Weekly Photo Challenge: A Home is…

“He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Weekly Photo Challenge: A Home in Bayeux

A while ago, I wrote a post about My Dream Homes in which I featured a series of truly amazing homes. For this week’s Home assignment, I would have preferred to feature one of the nests built by the birds that come every spring to build a nest under our roof or in a hanging basket on our balcony.  Alas, I couldn’t get any decent shots because they have not arrived; the erratic weather discourages them. I hope they come back when spring finally sets in… The early crocuses have popped up their purple heads by our front door so, I remain hopeful.

Instead, I have chosen to feature two places one can call home; the serene sanctuary at Omega, in Rhinebeck, NY, and a beautiful Tudor style home I walked by in the lovely town of Bayeux, France. I had gotten off the train in Bayeux from Caen and there was no taxi in sight. A kind lady told me I could easily walk down the road and find my way to the museum that houses the famous Bayeux Tapestry. As I turned the corner on my way to the museum, this home and it’s colorful garden welcomed me… It might not matter to you but those flowers were blooming their pretty heads off in November. The stillness around me was a reminder that home is where our heart it… Below is a poem/long quote from Kahlil Gibran on Home; a very powerful, pithy message.  As Maya Angelou says, “I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” What does home mean to you?

“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” Matsuo Basho

Weekly Photo Challenge: A home is ... a sanctuary

A Home is a Sanctuary or Wherever Our Heart is. The Omega Sanctuary is a place to meditate, chant, stretch our limbs or be still. We can find a home in places that are atypical; in the forest, mountainous terrain, waterfalls, by a busy shore… and then we can find one in familiar places that welcome our hearts. It doesn’t have to be a place where we sleep. It could be a place where we find rest and safety; like a sanctuary. Below, Kahlil takes a closer look and asks some thought-provoking questions… What does it all mean? And then, if/when it’s swept away, destroyed, where do we call home? I send out prayers to all who have lost their homes… It is in our hearts; at least the memory of home, and then the rebuilding will come. Don’t despair.

On Houses by Khalil Gibran
And tell me, people of OrphaIese, what have you in these houses? And what is it you guard with fastened doors?
Have you peace, the quiet urge that reveals your power?
Have you remembrances, the glimmering arches that span the summits of the mind?
Have you beauty, that leads the heart from things fashioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain?
Tell me, have you these in your houses?
Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host and then a master?

RIP Nathaniel D Hale aka Nate Dogg hip hop icon and collaborator w/ Snoop, Warren G, Eminem and others.

Positive Motivation Tip: Find a place inside your heart to call home and then match that with a similar space outside.

Related Articles

• The beaches of Normandy – Bayeux, France (travelpod.com)
• Kahlil Gibran’s poem ON WORK (tameshewolf.wordpress.com)
• Reason and Passion (carolefdee.wordpress.com)
• Pushing through The Shadow & Opening to The Light… (eof737.wordpress.com)

PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: From my personal collection

Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet