5 characteristics of environments that make us feel good

There are places where we feel comfortable and others where we don't. Something similar happens to us with people; with some we feel instantly comfortable and with others we don't. We often don't know why this is so.

Somehow we need the way of being in the world that is familiar to us to be present in our physical and personal environment. It is the usual, the known; therefore, it gives us the certainty, the peace of mind, that we are in a place that is not excessively threatening and that we can continue with our lives.

For example, if we are used to an emotionally charged environment and continuous sounds (music, voices, various sounds) we will live as something An environment where conversations are very intellectually based and where sounds are specifically muted as much as possible is threatening. possible.

On the other hand, sometimes we find ourselves at a vital moment in which what has been usual for we no longer feel it as our own and we need to experience a way of being in the world different.

In those times we usually look for new environments. Traveling to new places, going out to unknown places, meeting people. However, we must approach these new environments bearing in mind that they are not familiar to us, even though we like them, and we will feel threatened.

Another example is if I am used to having conversations in which my feelings and thoughts are questioned. When, normally after a period of crisis, I dare to meet new people, if these people listen to me and I do not feel questioned, my sense of strangeness may be such that it makes me never meet those people.

We need time to get used to environments other than familiar, to environments in which dimensions of ourselves hitherto little explored have the possibility of expanding and developing. Therefore, there are no environments that generally do good for everyone.

At the same time, there are physical and personal spaces that create ideal conditions for us to explore many of our facets in a safe way.

• Related article: "What is social psychology?"

Healthy environments: its 5 characteristics

Five characteristics of these physical and personal environments are:

• Security
• Acceptance
• Motivation
• Recognition
• Autonomy

1. Security

This is the foundation without which everything else is created precariously. This dimension includes that the spaces in which we inhabit feel that they are going to protect our physical integrity. For example, that the floor where we live has thermal conditions that allow us to live without extreme temperatures.

Personally, we refer, for example, to human groups where we feel that we are not going to be attacked and that what we express in them will remain within that human nucleus. The feeling of security is linked to feeling that privacy is going to be preserved.

2. Acceptance

The physical environments that allow modifications according to the nature of those who inhabit them help those people. For example, a very active girl will develop better in a space where she can move freely and safely. A person with mobility difficulties will be able to develop their life more fully in spaces adapted to their reality.

Something similar occurs among humans. Fathers and mothers who listen to and accept the temperament of their children will provide better opportunities for their happiness, for example.

• You may be interested in: "Unconditional self-acceptance: what it is and why it improves our mental health"

3. Motivation

And every environment has limitations. There are some insurmountable, for example, if you don't know how to swim and you get into the sea, it is likely that you will drown. Other limitations, however, are what people need to find our own way when these limits do not exceed us.

For example, for someone with the need to create their own environment, having a house in which they can make the changes they want is an opportunity for growth.

From the human dimension, by this we refer to when we need to do something differently from how it is done in our group. When our role models encourage us to go our own way, and stay close in case we need them, they strengthen us in believing and betting on our way of understanding life.

• Related article: "Types of motivation: the 8 motivational sources"

4. Recognition

This occurs when we do something and we feel that the physical environment has done well, even though it cannot be communicated in words. When that home feels beautiful when you enter the house, when that landscape has been respected and taken care of and it looks beautiful on our walk.

Among humans there is a certain joy, a certain yes that they give us with or without words, when people who love us well recognize the path we have followed.

5. Autonomy

There are places that allow us to be and allow us to leave, even if we establish what is necessary for them to continue care. They allow us to enrich ourselves with new spaces.

In a similar way, there are people who allow us to be with them for the time necessary for them and for us and, later, each one continue on their way until the next meeting.

This possibility of being whatever suits both parties together and then separating increases both the bond with those places and people and their presence within us when we separate.

Well, these are five of the characteristics of the environments that make us grow.

And you, in what environment do you feel comfortable and what does this say about you?