How space impacts behavior

When you come home from work, where is the first place you go?

Do you sit on the couch and watch TV? Do you head straight for the kitchen for an afternoon snack?

How does the setup of your home change your behavior?
 
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how design impacts the way we move through the world. How plazas in the middle of neighborhoods bring people together, or how my childhood evenings were usually spent sitting on the grass, watching the neighbors play baseball in the cul-de-sac.
 
But it’s not just subdivisions and city design that impacts behavior. How we design our houses also changes how we act—whether we want it to or not.
 
A cozy reading nook invites me in for a few chapters. Similarly, a bookshelf on display is a conversation starter at dinner parties. Couches and chairs set up in a circle encourage communal moments. Seating areas centered around a wide-screen television may mean you’ll have more movie nights in the future.
 
I've had to consider how my home is set up as my own son is now crawling and able to explore his space.  I’ve moved his picture books to a lower shelf so he can reach them more easily (the only behavior this encourages so far is books thrown and piled on the floor) and I’ve set up a cushion and pillow nook near the bookshelf where he can sit in my lap while I read one of the many books he’s thrown to the ground. We don’t have a television, instead we wait for special nights to set up a projector. While it may encourage more board games and books, I sometimes miss the ease of clicking the remote and suddenly getting lost in a new film or show.
 
There is no right or wrong to how you set up your home, but it’s worth it to take a step back and think about the kinds of behaviors you encourage based on your house setup.

How does the way your home is set up impact your own behavior, what do you want to do more of in your daily life, and how can you change your space to achieve it?

Let me know in an email to rivka.begun@gmail.com. I'd love to feature your story in next month's newsletter. 

Riv
                                                                               
P.S I'm always looking to improve! I'd love to hear your thoughts (or a quick hello) in my  Feedback Form

Writing Prompt of the Month

You can do poetry, flash fiction, short story, whatever form you'd like.

The prompt is: 

Changing the design of your home

Let me know how your writing goes! Send me the result and I might share it in next month's newsletter

What to Read this Month

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

Vampires and the Mexican-American war. Can you get any more exciting? I loved Isabel Caña's book, The Hacienda, and I might have enjoyed this one even more. If you're one for a bit of horror and history, this recommendation is for you. 

From Goodreads: 

Vampires, vaqueros, and star-crossed lovers face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.

Buy the book here.

News

I was honored to be published in The Shabbat Drop, one of my favorite weekly newsletters. Read my article here.  

I was honored to be a part of this Con-Tinual Panel for my story published in the Jewish Futures Anthology. 

I am now represented by Hillary Fazzari at Bradford Literary Agency. Hillary is a brilliant editor and I am so excited about her enthusiasm for my work. I can't wait to share more updates about our partnership.