Tag: home

Music Monday: Home

Music Monday!

Music can be a great source of comfort and inspiration when you’re feeling down.

Today’s song is: “Home” by Phillip Phillips (what a silly name)

Listen to the song here:

Lyrics:

“Hold on to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road
And although this wave, wave is stringing us along

Just know you’re not alone
‘Cause I’m gonna make this place your home

Settle down, it’ll all be clear
Don’t pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble—it might drag you down
If you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you’re not alone
‘Cause I’m gonna make this place your home

Settle down, it’ll all be clear
Don’t pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble—it might drag you down
If you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you’re not alone
‘Cause I’m gonna make this place your home”

Why this song’s so cool: Catchy and pleasantly upbeat. Not to mention extremely fun to harmonize along to.

Why this song’s helpful: THIS: “Just know you’re not alone, ‘Cause I’m gonna make this place your home.” It’s repeated many times, and I’m glad.  It’s an important thing to remember, and it can be especially difficult to remember when you are suffering or in pain, such as the pain and suffering accompanying depression.

“If you get lost, you can always be found.” This is a particularly affirming quote that is helpful for those feeling especially lost and alone.  When in crisis, dealing with loss, feeling lost, confused, and alone, suffering from depression, or all of the above, you tend to suffer an influx of increasingly negative and hopeless thoughts.  You’re mind becomes confused and irrational, making the truth difficult to accept or even see at all. That’s why it is so important to have a strong support system to tell you those truths over and over again – for them to believe, even if you can’t. Music can be a part of your support system, and the lyrics of this song can be a resource for having those positive and affirming messages repeated over and over to you – the more you hear positive messages that you are not alone, the more likely you will be to believe them.

“For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.”

-Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

More about Phillip Phillips:

http://www.phillipphillips.com/

The Psychology of Home:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/12/the-psychology-of-home-why-where-you-live-means-so-much/249800/

Home is Where Your Butt Is:

Home Is Where Your Butt Is

 

Home Is Where Your Butt Is

“Home is where the heart is.”
“Home is wherever I’m with you.”
“There’s no place like home.”
“I need you in my house, ‘cause you’re my home.”
“Home sweet home.”
“I wish I was homeward bound.”

Home is a term that is often used without really having a consistently agreed on or recognized definition – While there is no universal definition, the concept of home is still a universal theme – the idea of ‘home’ may be different for every person, but it is always important. A home SHOULD be a safe and nurturing environment, both physically and emotionally, but it is unfortunately not always so.  Even people lucky enough to have four walls and a roof may not feel safe, secure, or nurtured there – sure safe from rain probably, but that isn’t the only thing that makes a home.  And I don’t think a home needs to be a house, necessarily, although physical safety and protection are still a contributing component.

The idea of home and one’s role there is extremely prevalent in children’s literature. I recently read Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting, a children’s picture book that is about a boy and his father who are homeless and live in an airport.  While it seems that they have a pretty nurturing and safe environment both physically (with the exception of the danger of being caught and thrown out) and emotionally (they have a good relationship, friends, a support system), they are still saving up for a ‘real’ home.  At first glance it seems like it is communicating a positive message about overcoming obstacles and making a better life, but it places value on only one definition of ‘home,’ and portrays an exclusionary perspective about the homeless.

For me, I believe that a significant factor in the concept of home is the ability to be at home with oneself, within oneself, at peace and comfortable and safe.  That is a big part of my definition or interpretation of the word home.  But everyone has their own interpretation and definition, and those are constantly changing and evolving as the associated ideas and terms grow and develop.

The term ‘relationship’ isn’t often connected to a physical place.  However, relationships with places can have a significant impact on people. People usually feel the strongest relationship with the place they call home.  The home can play an essential role in an individual’s growth and development, and it is through a safe and nurturing relationship with your home you can build safe and nurturing relationships with yourself and others.

“Just know you’re not alone 
‘Cause I’m going to make this place your home”

Totes what my home/hood is like:

 

Sunshine Superman

Going outside in the sun is great! (if you can find it and get there)

Vitamin D deficiency is actually pretty common (especially here in the Pacific Northwest), and can make you feel crappy and tired.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/vitamin-d-deficiency#1

http://www.healthline.com/health/vitamin-d-deficiency#overview1

Ideally, you could take advantage of the sun when it’s out, participating in fun, outdoor activities like hiking and picnics and frolicking and having adventures with your friends and loved ones!

However, when you can’t leave the house and don’t want to interact with people, but you know that vitamin D is good for you, just go somewhere as private as possible that is in the sun.   If you don’t feel able to make your way to some special nook in your favorite local park, take advantage of your yard (preferably the back yard).  A friend or neighbor’s yard will work too!  I usually sneak out around back and hide in the corner of the yard where no neighbors can see me.  Sometimes I bring a pillow and soothing cool beverage, and if I’m ambitious, a book.

Just don’t forget the sunblock.