The Place YOU Call Home

Unless something changes before next month, this blog is a short introduction to next month's newsletter. If you happened to miss my newsletter lately, you can view them by finding Read My Newsletters in the right hand column.

I have long been intrigued by the concept of Home and what it means to all of us and each of us. I'm sure part of my fascination with this subject is because for so many years, I lived so far away from the city/state/country that I called home. Maybe this made me feel more sensitive to the feelings of home.

When does the place or city you live in become your home? How long does it take before a new place becomes home? Does it happen instantly or does it take some time? Are there certain things that need to be in place before you get this feeling? Can you live in one place for years and still feel like it's not really home? Do the feelings of home change? These have been things I have wondered about over the years.

I remember when I decided to leave Sweden to return to California in 2011, I was surprised by the responses of many people - especially those who had lived in Sweden for 20 and 30 years. When I told them my news, there were many who said, 'I think often about going home'. For some reason, I had thought that most of those individuals had made Sweden their home and that they no longer entertained thoughts of going back to the country where they were born. I had never heard these people ever say anything about 'home' before, but it was obviously something that was always present for them.

I am soon off on a trip to Sweden for a visit and that's why I think next month will be the perfect time to explore the topic further in my newsletter.

In the meantime, what are some questions or thoughts that come up for YOU about home?

Bejeweling Television

I have a confession. Sometimes my mind just needs a break. Sometimes the inspiration needs some time to find me (read last week's blog here for more on this). Sometimes I just have a need to do activities that really have only one effect and that's to help me tune out. I really wish that weren't so, but right now, it's the way it is so I've decided to embrace it. I'm also learning a lot from it. So I thought by exploring this with you here a bit, there might be some information and/or insights that would help you uncover some truths about you and your journey.

Even though the activities I choose aren't horrible, I still sense a lot of judgment around these activities on my part. I wish I chose things like meditation and yoga. And while these might be my choices at certain times, my current choices are TV & mind-boggling games on my iPhone.  Whew--that feels good to admit! When I have had some downtime lately, THOSE 2 things are what I have chosen. It's really not very like me - I'm certainly NOT a video game person & the last few years, I've been much more picky with my TV choices. But this is what I've noticed and learned from these habits of late:

1) It didn't really help when I resisted doing these things because it always ended up that I did them anyway. So I stopped resisting & told myself this was just where I was right now. I reminded myself that I wasn't going to become a lazy hermit because of this. As a result, the judgment dispersed & I let it be what is was.

2) I've noticed that I have been really tapping into my creative energy lately. I'm not sure which came first - needing to tune out a bit because I have been more creative or being more creative because I have tuned out more. It doesn't matter. Right now, I'm LOVING the creative energy and following this flow.

3) I've noticed a pattern that I have a need for this sometimes before big events. I'm going off on a 3 week trip in a couple of weeks and it feels like I'm preparing myself in some way. I would like to find other ways to prepare myself, but this is the one I know now and I seem to be going with it. So I'll just go with it AND I'll be thinking of other ways that I might like to explore in the future.

We all have ways to 'turn off' and tune out. With awareness, this can be a way that we re-charge our batteries. However, it is important that the awareness is there. Without it, we might choose activities that are destructive OR we might choose them at the expense of other things such as relationships and connections. This can lead to isolation and loneliness.

So there you have it...my confession of the ways I choose to tune out these days. What does this bring up for you? Are there activities that help you 'tune out' that lead then to a re-charged battery? Are there some of these activities that you'd like to do less of or do you have a good balance? I invite you to explore your 'distractions' and see what comes up for you.

Tetris, anyone?

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