“Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”

Last week I did a live Facebook post of HOME and the feelings one might have about your home and how our home is a reflection of us.  The post just came about but the way in which it touched my heart moved me to do this blog post.  It’s summer a very busy, active travel season.  It is one of the busiest travel periods.  So, the bottom line of this post is that no matter how much, or where we travel we often hear these expressions when WE return home!
Ever said or heard these expressions?

 

“It’s Great to be Gone – I am Glad to be HOME”

“Glad to back HOME “

“Welcome HOME”

“No Place like HOME”

Yes, after traveling for work or leisure, I often say these phrases.  I travel a fair share for work and pleasure when I arrive HOME, I feel complete. I feel that the purpose of the travel has concluded, and I have arrived safely back to my nest. I feel a sense of ease and I am grateful to be back HOME.  For me as I mentioned in the Facebook LIVE segment home is my sanctuary.   Each room in our home was created with all of US in mind.  Each of the spaces in my home is a safe and sacred zone.  I have placed objects of love and memories in our home.  I work at home in a space where I feel most creative. We created a separate space for entertaining.  Our master space is comfortable and functions as our command central.  We love just hanging out in that space.  We have named our spaces in our home.  We have created space for guests.  Our homes reflect how we see our world. Yes, we still have a room for our adult son to come HOME.  We feel welcomed and accepted in our home.

So, after the live segment, I began to think about those who are not comfortable or feel safe in their homes.  I imagined those who feel that the last place they want to be is in their HOUSE.  I realized that not everyone has these beautifully nostalgic memories and experiences. For many it is the opposite of what I described above.  I wrestled with how they might have felt.  I was not familiar with that sense of being.  After some quiet time, I came away with this conclusion; home is where the heart is!  If the building/domicile of a house does not feel like home, we can create the feeling of a home in our hearts.  I imagined that the expression “home is where the heart is” must align with those whose current home situation is only found in their hearts.  For those where this is the reality, I send love and light and that at some time they get to witness the feeling of home.  Until then, I wish that their safe sanctuary be a space in their heart.

Singer songwriter Luther Vandross wrote lyrics that affirm that a house is not a home when the expected conditions are not present.  In his song A House is Not a Home, he croons:

“A chair is still a chair, even when there’s no one sitting’ there
But a chair is not a house and a house is not a home
When there’s no one there to hold you tight
And no one there you can kiss goodnight”

So, what is it about our homes that makes it uniquely YOURS?  What spaces reflect how you feel and what makes it YOUR home? Look around your home and check out those things that bring you great JOY and put a big smile on your face and creates sentimental nostalgia. Those feelings not only apply to our home we live in but could also be present for homes of our family members and/or friends we visit and most of all for the home we grew up in.  Whether our memories are positive or not there is an emotional response to the places we have called home.

 

So, I ask where home for you is and what is the MOST significant home you have lived in and has a special place holder in your heart.

Songs have been written about being home – “I’ll be home for Christmas”, “Sweet Home Alabama”, One Less Bell to Answer/A House is Not a Home, “I’ll Come Home to You.” “My Way Home,” “Any Place I Hang my Hat is Home” and the list is endless.  The feeling of a HOME is significant and shared in many areas of life.  We speak of our hometown, our home team, our home away from home.  I felt that feeling of internal quiet and calm when I speak or write of HOME!

So here are a few of the expressions in our language on home:

“Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”

“Home is where the heart is.”

“a man’s home is his castle”

 “there is no place like home”

 “home sweet home”

 “to be at home”

 “home away from home”

“make yourself at home”

“you can never go home again”,

 “home is where the heart is”

  “home is where you hang your hat”

“Home is where our story begins…”
“Home is the starting place of love, hope and dreams.”
“Home is where love resides, memories are created, friends always belong, and laughter never ends.”
“A house is made of bricks and beams. A home is made of hopes and dreams.”
“Home is not a place…it’s a feeling.”
“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave and grow old wanting to get back to.”
“In this home… We do second chances. We do real. We do mistakes. We do I’m sorrys. We do loud well. We do hugs. We do together best of all.”

 “The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”

 “Bless out house as we come and go. Bless our home as the children grow. Bless our families as they gather in. Bless our home with love and friends.”

“Home is a shelter from storms-all sorts of storms.”

“Home is where one starts from.”

“The best journey takes you home.”

“Life takes you unexpected places, love brings you home.”

“Never leave home without a kiss, a hug and an I love you.”

No matter what place you call home, the very word strikes a chord deep inside each of us. Home means sanctuary, the place we can rest, relax, enjoy time with friends, learn, grow … and just be. Our homes say a lot about who we are and what we think is important in life.

Home is where the heart is, but it goes deeper than that. Our connections to home are basic threads in our lives that pop up automatically in casual conversation.

The role of home and sense of place in a person’s life story can be significant. As people age, their life story takes on added importance. … Knowing their way around their home helps compensate, and being comfortable in their living space reduces stress and helps well-being

You do not have to be wealthy or have a large house to create a space that constantly reminds you of your own deepest values and hopes and inspires you to realize them. It is clear that what you need to create a sacred space is NOT money, but what each of us already has: creativity, intuitive guidance, imagination and inspiration.

When we purchase a home, we look for it to provide comfort, to be a place where we can feel safe and invest our hopes, dreams and wishes as a foundation for our future. Most of us have similar goals and intentions in life, no matter what size, shape, color or type of home we choose in a given geographic location. We all want to start a life with a special someone, perhaps have a family, grow through life’s stages and eventually retire. That’s the American dream. As our lives progress, the daily demands of family, friends, school, careers and all the unforeseen events we deal with over time all contribute to the stress in the overall atmosphere in the places we call home.

For many, home is (or was) a loving, supportive environment in which to grow up and discover oneself. Most people will have more than one home in a lifetime, and if the original one was unhappy, there is always the opportunity to do better when creating a new home. This may not as easy as it sounds for those whose memory of home is not a positive situation.  Instead it may have been one from which escape is (or was) a desperate imperative. But even when it is a peaceful, loving environment, home is, for all of us, a sphere wherein we must negotiate rights and privileges, make compromises, and seek empowerment through self-affirmation.

As an ideal that exists in the imagination, and in dreams and wish fullfillments, home carries many and varied symbolic meanings embedded in the physical design of houses and projected onto them by the belief systems within which our lives play out. The people who live with us, and material possessions with which we furnish our home space are essential aspects of the place where we dwell. Complex interactions with all these elements give definition to home as we see it. And as we define home, we also define ourselves in relation to it. (Article research)

Think for a moment of your home. If you were to describe it in a word or two, what would it be? Peaceful and calm? Orderly? Disorganized and chaotic? Messy? Open and welcoming? How would you compare the way you describe your home to the life you lead? Our environments are often the exterior reflections of our interior worlds. “How did you select your home”

Until next time,
Helen Mitchell, JOY Expert
ReFRESH Founder