Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Home in your Heart


It would seem that the adage "home is where your heart is" has been around forever. It means different things to each of us: a welcome homecoming to the place where you grew up and have fond memories (and always feels like home, despite how many years you've been away), a feeling of contentment wherever you are in the world as long as you are with the ones you love, or maybe it's that feeling you get when you're sitting in your favourite chair enjoying your solitude.

But what about that moment when you've had that "aha!" moment and things just seem to all make sense - and your heart just feels... perfect... it sighs because it is home. I read an article this week by Claudia Escareño-Clark who wrote about her experience in choosing to pursue her postgraduate studies at Southwestern College in New Mexico. Claudia talks about her struggle and rationalization of tuition, time commitment and then there was... resonance. This past May, a good friend of mine and world renowned psychologist/art therapist/instructor/author in the field of PhotoTherapy, Judy Weiser, gave a talk on PhotoTherapy at the college, and something clicked for Claudia. I understood what I had been waiting for. She says, quite perfectly: I think it’s easy for most of us, at least for me, to assume that because something isn’t right at the time it must not be right at all.

I know that so well. I so desperately wanted the answers to "life" when I completed my undergrad. I applied to 2 grad school programs and was rejected and I took the LSATs because an aptitude test said I'd be a good lawyer. Couldn't someone tell me who I was supposed to be, where I would fit in? It would be four years before I found what felt like home: the first weekend at The Coaches Training Institute's Fundamentals class. I met people who were like me: people who lived to encourage, champion, delight, support, and to challenge people's self-limiting beliefs. I felt like I was truly, for the first time, myself. My heart felt like it was home. I probably wasn't terribly gentle with myself in finding my life's path - I kept trying to force pieces of the puzzle together that just weren't ready. But the moment we are truly honest about our life's passions and are ready to step into receiving it fully, the universe will unfold for us.

Claudia says, Sometimes if we are willing to wait it out just a bit longer all of the pieces come together like some cosmic puzzle. 

Ain't that the truth.


4 comments:

  1. Jean, Wow! I got chills reading this. I know I don’t know you, but based off of your last paragraph I’d say we know each other, or at least where the other has been. You just described the last five years of my life. I got to the point where I would write down all the things I wanted to be when I grew up and would put them in a hat to see what I was going to grow up to be that week. I am so glad the search is over. It’s good to be home.

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    1. I loved your metaphor of the cosmic puzzle - it'd been a few months since I've last blogged (life challenges) and I'd just finished a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle with my husband. It was a cooperative effort, to gently press the pieces into the right place. We took our time, worked together, and celebrated each milestone.

      We joked about "what if there was a missing piece" and sure enough, a piece in the middle wasn't to be found... until we looked under the table. The answers aren't always going to be in front of us and sometimes we'll be distracted or disheartened, but there is beauty in all the stages of our live, if we chose to see it.

      I'm excited for your new journey and to each of us in this cosmic community resonating with our true, authentic selves.

      (as a side note, you may enjoy some of my previous blog entries, they're "self-life coach" related.)

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  2. Really excellent post Jean. Attacking this very same thing in my memoir self discovery is amazing! So glad your heart is home!

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    1. Thanks, Liysa. It's been the most challenging year for hubby and I, but we're seeing all the opportunities that come out of our life lessons... keep on, keeping on!

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