Your Home

 

 I started thinking about the idea written on this drawing many years ago and the older I get the more I like it. I clearly remember the time when I didn't have a decent home to live in. It was 1989 and I had moved to a new province (in Cuba)  with my then boyfriend. The two of us were living in something that you could call a room, but not too long before we moved in there, the place was literally a pig's home (a four-legged pig with a curly tail and everything).

I cleaned up the place the best I could, with lots of water, but the stubborn pig perfume refused to go away. That was the time when I started developing this idea in my mind: YOU ARE YOUR OWN HOME. It was my way to scape a miserable situation and It worked out great. I spent my nights drawing in that tiny space and dreaming while my boyfriend was away working in a different town. I remember that I started creating some "cute" skull pendants made out of plaster painted with tiny beautiful flowers and birdies. I sold them to my friends at school, specially to the ballet students, they were a big hit and the little money helped me survive. 

After all those years I am back revisiting that time in my life because I feel really sad about some friends that are loosing their houses here in the USA. I really know how it feels when you don't have the security that a home gives you. But I also know that the most important home that we have is ourselves. That's the home that we cannot afford to lose.

I think that the world is what we see, what we feel and what we believe in. Reality is something that we design ourselves, regardless of how the material part of our life is. I know people that have everything and are not happy, that tells you that the material side of life doesn't define you or how happy you are. Reality is something deeper, something personal. And at the same time it is the most universal thing.

On the other hand, developing our inner world is not about isolation but the opposite. It's about opening ourselves up to what's out there: people, nature, new experiences... The more open we are to exploring and learning, the more our own world/home will expand, providing us with a huge space where we will be able to move freely. It's important not to isolate ourselves in the middle of crisis. 

Building a strong inner world one brick at a time is in my opinion the most important way for us to overcome any obstacle. 

I wish everyone who's struggling right now lots of strength!

(Things will get better)

Elsita :)

Comments

[Elizabeth]

Hej Elsita,

I love your drawing and the way you explain your feelings of home. Just last december I did a project called House or home and this was my conclusion at the end of the week. "Home: A collection of ideas, which when met by an experience provokes a certain feeling, which is identified as home."
To think about home and what it means brings all kind of feelings to the surface. Very interesting process.

Well, thank you so much for sharing your view. Hope you will have a lovely weekend and I'll see you soon.

Elizabeth

[Joanna]

Nice post! I hope the new year will bring us inner strength. It's so sad that this global crisis is destroying good families, meanwhile some wealthy people are flaunting their riches! ps. I love your drawing :)

[kerin rose]

Elsita...have been 'lurking' around here for a little bit...but I had to comment on this post....this is a feeling I have had for some time....not that it is ever easy to weather life's ups and downs, but if you realize the most important things you need are inside of you, it is a source of strength.....
I love the illustration!...everyone needs one on the wall as a reminder!...
lovely post!

[Terry]

I really needed to hear this today. Thank you Dear Elsita, for your beautiful drawing, your beautiful thoughts, your beautiful heart :)

XO,

Terry

[michele (maryland)]

Happy New Year, Elsita! And Thank you so much for the wonderful reminder of our real "home".
I really did need this advice today.
This is such a strange time of year, just after the very busy "rushing" of December. After taking down and packing away all of the decorations I am in a state of "what to do now?" Everything is so quiet.
You have brought me back to the reality of myself and I am ready to get moving again...thank you again.
Also, I would love a copy of this work of yours too.

[Diane]

What a wonderful post! I used to have a boyfriend that travelled a lot. He used to tell me that I was his home. As long as we were together, wherever we were was home. I always liked that.

[Betty]

Elsita, you are so smart about large and small! I love the thought you share today about large: "The more open we are to exploring and learning, the more our own world/home will expand, providing us with a huge space where we will be able to move freely." And I keep with me in my wallet on a post-it your words about small: "When life seems too big, the best thing is to focus on the little things around us and enjoy them." (There was a wonderful man, an angel of a man really, the teacher and author Janusz Korczak who also wrote about the inner world. I keep a quote of his, too, that was written in his Warsaw ghetto diary in 1942: "The exciting world was not already behind me. Now it is within me. I exist not to be loved and admired, but myself to act and love.") Your post today touches mind and heart...thanks as always.

[Elizabeth]

Elsita,

Your style blows me away! What a talented beautifl woman you are.

[Ani]

You always know the right thing to say. Thank you, beautiful Elsita.

[Wendy]

I came to this exact same conclusion many years ago too. It was when I'd moved in with my mom, who was living with my grandma. My mom was in the last stages of breast cancer and had lost her house when she couldn't work any more. My grandma's house wasn't the kind of place you'd want to be if you were healthy, much less if you were dying (she smoked and didn't have the happiest attitude). I talked to my mom a lot about how your true home is within.

And I very much love your drawing! Thank you for the reminder.

[Cat]

Thank you very much for your post.

[Christine]

you are such a sweetie, dear Elsita.

[Rose]

Elsita, you are amazing. I love your philosophy.

[La Trollette (aka rachel_o)]

Dear Elsa,

Your thoughts should be prescribed by doctors AND be reimbursed by Social Security! (<- this is very French way to say how precious, comforting and fortifying your words are!)
I needed to read that and to meditate about it.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Kisses and new year' whishes from France

[Shelley]

amen.

(and i really love your drawing)

:)

[Linda]

Beautifully said, thank you.

[Karyna]

So beautifully said and such a wonderful post. Puts into words nicely a topic I was just talking to my boyfriend about in reference to ourselves, life and recent happy changes (even our move to a smaller and cuter place). Thanks for the reminder.

[Jeanne]

Thank you, Elsita for "hearting" my shop....That means alot to me! Your life story is so interesting. Thanks for all of the inspiration and strength... :):)

[Jessica]

Thank you for this and thank you for you! I love your self-portraits and this has struck such a chord with me right now. Enjoy your week of family fun!

[joanie]

I've been there too Elsita, not exactly a pig shack, but I've had to make my home in my head. Even when I had a lovely home, I keep my real home in my head, always mindful that bricks and morter can go away, happiness comes from inside.
Your words and stories are always so visual and well expressed, I think you should write a novel. J x

[Em]

Thank you for sharing this. I am writing a part of it down into my mind so I can recall it when pressures start intruding.

[mary jane]

i love you! thank you!

[Dee Champion]

Wow! I am humbled by your humility. What a wonderfully strong woman you are.

[Melissa Cordstone]

Elsita,

thanks for sharing this wonderful idea and drawing. I have always been very much my own best company, my own best counsel.

[Air Purifiers]

I love this so much, truly an inspiration post and picture. I love your point about not being isolated but being more open to everything, that is so important. I tend to close myself off sometimes when I'm sad or stressed, but going out and spending time with good friends or even going for a run or to the park or a new museum always makes me feel better. Life is too short to shut yourself off and shut everything and everyone out.

-Sam