Finding Harmony in Our Shared Sanctuary
A fireplace TV stand arrangement represents one of modern family life’s deepest tensions—our simultaneous need for connection and calm, for shared entertainment and personal stillness. Many households struggle with how to honor both the TV’s role in bringing families together for movie nights and the fireplace’s ancient invitation to simply sit, breathe, and be present with the dancing flames. This design challenge becomes a mindfulness practice when we approach it not as a problem to solve but as an opportunity to examine what truly nourishes our well-being in shared spaces.
People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Table of Contents
Understanding Our River: Capacity for All That Arises
When we feel torn between creating a living room TV stand setup for entertainment and preserving space for quiet reflection, we’re experiencing what seems like an impossible conflict. Yet Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh offers us the beautiful River and Salt analogy to reframe this tension.
If you pour a handful of salt into a cup of water, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the water to cook, wash, and drink. The river is immense, and it has the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. When our hearts are small, our understanding and compassion are limited, and we suffer. We can’t accept or tolerate others and their shortcomings, and we demand that they change. But when our hearts expand, these same things don’t make us suffer anymore. We have a lot of understanding and compassion and can embrace others. We accept others as they are, and then they have a chance to transform.
Our living room—and our own hearts—can develop the spaciousness like a river, holding both the need for shared media experiences and the equally important need for stillness and presence.
The question isn’t whether we should have a fireplace TV stand in our living room, but how we can create a space with such generous capacity that both entertainment and contemplation can coexist without one dominating or diminishing the other. This requires us to examine our habits and intentions with honest, gentle awareness.
Intention Over Habit: The Mindful Decision to Center
Before arranging any living room tv stand, we must ask ourselves a fundamental question: Why do we want the TV in our main gathering space? Is this choice emerging from genuine intention, or are we simply following cultural habit without examining whether it serves our family’s well-being?
Plum Village’s 5th Mindfulness Training on Nourishment and Healing invites us to be aware of what we consume—not just food and drink, but also media, entertainment, and the energy of our environments. Does our current setup nourish deep connection, or does it primarily facilitate distraction and escape from difficult feelings?
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash.
Mindful home design creates spaces that help us slow down, unwind, and recharge from the inside out rather than seeking numbing or constant stimulation. When the TV becomes the automatic center of our living room, we may be unconsciously prioritizing convenience over consciousness, habit over healing.
Consider whether your fireplace TV stand arrangement reflects your family’s genuine values or simply mirrors what you’ve seen in other homes. This honest inquiry—done with curiosity rather than judgment—becomes the foundation for making choices that truly serve peace and connection.
Mindfulness Products Suggestion: Create intentional gathering rituals with incense and a meditation bell that can signal transitions from screen time to quiet family connection, helping everyone return to presence together.
Mindful Needs Assessment: Balancing Fire, Screen, and Flow
To find authentic balance in your fireplace TV stand layout, begin by examining what each element represents in your family’s life. The TV often symbolizes escape, distraction, or what Buddhism calls “monkey mind”—the restless mental energy constantly seeking stimulation. It can also represent legitimate shared enjoyment and bonding through stories and entertainment.
The fireplace, conversely, embodies inner warmth, presence, and the ancient human practice of gathering around flame in contemplative communion. Its dancing light invites us to simply be rather than constantly do or consume.
Harmonious Coliving
Rather than choosing one over the other, practice what Thay—our teacher calls “embracing” both needs. Sit together as a household and set one shared intention or aspiration for your living room: What do we want this space to support in our family life? More presence? Deeper conversations? Balanced enjoyment?
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash.
This shared intention becomes your North Star when making arrangement decisions. Like the river that can hold salt without becoming overwhelmed, a living room designed with spacious intention can accommodate both entertainment technology and contemplative practice without one poisoning the other.
Consider these practical questions:
- Does our seating arrangement primarily face the TV or create circles for conversation?
- Can the TV be concealed when not in use, allowing the fireplace to reclaim primary attention?
- Do we have rituals around when and how we use screens versus when we simply sit together in silence?
Less Noise, More Peaceful Silence: Nurturing Your Island of Self
In Plum Village practice, we learn about taking refuge in our “Island of Self“—returning to our breath as a sanctuary when life feels overwhelming. Your living room arrangement can either support or undermine this essential practice of finding stillness amidst family life’s natural activity.
The constant presence of screens, even when turned off, can create what we might call “attention pollution”—a subtle energy that keeps minds restless and seeking stimulation. Consider the benefits of no TV in living room as primary focus, instead positioning it where it serves specific purposes without dominating the space’s energy.
