We are stepping into week 9 – literally!! This week we’re crossing thresholds and doorways, entering and exiting our homes.
If you’ve ever walked into a room and immediately forgotten why you went there, you’ve experienced what researchers call the doorway effect. Crossing a threshold sends a signal to our brains that we’re entering a new space, and it often causes us to “drop” what we were just thinking about.
In my day job, I often work with people who have memory deficits, and the doorway effect can be frustrating – compounding existing memory problems, but in our houses, the doorway effect can actually be a gift.
Every time we walk through the doorway to our home, we have a chance to reset. It’s a chance to decide what we leave behind and what we carry forward.
When you walk through your front door, what comes with you?
The mental list from work? The grocery store chaos? The stress of your commute?
An entryway cluttered with shoes, bags, mail, and everything piled in a tangle can continue the “traffic jam” feeling. We walk through the doorway and stay stuck in the outside mindset, instead of shifting into the calm of home.
What if your entryway became a true threshold?
A gentle cue to your brain and body: You’re here. You’re home. You can exhale now.
And just as importantly: what if your doorway also worked in the other direction?
What if, as you step out each morning, you carried with you something from home: a sense of peace, preparedness, or calm that travels with you through the day?
This week we’ll look at how we come in to our homes, and what we may need to subtract to find more space for calm as we enter our spaces. Next week we’ll consider how we can carry that peace with us as we leave.
Time for our homework assignments!: Choose what level(s) you’d like to try out and spend some time with it each day this week:
101: Simply Observe
Spend this week paying attention to how you (and others in your household) actually move through your entryway.
Ask yourself:
- How do we transition into this space?
- Is there a home for the things we consistently bring in? (think: shoes, bookbags, grocery bags, keys, sunglasses, etc)
- What has a permanent, functional resting spot?
- Are we using it consistently?
Our house is open concept. From the second you walk in the front door, you can see most of our main living space. We’ve created a few systems that do work for us:
- A drawer to drop our keys, so we always know where they are.
- A simple over-the-door hanging system I dubbed Lunchbox Lane, where our lunchbags go after they’re emptied.
And then there are the systems with good intentions but inconsistent follow-through, like the bin for mail that sometimes gets sorted, sometimes gets ignored, and sometimes just becomes a mountain of circulars and junk.
And finally, a few systems that might as well not exist. Like the shoe trays at the front door that, in theory, keep things tidy…but in reality look like someone dropped a box of shoes from the ceiling and walked away.
This week, notice where you and your family naturally move, drop, and pause when coming home.
102: Two-minute clutter rescue.
Set a timer for two minutes each day and clear what doesn’t belong.
No new storage systems, no full-blown coat closet overhaul, no complaints about anyone else’s stuff.
Just take out what you can control that doesn’t need to live in this space.
The goal is to work towards a small, daily exhale – a clear threshold to step into.
Reflection: What do you want to feel when you enter your home?
Pause for a moment as you walk through your door this week. What feeling greets you?
Do you want this space to feel lively and energizing? calm and resetting?
What’s standing in the way of that feeling?
And how can you use the doorway effect to your advantage? How can letting the act of stepping through your door become a mental cue to leave the outside world behind and enter into peace?
Let this week be about subtraction: noticing, removing, releasing.
Next week, we’ll explore the addition side of thresholds: how to add small cues and touches that help us transition with intention and bring more peace into and out of our homes.
Uncovering Real 