Excerpt from Amy Edelstein’s book Love, Marriage & Evolution: Chapter 7

The movements that create home with our partners are a dance and ritual of contemplation, little traditions that recollect why we’re together and clarify what we want to accomplish. Many of the religious structures seek to elevate consciousness by establishing rhythms in the home, around meals, or times and occasions for prayer. Those rituals give structure to life, reminding us of the bigger context for our lives. Are there tangible ways to bring that sanctification of life patterns back into our routines?

Sitting down together when we eat, making our environment just a little more beautiful expresses a care for the consciousness of our homes, a love that extends to any who enter that space.

Sitting down together when we eat, making our environment just a little more beautiful expresses a care for the consciousness of our homes, a love that extends to any who enter that space. When you take time to do these things together you might find that it has some surprising results. It may bring much more to the forefront of your relationship than you expect. You might not think such simple acts can make as big a difference as they do. That’s where intention and consciousness come into play.

Have you consciously set a time or space for spiritual practice, contemplation, or inquiry? Setting certain times of contemplation together establishes our intentionality, we plant a stake in the ground of our busy lives that says, “here lives Spirit.” Joy arises from this type of discipline, from creating more space for the inner. We may choose to practice alone or with our partner, both have their own strengths. Experiment with it.

Experiment with the time you dedicate. Make it reasonable, but make it intentional. Engaging with inner or numinous currents changes our relationship to home. It can alter how we perceive our living space, how we feel in that space, and even how we want to arrange or what we want to do in your environment. Intentional actions that support our higher aspirations change our experience in the home we’re building with our partner, and our relationship to our future together. Small frictions that arise between couples fall away. We are often able to rise above negative dynamics when something more delicate and real emerges in our experience. It also changes what others feel when they walk into our home. Our guests feel the peace, space, intentionality, and respect for the sacred.

—

This is an excerpt from Amy Edelstein’s new book Love, Marriage & Evolution. If you like what you read here, please download the entire book and share this content with friends and family.