When we think of home, we often think of people, who know us – family, friends… the ones with whom we don’t have to explain ourselves.
Home is more than a physical place, it is a sanctuary. It is where we feel seen and where we feel we belong.
Home might be the language…. a specific dialect…
a favorite place,
the familiar rhythm of daily life,
a cup of coffee.
Where is home for you?
Beneath all lives a very common need:
to feel safe,
to have shelter,
to belong,
and to be at ease in who we are.
When these are met, something deeper can easily unfold:
our creativity, our purpose, a deeper expression of who we truly are.
And yet… life does not always provide that.
Leaving Home
Right now, more than 123 million people worldwide are forcibly displaced.
Some leave because of war… conflict… persecution and because life as they knew it is no longer possible.
…and some of us live without a home at all…
I am holding deep empathy and respect for the strength it takes to live a life under unknown circumstances – especially when one no longer feels welcomed, understood, or safe.
Witnessing Human Resilience
Through my work, I have met many people who lived through war, genocide, displacement, and unimaginable loss.
When I asked what helped them survive, I was deeply touched by their answers.
Sometimes it was humor.
Sometimes gratitude.
Sometimes the smallest acts of human kindness.
Hope.
Resilience.
A strength that clearly came from deep within.
It left me with the profound question: What remains when everything falls away?
A Touch of My Story
I have also begun a new life several times, where I left what was familiar – though in a very different way. Because I was not forced. It was my free choice.
I left my family home at seventeen and lived in different cities, countries, languages, and cultures. Each time, I had to let go of parts of my identities and the familiar feeling of belonging.
When I first arrived in the United States, I truly felt the language barrier. I often did not fully understand what was being said – especially in groups or fast conversations. And I certainly did not understand the jokes.
I was no longer the person people knew and consulted, a familiar face in the community.
For a while, I felt like a flower simply offering its scent – whether noticed or not.
So, where do I belong, where is home, when nothing feels know?
What remains?
OM – The Inner Home
Slowly, another understanding of home began to emerge.
My refuge became the home within.
A quiet presence.
A stillness that remains, even when everything around is changing.
I noticed that the word H–OM–E itself holds something meaningful in its center:
OM.
Not only as a sound, but as a vibration.
A place that feels peaceful.
Free.
It felt like a returning to myself.
From there, home slowly became less a location and more a way of being.
Being present. Meeting life as it is. Feeling at home even in moments of uncertainty.
Sometimes I wonder what an astronaut might feel looking back at our blue planet from far away.
Would home become something larger?
Where is home for you?