Practical steps for minimizing the TV’s presence while maintaining a fireplace TV stand setup include using beautiful cabinetry that closes to hide the screen completely when not in use, positioning seating to favor the fireplace over the TV, or placing calming artwork or Thich Nhat Hanh calligraphy above the fireplace to draw attention toward presence rather than screens.
Photo by Andrea Davis on Unsplash.
Silent Zones in Your Living Room
Create corners or areas specifically designated for quiet activities like reading, meditation, or simply sitting with tea. These zones communicate that stillness is valued equally with entertainment in your household.
Remember that silence isn’t empty but full—full of possibility, presence, and the subtle sounds of life that we miss when constantly consuming media. Your fireplace, with its crackling warmth, offers the perfect anchor for appreciating this rich silence.
Mindfulness Products Suggestion: Designate a meditation corner near your fireplace with comfortable cushions and mats that invite family members to practice sitting meditation or simply enjoy quiet presence away from screens.
Nurturing Shared Spaces: Alternatives to Media Consumption
A truly mindful home offers abundant alternatives to media consumption, honoring our deep human needs for creativity, movement, connection, and reflection. Your living room without TV as the dominant force opens possibilities for activities that create genuine bonding and well-being.
A Creative Hub in Your Living Room
Consider creating space for making art together—keeping simple drawing materials, clay, or watercolors accessible for spontaneous creative expression. Designate areas for reading where family members can enjoy books in companionable silence, periodically sharing passages that move them.
Leave open floor space for movement practices like gentle yoga, stretching, or what our teacher calls “touching the earth“—a prostration practice that helps us connect with gratitude and release difficult emotions. These activities require physical space that TV-centered layouts often eliminate.
Establish a meditation corner where anyone can retreat for sitting practice, even briefly. This might include cushions, a small shelf with meaningful objects, and perhaps a piece of calligraphy serving as a mindfulness bell—a visual reminder to return to breath and presence.
Encourage what children naturally do best: imaginative play that requires no screens or structured entertainment. When living rooms aren’t dominated by media consumption, creativity flourishes naturally in the spaciousness.
These alternatives don’t mean eliminating all TV watching, but rather ensuring that screen time is one option among many rather than the default activity whenever the family gathers.
Mindfulness Products Suggestion: Create a reading sanctuary near your fireplace with Thich Nhat Hanh books that offer wisdom for the whole family, supporting mindful consumption of ideas rather than endless media.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How should I arrange a fireplace TV stand for minimal distraction? A: Position your TV in a cabinet that can close completely when not in use, or mount it on a swivel that allows turning it toward the wall. Arrange seating primarily to face the fireplace rather than the screen, and consider placing meaningful art or calligraphy above the fireplace to draw attention there first.
Q: What are the benefits of reducing TV presence in the living room? A: Families often experience more face-to-face conversation, increased creativity and reading, better sleep quality (especially if the living room flows to bedrooms), reduced consumption of advertising messages, and more time for movement practices and genuine connection. The space itself feels more peaceful and inviting for stillness.
Q: Can we have both a fireplace and TV without losing mindfulness? A: Yes, through intentional design and household agreements about screen time. The key is ensuring the fireplace remains the primary focal point, creating “device-free” hours where everyone agrees to turn off screens, and having rituals that mark transitions between entertainment and contemplative time.
Q: How do I balance individual needs for TV with family needs for calm? A: Consider designating your main living room as a primarily TV-free or minimal-TV space, while having screens in other areas for individual use (like in the den). This honors both needs without forcing everyone to choose constantly between entertainment and peace in your home’s heart.
Q: What if my family resists reducing TV prominence in our living room? A: Start with gentle experiments rather than dramatic changes. Try one “screen-free evening” per week, create an inviting meditation or reading corner as an alternative, and practice having honest family conversations about what everyone actually needs to feel nourished and connected at home.
Experiential Content Suggestions
20-Minute Guided Meditation: “The Five Remembrances” ~ A gentle audio meditation by Kaira Jewel Lingo on impermanence and what truly matters, helping you deepen appreciation for life beyond entertainment consumption. Ideal for listening together as a family before making decisions about home organization.
Contemplative Calming Audio: “The Great Bell Chant” ~ Explore an evening without screens with a 30-minute chanting video by Br Phap Niem. Family members gather in quiet presence, creating an alternative ritual to automatic screen time. The sound of the Great Bell is so beautiful and helps us to calm our mind, relax our body. We come back to our true home and generate compassion for all living beings.
Experiential Music Meditation: “Plum Village Music Offerings for Summer Online Retreats” ~ A special experience that combines music, poetry and choir for households to enjoy mindful media consumption, providing calmness and nourishment.
Fireplace Meditation: “Silent Meditation with 5 intervals“ ~ The family is invited to practice a 20-minute silent sitting together with the fire, using its movement and warmth as an object of meditation.