A Place or A Space?

Where is ‘place’ within the spaces we live and see?  Walls, streets, buildings give us place.  Sky, fields, and open water offer vastness of space.  Are ‘space’ and ‘place’ the same? I think not.   Space is vague, inclusive, and universal.  Place is named, determined, recognized.  Space holds dreams.  Place holds memories. 

Space allows breath and breathing.  It awakens the imagination and creativity.  It invites the deepest part of us to trust and explore.  It begs for nothing.  It is the absence of ‘what might be’ that gives it freedom.  It has no demands.  Space is uncommitted, unnamed, without story and specific memory. 

Place is very different.  Place offers suggestions by its very nature.  Place defines as it becomes a sounding board for the many memories it may invoke.  Places hold and invite stories.  While a place may be silent, the story that is recalled will be full of sound and movement, color and dynamic. Places remember a relationship, moods and feelings.

Not too long ago I invited my Facebook friends to share familiar phrases with the word ‘place’.  Listen for the clarity in direction and purpose. Hear the stories they hold. What memories come to mind?

Your place or mine?

A place for everything and everything in its place

Are you in the right place?

Between a rock and a hard place

What’s taking place?

A place at the table

Peyton Place

Place your bets

Placeholder

Place of worship

It's not your place.

No-place; Some-place

There's a place for us, somewhere a place for us. - West Side Story

Right-place; Wrong-place

We’ve got to get out of this place!

Put the placemats on the table near the fireplace.

I can't quite place the face.

Place your hands on your head and step away from the car.

What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?

Ah, but that was in another place and time." 

Placesetting of silverware

She put me in my place!

A place in the sun

A place of my own

Place-based training

They'll never place me at the scene of the crime!

I landed in 1^st place.

No place like home

I'll go in your place

 I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. - Abraham Lincoln

And now . . .  what PLACE phrase comes to your mind?   This is the PLACE to post it!

Making a House a Home

Several times a year I volunteer with Habitat for Humanity by offering a workshop called MAKING A HOUSE A HOME for their new homeowners before they move in.  The style of the workshop is conversational and  I usually begin our time together by asking for a definition of ‘home’.  As they snuggle into the reflective nature of this workshop, I find that they also snuggle into their hopes and dreams for what this new space will gift their lives. 

Defining home seems to remind us all that a home is a special and important place. Phillip Moffitt, former editor of Esquire magazine, said  A house is a home when it shelters the body and comforts the soul.  Writer, Victoria Moran speaks of home this way. A home is a signature - distinct and recognizable.  Home is where you go to refuel - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

Here are some of the frequent responses from the Habitat for Humanity families: 

·        home is about being able to be who you really are

·        a home provides privacy

·        home means having a sense of freedom

·        home is a place to call your own

·        it’s where family gatherings happen

·        a home creates a cozy feeling

·        a home brings peace and comfort into our lives

·        a home is a safe haven 

Then we go through every room of the house, identifying how life will be fully lived in that space.

·        How will you enter your home?  

·        What activities will be happening in the living room, kitchen, etc?  

·        What special furniture, art, or memorabilia will enhance your spaces? 

·        How will you live in the outside spaces?  

·        What colors are you eager to paint the walls and have around you?

·        What personality do you wish each room to express?  

·         What room do you think will be your favorite and why?

In some ways this process is asking What is it that you need from this house to be the best and happiest you? How do you want ‘home’ to feel when you walk into each and every room?

In addition to naming what will be packed to take to the new home, it is equally important to decide what will NOT be moving.  Stories of a readiness to ‘let go’ and ‘start fresh’ begin to be shared. Laughter and wild gestures accompany the telling of what will not be coming with them and why. The sorting of life memories and daily habits seems to happen naturally, just as the decisions of what does and does not go into the new home – the new life.

I once heard these words . . . “Your home is sacred space – a sacred space with your address.”  Each of these families has a new address, a new place, a sacred space to live a wonderful life! Welcome Home!!