Stillness 6-21: What does your home look like? How do you wish it would feel as you step inside, as you go to sleep? If you had your druthers, is there anything you would change? Whether we live in the hills or the town, in a cottage or a mansion, on a boat or on a farm, our home is an extension of our self. It’s vital that it reflects our values and instills in us feelings of security, solidity, safety. It represents our daily life, the ground we walk on, the air we breathe.
Your home needs to be where you want to be. A dear friend of mine, a mystic, an artist, and one of the most light-filled, wise human beings I’ve ever met, was so-called “homeless.” He lived on the beach in a city by the sea. Over time, as we became friends, he told me when he was 18 he’d been drafted into the war in Vietnam. Told to shoot to kill during a particularly harrowing jungle battle, he’d refused to shoot anyone and tried to run away. The military imprisoned him in a cement block 6 feet by 6 feet, with just one small barred window, for over a year, while he was court-martialed for treason and threatened with a sentence of death. If that had happened to you, where would you want to live afterward? Wouldn’t you choose the sky for walls, the ocean for windows, and the shifting sand under your feet for your floor?
You live in your heart. You live in your brain. Clutter is not about having too much or too little, but about what gets in the way of your peace of mind. Cleanliness is not about scrubbing away the grime but about feeling fresh and grateful. Beauty is not about design and fashion but about instilling your home with harmony and pleasure. Love is not about attachment and expectations, but about freedom and joy. Love where you live.