What Does It Take to Make Home?

It seems that as much as I enjoy creating beautiful places to live and work, I also find a great deal of pleasure in lightening my load and being unencumbered. I am in the process of moving out of the home I created only a few months ago with an as yet to be determined "final" destination. In this type of move it is very freeing to have little to take with me. Today as I was packing and passing things on to new homes I was almost giddy. Finding out how little I really need to create a peaceful, beautiful space is almost like a game. I'm sure I must have been a Zen monk at some point, because it is so easy to slip into that mindset. I also notice there is a certain clarity that comes with simplifying on the external level.

I know someone who can carry everything she owns with her and she has no "home." She is the head of an international organization addressing human dignity and considers herself to be a global citizen. She is always traveling as a part of her work and stays with colleagues that are a part of their network. She is very involved in the world and is sort of a professional "Peace Pilgrim." I've gotten pretty light at times in my life, but the level of detachment to place and stuff just described is something that is still a bit of a stretch for me, and it fascinates me. Maybe I will get to that point someday, but then if too many people end up that detached it could present an interesting dilemma--where will all "Peace Pilgrims" stay? Ha! Ha!

When I relocate people are always asking me, "Is this permanent?" All I can say is that nothing in life is permanent and, for better or worse, I seem to have been the water in the river that has moved through quickly whereas others are the boulders that are washed away slowly over time. It's all good! I will say that it is my intention to root myself somewhere as a part of larger community. Perhaps when I am fully at home inside the external search will end and I may discover that there is really nowhere to go.