by Luke Pell, Home Lab Leader
(Returning to) HOME
What is the weight of this word?
What was it, what is it, what could it be
How does home change, feel, get found, get made
From what
Is it made of things?
Of wood, of branch, of dirt, a box
Of stone, of sky, of stars
Of lines, in sand, in land, in time, across water
Is it made of skins?
Of flesh, of blood - beating in chest, a warm hand, your breath
A smile
Something
Soft
or, something, hard, cold, closed, broken, gone, never was, never known
Does it come with…
Time
To settle
To dwell
To be in residence
Here, I am at home, my most at home, amongst these people, like a pig in muck.
Why? In opening up a space of meeting, mattering, caring, laughing, loving, longing, listening, I heard myself say “home was some people who are not here anymore,” but they are close.
And these people are here. These people are near, nearer, now. Why? We walked and talked and ate and laughed and moved and cried, exploring the breadth of home, making new friends, new neighbours, thinking through our practice by doing, by playing, by getting in the messy bits and seeing what comes from asking questions of things we are passionate about, things we are perplexed by.
What is shelter, what is your refuge, why and if it has to change, what remains, what would - could you let go of?
Why make a nest?
To be warm, to be still, to be hidden, to be here
To rest, to lay-down, roots, to heal
Why make this nook?
To look out -in order to look in
To look in - in order to look out
A den, a lair, a cave, a pasture, a flat, surface, sheet, palm of hand, threshing, barn, burrow, ships, decking, mountain, floor.
Something temporary. It is all, temporary.
Where have you come from?
Where have you been?
Where will you go?
These constellations and convergences, loops of living, reaching, out, branching out, rooting
You.
In a world
In a place
In company
This world, your worlds, our worlds, worlding, wording, calling things, naming things, sharing things, together, re-imagining, re-shaping, changing things.
Placing
Place making
Space making
Space taking
What does it take to feel at home in our own skins?
To have that gift, that privilege
And some space
Space between
The here and now and then to come
Time
To leave
To go
To move
Time
To say
Stay
Close
Hello
Goodbye… for now
We made this, together:
Home was something I lost for a while
Home was a very lonely place
Home was nature
Home was some people who are no longer here
Home was something I carried with me
Home was something that ended and has begun again
Home was an object, my backpack, which I lived out of, but it’s not anymore
Home was always being on the move
Home was something I couldn’t grasp and now home is something I can grasp a little bit more
Home is the story between the coming and the going and the toing and the froing
Home is food and people and nature
Home is a feeling of safety, warmth and it’s my family
Home is belonging
Home is very distant
Home is my parent’s house
Home is being comfortable in yourself, with yourself
Home is a notebook filled with ideas, concepts and new challenges
Home is a choice
Home is this PUSHplus family
Home is right here
Home is finding a way, a pace, a start
Home is leaning into, speeding up, and letting go
Home is making space, some people will follow the rules, other people will make their own
We seek to find home together
Home could be something that is not static, something that you bring with you
Home could be something we are all able to create for each other
Home could be anything I want it to be
Home could be a cat that I didn’t think I’d like
I wish, that I remember how it’s all felt and that it stays close with me
I wonder if I’ll ever find home
I wish, the world was always like the last eight days and people from all over the world, could feel the love and generosity we all felt towards one another and feel really happy about that, and I wonder if that’s possible, I wonder if that’s home. I wonder if that feeling of love and connectivity with strangers, who stop being strangers after a while, I wonder if that’s what home, is.
(Returning to) HOME - A reflection from PUSHPlus Home Lab Leader Luke Pell closed with the closing reflection of the participants