There is a distinct difference between a house and a home. This deserves more attention. One of the biggest differences is in feelings. A home makes you want to stay and curl up. It seems to hold you, comfort you, and affect the quality of your life. It can even help you heal as discussed in another blog.
A house is a place to store things, to sleep, to go away from to other greater interests. It may very well be lovely, even prestigious, but it is a cooler environment. Really gorgeous dwellings have somewhat of a museum quality – look, but don’t touch. There is a pride of ownership perhaps but not a sense of companionship.
A home wants to be touched and to touch your heart.
Try this activity. Make two columns on a sheet of paper. Each member of the home can do this independently. Or, you could have a friend do this as well. One column has descriptors of what you think a home is like and the other is what a house is like. Make the comparisons be in parallel as below. After you each finish, share your lists. Then ask what you have already done or could do to make your special place more homelike.
Here are a couple of examples:
House Home
A place to live Place to love
Provides privacy Provides peace and quiet
Right choices Right questions
There aren’t right or wrong answers. Often we want some of both columns. It’s a good reminder of what more we can have in the place we spend so much of our lives. And, a home can entice us to stay there more with a different set of benefits.
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Inspire your concept of home.
Consider a coaching session for your home. A coach sees your home with new eyes and helps you find hidden potential in your inner being and physical home. I do whole life coaching. See my website for details.
Special offer on a handful of Home-Inspired by Love and Beauty books. Some books are left from a small print run that have a few typos. I don’t want to waste the trees for minor typos. They are discounted to $15 (sales tax included). Contact me below to make use of this offer.
© Margaret Lulic 2011
Inspired Home Coach available nationally by phone, Skype, iChat
612-920-0637
Margaret@lulicbooks.com
Author: Home — Inspired by Love and Beauty
The Examined Life http://www.lulicbooks.com
