes lived in the hospital for months waiting to be placed in a home. These children are known as "boarder babies," babies who are well enough to go home but have no home to go to.

After a boarder baby the staff had all grown fond of died, Donna vowed that one day she'd have a house where boarder babies could go to get all the love and medical attention they needed. Donna says, "It broke all of our hearts and made everybody angry and enraged that in a community as large as ours this child had no where to go."

Donna started "My House," a home for children ages 0 to 4 who are medically fragile. "My House" relies on the help of many loving, compassionate volunteers because Donna doesn't have the money to pay a large staff. Several of the volunteers have fallen in love with the babies and become adoptive parents. One new parent recalled, "Holding her in my arms, watching her eyes slowly close, I saw my own eyes. It was like something hit me in my chest... I knew she was my daughter. It was like one moment I was a volunteer and that very next moment I was a mom."

The "My House" staff and volunteers provide round-the-clock care and unconditional love until the babies can be placed in a permanent home. Donna says, "These babies know nothing but love. We've seen miracles, kids overcome things that they shouldn't have because they get unconditional love all day long. I can't account for it medically. But I know that love goes a long way. And I know that that's the one thing that we constantly provide for these kids ??st love, and love and more love. And they respond, every one of them."

When the manufacturers of Huggies Diapers and Gerber Baby Food heard that Donna struggles week to week to keep "My House" stocked with diapers and baby food, they donated all the baby food and diapers "My House" will need for the next two years!

Contact Information:
Donna Carson
My House
P.O. Box 55127
Atlanta, GA 30308
404-876-1337
e-mail: dcarson@emory.edu
www.myhouseweb.org
(source: Oprah)