What Does Home Feel Like to You? #cominghome #feelingathome

On By Alethea KehasIn Reflections
A photo of me at Cavan Burren Park in Ireland taken on the day after my waking vision. My husband sent it to our children labeled “Mom in her glory.”

We have all heard the adage, “Home is where the heart is,” but have you ever explored what coming home means to you?

I believe this adage is true, but in a very simplified form. We do find our sense of home through the heart. Home, I believe, is a feeling of deep connection. It is, in essence, what we are all seeking when we feel lost or alone.

The mysteries teach us that we are birthed into individuality to experience the self. A self that came from and will eventually return to a greater whole. At our very essence, we are all seeking this reconnection to unity, but “home” can feel different to each of us.

Let me give you and example:

I recently traveled with my husband to Ireland. It was a belated 50th birthday trip for me, so I chose most of our destinations. If you know me, you won’t be surprised to hear I filled our agenda with as many ancient sites as I could.

During the night of our first stay in Ireland, I woke to a vision of a figure standing over the bed on my husband’s side. Later in the day, I told my husband of the vision, which seemed more than a mere coincidence based upon the site we had chosen to visit later that day.

“I’m not sure it was for me,” he told me, “I don’t feel like I’ve had a past life here. I don’t feel a connection to this place.”

I’ve added a little more dialogue to his words to better illustrate this idea of home. My husband has learned, while observing me over the years, one of the most profound ways I find “home” is through visiting ancient sites. Here, I often find the energy of home. I can feel the energy of connection so deeply, sometimes, it moves me to tears. My heart pulls towards reunion. My cells come alive with memories the stretch beyond the individual self. I feel truly, and utterly, “at home.”

But this is not necessarily true for my husband.

Home to him is a more concrete and here-and-now experience. He is “at home” with his present day family. He is “at home” when he practices his craft of medicine.

I too find home in my craft of writing. Words form a labyrinth of connection that weaves through my cells when they arise from a place deeper than the self. When that soft voice bubbles through the layers of resistance, I feel the energy of home. I feel connection.

This feeling of home also comes to me when I am still in nature, and the individual self dissolves into the harmony of being a part of Earth.

So, I am wondering, what does home feel like to you? Where, or how, do you find your deepest sense of belonging and connection?

Even if you don’t want to share your feelings of home with me, maybe you will share it with yourself? I think it’s worth exploring. I think the feeling of disconnection from “home” is, at its most fundamental level, what causes our pain and suffering.

29 thoughts on “What Does Home Feel Like to You? #cominghome #feelingathome”

  1. Maybe it should be home is where the soul is. I tend to gravitate to ancient sites as well. (and Ireland is full of them!) When I touch ancient stones, I feel a strong connection to those who have touched them before.

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    1. I like that definition, Darlene. And, I’m so glad you shared (and are a kindred spirit) your connection to home. ❤ Have you been through the chamber at Newgrange? That was one of the most profound experiences I've ever had.

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  2. Like you wrote, I yearn for a feeling of home, which I’ve occasionally found in nature, traveling, and one place where I lived. Sadly, I don’t live somewhere that feels like home currently. And ultimately, home is being connected to self and life.

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    1. I can relate to living in a place that doesn’t feel like home, although I am sorry to hear you are feeling this (too). It’s difficult to deal with, isn’t it? I don’t think I’ve ever felt “at home” where I live, which is why I travel to “come home.” Like you, though I can find this sense, at least to some degree in nature. It has taken me a long time, though, to really feel connected to the land here. Sue used to remind me that the Earth is one big body, but still, some places definitely feel more like home than others. I hope you find that physical home of connection someday, Brad.

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  3. After a an enjoyable month of travel abroad with my older son, the feeling of coming home was very real. The sea, the mountains, my younger son and his family, my husband. There were times while abroad, that I had to rest. My soul needed to catch up I felt.

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  4. When I moved to NYC fifty years ago, it immediately felt like home. We moved so much when I was a child, I never grew attached to any place we lived, and I’ve continued to move often within the city, so no particular residence has a pull on me, though certain neighborhoods do. I’ve not traveled much, so I don’t know if anywhere else in the world would speak to me, though the ocean, no matter where I’ve been on its shores, always does.

    I love the rainbow in that photo. I do think stone speaks to us if we are open to it. (K)

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    1. I love that NYC feels like home to you. As someone who feels overwhelmed by big cities, I am in awe of those who can find home inside of them. There is something about the ocean, though, isn’t there? I’m glad you enjoyed the rainbow. We had several rainbows appear along our journey in Ireland, which made it extra special. And the stones, yes, they reveal their secrets to those who are open to them. ❤

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      1. You can be anonymous in the city, but it is also filled with small intimate neighborhoods and buildings. And despite its reputation, people know and look out for one another. Midtown and tourist destinations do not really reflect people’s actual lives here. Still, I understand not liking to be around a lot of people–I myself avoid places that are extremely crowded.

        Those rainbows are good omens I think.

        And the ocean–magic.

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      2. My daughter loves cities, and I am in awe watching her navigate them with ease. Nature is full of magic. Yesterday, I looked out the window to see three male cardinals foraging under my hemlocks together. ❤

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  6. This was a moving post for me and brings up my longing for the mountains. Nature and painting are like coming home. But the mountains are special. I’ve never lived in the mountains and have only visited. For the past 40 years, and much of my life before that, I’ve lived near the Atlantic Ocean, not due to a conscious decision on my part, but because this is the region where my parents settled after Dad’s military career. The ocean is great, but there are times when I visit the Appalachian Mountains, like when I am in a valley with a gentle mountain slope rising in front of me, that bring me to tears. Thank you for helping me process this further.

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  8. Like ‘Writing for Freedom’ I find home is fluid concept that is rarely fulfilled in a physical place. For me, it’s more about an inner feeling of being at home in myself. It’s an elusive state that often eludes me.

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