Guest Blogger: Alia Aurami
I loved Cherie’s and [Anonymous] idea of the intuitive city walks, and that could be a great practice!
The inquiry into “place” brings up two resonances in me. One is that I think each of us has “our right place” on the surface of Gaia, at a given time, and if we are there, we are the happiest it is possible to be. There could be many REASONS that [a location] is our current “right place,” most of which I think are multi-dimensional and have little to do with our personality’s preferences, but those preferences are certainly not unimportant to whatever it is that “knows” or “decides” our right place.
Some people inquire and search to find their right place; it is well worth shaking up one’s life to move there if one is not there. Any other place leads to a less than optimal wellbeing. (I think I am in preparation mode to make such a move.)
Other people already know their right place, because they’ve been there or they just feel the attraction/desire to move there.
The other resonance is my own internal inquiry into what is “home place” for me, not having had a regular dwelling that is “mine” for awhile. At first, I felt at home in my car whom I love very much; she’s an angel. Also I felt and affirmed “Gaia is my home, so I am always at home.” Especially, it felt as if looking at trees and being around trees, evoked the sense of “home.”
Those were two ways I felt a sense of place. Also, I connected with the places where people welcomed me, cared about me, wanted me with them; those were “my place” when I sometimes felt “displaced.” And perhaps more abstractly to say, but deep within my body and soul, I felt “I am at home wherever there is loving kindness.”
And finally, I created a sense of “my place” by always having with me in my various temporary homes, many of the objects of ordinary life that had been in my previous homes: my own dish and glass, my own bedding, my own clock, etc. Not to mention my daily home of my computer, haha.
So those are some of my own explorations around “place” that allow me to resonate with your explorations and connections, Cherie, Anonymous and others.
Oh, a humorous memory pops up. A friend I used to travel with to new places, in the U.S., we’d always go into the local drugstore, and wander around/explore there. It gave us a real sense of connecting with the local place; that was our quirky way. Of course, nowadays they’re all chain stores and not so locally unique and interesting!
This blog series continues a celebration of the launch of Book 2 in the Integral City Book Series: Integral City Inquiry & Action: Designing Impact for the Human Hive.
In this blog series, Guest Bloggers from the Integral City Community of Practice explore how each is living the practices of Placecaring & Placemaking.
The series includes:
Integral City Community Practise Placecaring and Placemaking
An Intuitive Walk Through Amsterdam
How is Your City Your Habitat?
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