I was in my early teens when I started drawing with dedication. At that time, I was hooked on Saint Seiya, an anime series revolving around Greek gods. It opened me to two things:

• drawing as I couldn't find images of the characters
• Greek mythology (and later history, myth and legends)

Around the same age, I stepped for the first time in Greece and got mesmerised by the Knossos temple and its sanctuary (seriously, my mother had to drag me out of it).

Little did I know that these early drawings would lead me to art school and give me the push I needed to graduate as an Interior Designer from Geneva Art Decorative School a few years later. Nor would I have suspected I would move to Greece and live under the wing of a real Greek temple decades later.

So what happened in between?

It's interesting how deeply ingrained beliefs can hinder our talents from flourishing! Throughout my studies, I kept hearing that artists were destined to end up poor and depressed, which made me think I should choose a different path.

How often have you been swayed by societal or parental fears and beliefs that locked your dreams away?

When you do that, you might believe that pursuing your dreams (or facing failure) could harm you emotionally and financially. As a result, your mind, much like mine, tends to steer you towards safety.

However, my understanding of safety might have been a bit misguided, as the second job I chose took me to conflict-ridden countries, where I became familiar with the sound of gunfire—something I had never encountered in Switzerland, where I was born. Maybe it is the path I needed to find the courage to do what I love.

Life and your inner Sanctuary have ways of bringing you back to your calling. After five years working in Africa and Asia, the pencils called me again as soon as I returned to Geneva. With the craving to draw came also the craving for change.

I could no longer fit into a traditional Swiss life; humanitarian life and constant travel were not for me anymore, but I didn't know where or how I was supposed to live.

Maybe you, too, experienced that moment where what you knew or think you knew no longer helps you, where what you learned from parents, teachers, or society falls short of helping you be, and where the coping mechanism you built prevents you from living happily. A life crossroads presents a choice: remain as you are, feeling increasingly depressed and frustrated each day, or become a seeker and take command of your life.

Eventually, choosing the later, you need to rebuild yourself or make adjustments—big or small—to thrive instead of merely surviving. It takes time to deprogram ourselves from the belief that we must be fearful and mistrustful of others, the future, financial stability, access to food, personal freedom, love, and feelings of inadequacy. Issues like imposter syndrome and feeling unlovable contribute to this mindset as well.

Recovering the commands of your life requires readiness to see the world from another perspective and find the people, guides, and inspiration that will help you find your truth, healing, and inner peace. Piece by piece, you build your own Sanctuary, with no stones but solid as a foundational rock.

In Ancient Greece, sanctuaries were complex structures consisting of temples dedicated to gods and goddesses, residences for the priesthood, spaces for healers, schools, theatres, and sites for divination. These sanctuaries functioned as healing centres and philosophical schools, providing environments where individuals could share ideas, explore concepts, learn, and transcend their beliefs or emotional wounds.

Aegina Island, house of My Tiny Sanctuary, featured such a sanctuary. What remains of it is the Aphaia Temple a misterious goddess celebrated only on this island which was later turned into a temple to Athena. The goddess Hekate also had an active priesthood and a mystery school, unfortunately, the wooden temple described by Pausanias (c. 110 – c. 180 AD) no longer exists.

The word sanctuary is often used for animal shelters or nature preservation or care, nowadays, and there are a few here. But in my world, the planet should be a sanctuary for all living because everyone should feel safe to live and thrive.

Today, I would love to invite you to build your Sanctuary. No bricks and mortar are required, just the desire to care for your needs and find the places and people that make you feel free to be yourself, express yourself, feel, sense, listen to your intuition, and feel safe and at peace from within.

Inner work is not the only self-care practice a sanctuary should include. As mentioned above, ancient sanctuaries celebrated life as a whole. This included healing, philosophy, plant medicine, mathematics, astronomy astrology, sports, meditation and creativity.

Arts, theatre, poetry, dance, and other forms of expression were encouraged. The ancients knew theatre could lead to catharsis of trauma, dance free the hips, and help energy flow, and art and poetry be the vessels your subconscious needed to share messages with you.

My Tiny Sanctuary ambition is to help you tune in with your creative power, self-expression and self-care practices so that you can build Your Tiny Sanctuary. Through art, online programs, workshops and my blog I want to help you nurture your home and personal energy, practice self-care, dress and accessorise mindfully, and participate in creative and inspirational workshops.

You can start today with a sweet 10% discount on your first order by subscribing to my newsletter or reading previous articles on the blog.