People Feel at Home

When thoughts of the heart
overcome words of the mouth
people feel at home.

You’ve likely heard the old saying, “home is where you hang your hat.” I think it’s more apt to say “home is where you hang your heart.” And by hanging your heart, I mean allowing it to be on display. Home is where you feel safe enough to be transparent, to be yourself.

How many of us don’t have such a home? Too many, I fear.

As this haiku also points out, the words that come out of our mouths often do not match the feelings, or the thoughts, we have in our hearts. While it’s true that the words we say have power and we must be mindful of what we say, it’s also important to address our thoughts and to look through the words of others to find the thoughts in their hearts.

I’ve long been aware of parents who say some decidedly not helpful things to their children, thinking that being “honest” in this way would help their children grow. More often than not, it gets the opposite result.

One way to gain equilibrium in our lives is to match the words we say with the thoughts we feel.