How to Create a Reflection Garden in 4 Steps

With the coming of winter, many of us start to miss time in our gardens. And why shouldn’t we? Our garden is a special, dedicated place. We go to great effort to cultivate the land so that plants of our choosing can have a home. We till the soil, fertilize it, and make sure that we keep it watered on the hotter, drier days. And if we’re fortunate, we’re rewarded with abundance. Or, at least, more abundance than if we just randomly dropped seeds all around our property without giving them another care.

But plant life isn’t the only thing that can prosper when nurtured, and a dedicated space doesn’t have to be outdoors, either. While paying special attention to a spot of land can lead to our own little bit of horticultural prosperity, creating an area inside our home that is dedicated to our wellbeing can create a different kind of opportunity. For the winter months and beyond, we can create a space in our home dedicated to contemplation and peace. We can create a reflection garden.

A reflection garden is simply a place in your home that you go and sit, do contemplation practices, and take a break from the busy sensory overload that is life in the modern world. The space we stay in can have a tremendous impact on our mindset, which is demonstrated by any number of experiences; if we attended a workshop alongside ten other people, it would feel like a cozy get-together in a small classroom but a disappointing turnout in a lecture hall.

Your reflection garden will ideally be absent of too many distractions or elements unrelated to growing a sense of inner peace. It will instead feature sights, sounds, smells, and other stimulation that fosters balance. In this way, spending some time cultivating a special space for reflection can lead to a similar sense of richness that might be caused by cultivating land for a garden.

Here’s how to create a reflection garden, in four easy steps:

Place it near natural light. You might be indoors, but your source of light doesn’t have to be. Natural light—particularly as the sun rises and sets—can have a nourishing influence on your state of being. 

Create barriers, if possible. It helps to make your space a dedicated area by creating a separation of areas. Find yourself a simple room divider or other props to help you create a special space.

Place balancing objects in the space: This can include candles, inspiring passages or pictures, and artifacts you find to inspire peace.

Visit. Once you’ve created your space, be sure to visit it daily—even just for a few minutes.

Our inner journey doesn’t have to depend on the dropping of seeds around our home—so to speak. By creating a dedicated space in our home for a reflection garden, we send ourselves a message that our peace and happiness deserves a place to be cultivated as well.