Food For Thought - "Going Home"

"Going Home"
C2002 Gail Pursell Elliott
 

“I want to go home, but I don’t know where home is.”

There are times in our lives when we may feel a great homesickness. Those times
are often characterized by circumstances that leave us feeling lost and alone
even in a roomful of people. Concepts of home have been included in the
following well-worn phrases as well as others.

Home is where the heart is.
Home is where you hang your hat.
You can’t go home again.
A house is not a home.

Home has to do with a sense of belonging. We can be in places or in situations
where we are needed and appreciated but still not feel as if we belong there or
are “at home.”

Home also has to do with a feeling of safety, a haven.
Home is a feeling of consistency in an inconsistent world.
For some, home means laughter, peace, and harmony.
For others, home is a place that is familiar and associated with success.
Home might be our point of origin.
Home might be people rather than places.
Home can be where we have built a positive identity.
Home may have nothing to do at all with where and with whom we grew up.
The concept of home is as unique as each person.

A friend of mine is a wildlife photographer who travels extensively. He has
always lived in Central Iowa, where the terrain is flat. In our conversations,
I often mentioned the beauty of the mountains in the East, where I grew up and
how much I miss them. In fact, when traveling to New England, New York State,
Pennsylvania, or West Virginia, I told him of this great sense of coming “home”
when I saw the mountains or the thick woods of that region.

After a photo trip to the Smokey Mountains, he told me how beautiful, indeed,
that part of the country is. “But,” he said, “I got claustrophobia. I felt
hemmed in. I couldn’t wait to get back home to Iowa where I can see for miles
and miles and miles.” We both chuckled at the difference in our reactions to
the environments.

If we return to a place or situation that we have viewed as “home” we may be
disappointed if the points of reference have changed. Most of us leave home
when we become adults, to create and fulfill our own destiny. Some leave
gratefully, if our early experiences were less than positive.

Some of us travel extensively, looking always for that place or situation which
we can call “home.” If what we have determined to be home is no longer meeting
our needs, we may have a great urge to “run away from home” so that we can start
over again and rebuild.

If home is more of a feeling or state of being, we might start looking inward
rather than outward. Some individuals seem to feel at home in any situation or
location. This may be because they have discovered that “home” is not dependent
on outer circumstances but what they bring to each new situation. They carry
that sense of “being at home” with them like a turtle carries its shell upon its
back.

Homesickness has more to do with losing touch with our inner truth and sense of
peace than it does with any outer circumstance. We leave home when we allow
outer circumstances to define us rather than remembering who we are. What we
see around us is a reflection of how we view ourselves at that moment. If we
feel lost within ourselves, what we see outside will appear to be a labyrinth of
confusion rather than an opportunity for discovery that we can approach with
confidence.

Though our comfort level may change based on circumstances, though one part of
the world may be more appealing to us than others, we still can feel at home.
When we reconnect with our sense of personal dignity we will be able to look
again, or re-spect, our surroundings and with that connection know that home can
be wherever we are.

Have a Great Day and be good to yourself.  You deserve it!

Gail

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