A Music Party, 1861, Arthur Hughes.
A Music Party, 1861, Arthur Hughes.

We learn and hear a lot of cliches about home – what it means, where it is, how we find it, when do we feel at home and when do we feel displaced, unmoored; what we do if our sense of it has shifted irreparably or gone missing.

Some home cliches are heart-warming, and others are downright dreary and impoverished-of-heart.

There are times when the notion of and yearning for home is elevated, bringing for some a sense of warmth and rootedness (and the real sense of security that brings); and bringing for others a sense of discouragement (dis-heart-enment), disconnectedness, sadness, or angst.

Mrs. Leathart and Her Children, 1865-66, by Arthur Hughes.
Mrs. Leathart and Her Children, 1865-66, by Arthur Hughes.

We’ve heard that what we look for outside of ourselves can be elusive and shapeshifting, and what we find within ourselves (and in the greater Divine in which we live) is more rooted and constant.

From the inside, out … like a heart-centered homing beacon.

What is home, really? What makes it home? How can we seed and cultivate home from the inside out?

Here are a few questions and musings for musing, journaling, meditating on, and just to stir the remembering:

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

~ Maya Angelou

Kitten, 1900, by William Clarke Wontner.
Kitten, 1900, by William Clarke Wontner.

“The moment a woman comes home to herself, the moment she knows that she has become … an artist of her life, a sculptor of her universe … the resurrection of the world begins.”

~ Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, Co-Chair GPIW (Global Peace Initiative for Women)

“…the reason we haven’t found our grail, the key to who we are as women, is because we look for it in a world of false power, the very worlds that took it away from us in the first place. Neither men nor work can restore our lost scepter. Nothing in this world can take us home. Only the radar in our hearts can do that.”

~ Marianne Williamson

“We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a

world that is interpreted for us by others.

An interpreted world is not home.

Part of the terror is to take back our own listening,

to use our own voice, to see our own light.”

~ Often attributed to Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179). See below for the actual inspiration source!

A Clear Well With a Little Field, 1883, Marie Spartali Stillman.
A Clear Well With a Little Field, 1883, Marie Spartali Stillman.

“Where your treasure is, there

too you will find your heart.”

~ Matthew, 6:21

Maybe “home is where the Heart is” is meant to be just that literal — in the powerful heart-center within us, that, when we’re centered there, emanates out in powerful connection and healing?

The End of the Quest, 1921, by Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee. [Image courtesy of WikiMedia]
The End of the Quest, 1921, by Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee. [Image courtesy of WikiMedia]

• What speaks to our hearts, what our heart yearns for, where our hearts lead us … when and if we cultivate our listening?

• What has heart and joy and meaning for you (or me)?

• Where, what, and with whom is my heart’s home?

Here are some additional Sophia’s Children reflections and musings to help you cultivate this whole notion of our true home.

Home and Exile: Uprooted and Sinking Your Roots in New Ground

Calling Home Your Exiled Selves

On Restoring the World’s Lost Heart

For an Ally on your Way …

Gain an experienced & compassionate ally and navigation guide to quicken & focus your progress home to the truth of who you are:

Check out these ‘just for now’ special offerings.

Big Love & Devoted Homecoming,
Jamie

** This wise and stirring quote is often attributed to Hildegard von Bingen, Benedictine Abbess, Writer, Musician, Mystic, Doctor of the Church … & so much more (1098 – 1179). The actual source from which this quote is inspired is Elaine Bellezza’s article, “Hildegard of Bingen, Warrior of Light,” in Gnosis Magazine, vol. 21, pp 50-62, 1991.