Posted on by Tenneson Woolf

Home

Home is a theme that I often find myself circling back to. In thought. In heart. In symbols. In my night time dreams like the one last night that had me back in my grandparents home that I knew as a kid. It seems I return to the theme of home about every six months or so. It seems that there is something I seek to retrieve in my awareness visits to home.

What is home? What are the many layers of home? What is the home that I find myself craving? What is it in home that I seek? What is it in home that I wish to offer? What remains the same with home? What changes? What needs to change? What do I simply wish to change? Yes, there is a lot.

Something in my psyche relates to and seeks relationship with home. For me, it’s less the walls, less the familiar bed, less the backyard trees growing over the years — but it includes all of these. For me, home is more about what is within me. More of the acceptance, whatever the changing circumstance may be. More of the coming to terms with uncertainty and not knowing. More of the inner freedom that chooses and aligns with a deeply inner intuition about what is now and what is next.

Meg Wheatley is a near 30-year friend and colleague now. We’ve seen a lot of life together. We’ve learned a lot together. This week I found myself picking up her 2012 book, So Far From Home. In the opening pages, Meg includes these words about home.

Home Is

The source of vivid memories for a place we’ve never been.
The yearning to return to a place we’ve yet to find.
The sense of true belonging.
When we know that we’ve been found.
The confidence to journey through this life.

Yes, so, this home that is return to where we’ve never been. Meg points, as she often does, to the deeply inner that is humans belonging together in connection, learning, love, and life. Meg also points to the deeply isolated and personal, the deeply rooted inner quality that changes everything in the external.

Maybe we are meant to often return to this notion of home, for the ways that it can only be found in multiple loops and return.

Here’s to “home is,” however any of us might find it, or stumble upon it in our returns, perhaps discovering that a very important part of home has always been here, within.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Proudly powered by WordPress

Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.

This will close in 60 seconds

asd
In My Nature is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

This will close in 60 seconds

asd
Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

This will close in 60 seconds