Four Rooms: Exploring Our Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual ‘Rooms’

“There is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional, and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.” Rumer Godden.

I heard this quote for the first time last week at a seminar and it really got me thinking. We’ve all heard about the importance of our emotional, physical, spiritual and mental states in terms of our all round wellbeing but referring to these four as rooms really bought it home to me that although all four are intrinsically connected they all separate entities that need to be nurtured individually.

So, over the last few days I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what these four rooms might consist of and asking myself if am going into each room every day.

Physical Room

I started with the physical because that’s what I can see and I asked myself some simple questions, am I getting enough sleep, am I eating healthily, am I drinking enough water, am I getting enough exercise, am I breathing effectively?

When it came to honestly answering these questions it turned out that I only really try and eat healthily and get enough exercise but when it comes to sleeping, keeping hydrated and breathing properly I was pretty crap at it.

This then led to another set of questions. How can I nurture my physical self? Now this was easy for the parts I was already doing effectively like diet and nutrition, eat five portions of fruit and vegetables everyday, eat organic produce wherever possible, don’t eat processed food, avoid fried food and when it came to exercise, carry on doing what I’m doing, yoga, Pilates, boxing, swimming, personal training sessions but when it came to the things I wasn’t doing so well I really had to think.

When it comes to drinking water the thought of drinking 8 glasses of water a day fills me with dread not because I don’t like drinking water but 8 glasses seems like a lot! So I’ve given myself a little challenge and decided to start with at least 4 glasses per day for a week and then building it up week on week on week so by the end of March I should be drinking 8 glasses of water every day.

As for sleeping, like many of us I’m guilty of looking at my phone and IPad in bed, we all know it’s not good for us but we still do it so I’ve made a commitment to myself that by 10pm my laptop will be put away and I will switch off the IPad at least an hour before going to bed and once my alarm is set on my phone I don’t go anywhere near it. I will also try and go to bed the same time every night and set the alarm for the same time every morning.

Emotional Room

We’re normally told that negative emotions are bad for us but all our emotions, negative or positive are telling us something and we need to acknowledge them all. When it comes to our emotions we need to learn how to manage our emotions effectively and set boundaries whether they be personal or professional. In terms of negative emotions we need to ask ourselves if what is going on around us is in our control and if it isn’t don’t get emotionally invested in it. I know how hard this can be from personal experience and we really do have to teach ourselves to let go of things we can’t change and are not responsible for.

When it comes to positive emotions though it’s a case of do what you love and do it often. What makes you happy? For me it’s listening to music, spending time with the people I love, going out and meeting friends, my football team, my work, traveling, flowers, the list goes on and on but the question is am I doing at least one of these things every day and if not why not?

Mental Room

Learning to be fully present in the moment and caring for our minds is what we need to nurture our mental room. Yoga is great for helping us be present in the moment but we also need to feed our minds and challenge both the analytical and creative sides of our brain. Reading books that stimulate us, playing games or doing puzzles that challenge us, go on courses, try new activities and remember you’re never too old to learn or try something new.

Practice gratitude everyday, program your mind to look for at least one thing everyday that you’re grateful for and you’ll be amazed how different this can make you feel. If you’re having a crappy day and you can focus on one thing that you’re grateful for it really can shift your mood and all of a sudden the crappy day is a little less crap. Gratitude really can help make things look and feel better.

Spiritual Room

This is the room of self-awareness and is often the room we visit the least. Most of us only come to this room in times of trouble, when we need to have faith in something or need to analyse what went wrong but if we pay it a little visit everyday it can help minimise the effects of that crisis if it does hit and helps us find ways to deal with it more effectively and with a little more ease.

To nurture our spiritual self we can practice meditation, do some yoga or Tai Chi, spend time in nature and engage all your senses. Practicing gratitude and compassion and carrying out random acts of kindness are all ways in which we can engage our spiritual side.

These are just a few ways I would try and engage the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual sides of me but we’re all different so this exercise would be totally different for all of us. It’s a great exercise to get you thinking though, so why not give it a go and see what you learn about yourself and your four rooms.