This continues to be a nomadic year for me. The little vintage trailer bedroom in the desert is the sixth place I've laid my head this year. Most of the other beds were in the Taos area. Although the neighborhoods were new, the route to the grocery store and Wired, my favorite coffee shop, were familiar.
Being in an entirely new place I'm more aware of what having a sense of place means to me. A sense of place is a conglomerate of characteristics that make a physical location special and unique. It's a combination of landscape, both man made and natural, and human experience in that landscape.
Sense of place is more than how the landscape looks. It encompasses the smells, sounds, the quality of the stillness and how it feels to walk the streets. Shopping malls, chain stores and fast food restaurants lack a sense of place because they are too generic.
Having a sense of place gives us a way to orient ourselves and contributes to a foundation of meaning. There is also a strong relationship between sense of place and identity. Most of us rely, at least in part, on our sense of place to show us who we are at a given time. In my wanderings this year I've wondered if sense of place and of "home" can be entirely internal. I'm still not sure about that one. I do feel a shift inside me. As the essence of who I am remains consistent from place to place, my sense of place becomes more of an inside job and the strangeness of the next new place matters less and less.
If we lived in one place for years those external references that make up our sense of place can become constraints. We begin mistake our sense of place for our sense of self. That distortion makes it difficult to move beyond our comfort zone and try something new.
When we go on vacation or spend time in a new place we step away from the familiar reference points our sense of place provides. Going on vacation is often a time when people engage in new activities or behaviors. When a person wants a "fresh start", she often moves to a new state where she has no established sense of place.
Stepping away from your sense of place is both freeing and disconcerting. In each new place I've landed in Taos this year it was the little things I found most disconcerting. I could find the grocery store, but didn't know where to put my underwear. I knew my way to the post office, but couldn't remember which cupboard the mugs were in.
Just as it's been the little bits of strange in new houses that threw me a bit, here in wonderfully strange new place it's the threads of familiarity that give me some grounding. Cholla cactus, jack rabbits, the scent of coffee in the morning, listening to an old friend play guitar.
These little things that have already found their place inside me are my compass points for a new sense of place. Pieces of familiar balance the disorientation of not knowing where things are in the grocery store or how to find the post office.
I went through this process of learning my way around and finding my place when I moved to Taos in 2000. Learning what street things are on and how to get there gives me a sense of familiarity but only contributes to my sense of place indirectly. Sense of place is a relationship built on connection and how I feel in my skin here.
I've met a dozen new people in the past week and a half. Connections spark as I get to know them better. The connection I feel with the landscape here has already taken root. It reached out and grabbed me as though initiated by the desert itself. I lived in Oklahoma for more than two years and didn't have the sense of place I feel here after two weeks. Some places have a much stronger presence than others.
Being in an entirely new place I'm more aware of what having a sense of place means to me. A sense of place is a conglomerate of characteristics that make a physical location special and unique. It's a combination of landscape, both man made and natural, and human experience in that landscape.
Sense of place is more than how the landscape looks. It encompasses the smells, sounds, the quality of the stillness and how it feels to walk the streets. Shopping malls, chain stores and fast food restaurants lack a sense of place because they are too generic.
Having a sense of place gives us a way to orient ourselves and contributes to a foundation of meaning. There is also a strong relationship between sense of place and identity. Most of us rely, at least in part, on our sense of place to show us who we are at a given time. In my wanderings this year I've wondered if sense of place and of "home" can be entirely internal. I'm still not sure about that one. I do feel a shift inside me. As the essence of who I am remains consistent from place to place, my sense of place becomes more of an inside job and the strangeness of the next new place matters less and less.
If we lived in one place for years those external references that make up our sense of place can become constraints. We begin mistake our sense of place for our sense of self. That distortion makes it difficult to move beyond our comfort zone and try something new.
When we go on vacation or spend time in a new place we step away from the familiar reference points our sense of place provides. Going on vacation is often a time when people engage in new activities or behaviors. When a person wants a "fresh start", she often moves to a new state where she has no established sense of place.
Stepping away from your sense of place is both freeing and disconcerting. In each new place I've landed in Taos this year it was the little things I found most disconcerting. I could find the grocery store, but didn't know where to put my underwear. I knew my way to the post office, but couldn't remember which cupboard the mugs were in.
Just as it's been the little bits of strange in new houses that threw me a bit, here in wonderfully strange new place it's the threads of familiarity that give me some grounding. Cholla cactus, jack rabbits, the scent of coffee in the morning, listening to an old friend play guitar.
These little things that have already found their place inside me are my compass points for a new sense of place. Pieces of familiar balance the disorientation of not knowing where things are in the grocery store or how to find the post office.
I went through this process of learning my way around and finding my place when I moved to Taos in 2000. Learning what street things are on and how to get there gives me a sense of familiarity but only contributes to my sense of place indirectly. Sense of place is a relationship built on connection and how I feel in my skin here.
I've met a dozen new people in the past week and a half. Connections spark as I get to know them better. The connection I feel with the landscape here has already taken root. It reached out and grabbed me as though initiated by the desert itself. I lived in Oklahoma for more than two years and didn't have the sense of place I feel here after two weeks. Some places have a much stronger presence than others.
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