Home!
What does home mean and what power does this word carry?
Starting from the place where you were born and moving through all the places where you settle in life, you end up, without even realizing it, with more than one “home”. But let’s talk about their role. And about the less spoken part: what home means for the soul, for everything you are, not just for the mind or the character.
If we are lucky to grow up where we were born, we already have something immensely valuable compared to many other characters who may not even know where they were born, so we can from the start be extra grateful for this feeling. The place of origin carries a multitude of memories, whether they are good or bad, they are still home and nostalgia hits anyway. Am I wrong? Correct me, please!
Taking those first steps in life, with wide eyes in a new world, a child’s curiosity is the engine of movement and exploration, an engine that, over time, wears out. I will refrain from blaming anyone (parents, family or society), but by storing so much unnecessary information, the mind has already created a map that it later follows on autopilot.
Now do an imagination exercise, let the child explore freely, without labels. What do you think, does curiosity fade just as fast? When labels are not taken into account, everything remains a kind of harmonious chaos, practically.
If somehow I lost you and the movie I’m presenting is no longer playing in your mind, let’s move to the next scene.
You become an adult, you move into your own house, everything is arranged the way you wanted, you are home. Home is arranged according to your soul, you live there all the time, that’s where you spend most of your time, tell me, have you given this place the attention it deserves?
Home is supposed to be where you recharge your batteries, where you feel safe, where you feel you can create, you can dream, home is like a womb, so theoretically home is the place where it’s good to invest on multiple levels so you can have all these benefits.
Unfortunately, many forget what home means and either don’t value this place, or they value it but don’t know how to enjoy it, because they bring home, into the house, all the possible burdens from their lives with them.
You might say: well, isn’t home where you sit and think and solve problems? Let’s see, because the line between theory and practice is very thin here. If you, and I’ve done it too, use the bedroom to watch the news, how is your head when you put it on the pillow to sleep? If you use your kitchen to argue with your partner every time they come home, how can you cook there with love? If you go to the bathroom only to take care of your needs, how can that place smile back at you in the mirror in the morning?
The bathroom receives very little attention, but think a bit more about how much time you actually spend there, so maybe you still place a candle, a rug exactly how you like it, a soft towel for your face, every detail in the house can bring you pleasure, satisfaction, a return into your senses, into your body, to recharge yourself even for a second with positive energy.
For me there is no rich and poor, because I have seen rich people poorer in soul than those who are poor and vice versa. Attention to details is often forgotten, because we live fast, we think, we see, everything superficially.
Let’s leave the nest for a moment and move forward.
What else does home mean? It means that place where you feel comfort, pleasure, peace, where you feel you recharge with energy, right? Mmm… sometimes this place is exactly in a stranger’s house, in someone’s arms and suddenly home has changed its location, I don’t think I lost you here, you have all felt those arms.
Let’s still go further, let’s somehow bring these places together.
If home, the place of origin, is thousands of kilometers away, if home is also where you usually sleep at night, if home is also in someone’s arms, what do all these have in common, what could they have in common? If you analyze them, the first is a huge space, a neighborhood, a country, the second is a smaller space than the first, some rooms, and the third is even smaller, just a pair of warm arms.
So what they have in common is not something physical, no, but all of them have you in common, so you are already home, discover that within yourself and wherever you go, you are already home, the harmony in your soul, the harmony of mind, body and soul, that is home.
How could we not give the greatest attention to ourselves, why do we keep searching outside?
I am not writing to give you solutions, I just wanted to make you see that you already have everything you need inside, you just moved away from yourself, yes, me too, but I find myself again often, I return home, it is quiet, it is good.
And if today is a special day, it is because most people return home, they run less with their mind, they rest their body and they savor more with their senses, they look at their loved ones, listen to music, taste food, embrace those close to them and give themselves time. This is home. This is what any celebration means to me. To celebrate what you already have. Wherever you are. Even alone. The simplicity of being.
Alright, if I didn’t lose you until here, I’m glad. Maybe this is, in fact, what any celebration is… a return home. Christ is risen! Peaceful Easter!