Calm, Acceptance, Belonging, Ease, Authenticity, Relaxation, Letting Go 

Coming Home

Leigh Johnson | 11 November 2021

How can I make myself more at home and invite the same for others?

A home invites a sense of peace, ease, relaxation, welcome, belonging and acceptance that allows us to fully be ourselves. ‘Home’ is the ‘place’ in time and space that we seek to return to or to find for the first time.

And yet the reality is that, in our seeking of a sense of home, we are not always clear on what that looks like for each of us.

Home is a feeling, a state of being that we experience in all sorts of different circumstances. We can feel at home in our or another’s house, in a work space, when in conversation with someone, in a city, country or part of nature. We can feel at home in our bodies. Comfortable. Relaxed, at peace. At home with the thoughts, feelings, physical expressions of our body. Or not.

The many instances when we do not feel at home are clues too as to what home means for us. The act of deep reflection on the various places and states in which we feel at home is so important. Through reflecting on why it is we do or don’t feel at home, we are able to understand ourselves that much better. We are able to explore what is holding us back or restricting us, and what is driving us forward. Most importantly, we are able to show up more consciously and bring more intention and awareness to the decisions we are making.

Essentially, home is a coming back into our true self- that core, essential self that resides deep within that we have so often lost in our bid to fit into society, achieve others' approval or simply to explore all that the complexity of life has to offer us. Home is that still, small space that is always calm, always clear, always accepting. That still, quiet place within us.

And, because our true home is within us, it is our journey to create space in our lives that allows that part of us to come out more. Our journey involves – or should do! - exploring how to allow that true part of us to emerge, in order to allow others to feel more at home around us too.

How can we do this? How can we live more truly from our authentic self and invite others home to their authentic self too?

• By pausing, taking time out, breathing, coming back into awareness, returning to the present. Being aware of Now.
• By listening to our thoughts through meditation,
• Connecting to our hearts through journaling,
• Responding to our bodies through movement and
• Understanding our spirit through stillness.
• And – it is simply about doing the same for others. Listening deeply to others, with the goal of understanding and not responding.

When we listen with the whole of ourselves to our own soul and to the people around us, we will start becoming familiar with what is truly happening within and around us, and that is when we really start feeling at home – and invite others home too.

Author: Leigh Johnson