I couldn’t agree with or relate more to your heart felt words about Nature’s Sanctuary. The marvel of how everything is in balance, works together for survival, & the amazing beauty of it all astounds me! My home in the Sierra foothills of 50 years has been a gift that keeps giving even through the extreme droughts in the past & the changes on the land. Nature teaches us so much if we only listen & tend to it.
Recognizing the sacred in the ordinary- yes! My querencia is changing, due to both the limits of this illness and the secularization of modern society. I live both on tiptoe and in fog now….i wonder what my deeper, more enduring querencia is….
I love the idea of Querencia. It would be in nature for me, on my many walks and trails. I always wish I lived there and could just step out the door and be there! I make do with my gardens of flowers, so alive this Spring. I would so hate living in a high-rise. I need to find a way to grow veggies that the animals about can't get to. I don't mind sharing, but decimating is no way to get along, I tell them--deer and bunnies and squirrels!
I didn't know there was such a word. And my answer to your question is the subject of my piece I published this morning. I belong to the land where my mother grew up and where I spent many childhood summer vacations. Fierce attachment and spiritual connections to land is something we share. These two pieces almost seem in conversation with one another. Thanks for the WORD.
My ten acre home in the wild Sonoran grasslands is named Querencia Hill. Querencia is that safe place where we can be our authentic self. For me, it is inextricably tied to wild, dark, silent places and the natural cycles. I have nurtured this place for several years. I am selling and moving on to my next Querencia. Where is that? I don't know. Life has shown me that spirit puts me where I need to be. Our querencias definitely change with age.
Oh Susan. Thank you! Can you hear raucous joy emanating from my heart like a flock of wildly excited birds? Such a beautiful piece. I love the numinous idea of Querencia. I speak Spanish and have not caught onto this until your piece. I’ll going be marinating in it for a good long while. So thrilled I get to carry this idea with me as my husband and I go to Santa Fe (from BV) for a couple days. The “sage sea” is my true heart’s home. I always explain this landscape, this palette of silver sage and golden grasses (so stunningly captured in the photo) with mountains rising around me as the landscape of my heart, and the red desert of Canyonlands and Utah as the landscape of my soul. Thank you for sharing this powerful journey you are on. I’m enjoying every nourishing morsel. Hugs to you, kindred heart.
Susan, your journey is so moving to me. It's one I have been traveling for a number of years, though maybe not as thought-fully.
My first experience of my hearts home was moving to our farmhouse in rural Arkansas 35 years ago. In the decade we were there, I learned more about place, nature, sky, spirit, self. A path was laid and I have followed its route until reaching my trues hearts home in western North Carolina three and a half years ago. Here I've found a life I never dreamed possible. One of peace and comfort, community and love. I still wander my path but in my own garden. A place I firmly believe was given to me from my deepest need.
I need to do a deeper dive into this question. I grew up in the mountains and valleys in NE PA. I've lived most of my adult life in the prairie land of Ohio. My heart swells when I step onto the quartz beach in Siesta Key, Florida. Lots to ponder and appreciate. On my first visit to Sante Fe (My first visit to New Mexico) it was the smell that captivated me. That and the gorgeous contrast of red and silvery green there. Thanks Susan, for this thought provoking piece.
Susan, thank you for introducing me to this wonderful word! I have spent my life looking for my "querencia." Its meaning, or something like it, has driven my life. I moved a lot as a child, living in different regions of the country. Then I continued to move as an adult, always looking for home. When people ask me where I'm from, I say, "nowhere." Sometimes I say, "everywhere." The landscapes of the west speaks to my internal geography. NYC speaks to my mind. I want to find the physical place that I don't want to leave, my querencia. I don't know if I will. In some ways, I've stopped looking. I have found my home in certain people, in relationships, and in myself. I carry my belonging with me. And now I have another word, another nuance with which to look at this life defining topic.
Truly lovely, and although I may have been honestly a little too 'right brained' for science, I managed to make a good thing of it, and in my fifties learned to fully embrace my scientist's heart as well as my lover's heart with the world around me. My own deserts are the Namib, Kalahari and Karoo, the lands I adopted as a young woman, and now that my daughter is moving to Arizona to finish her studies, I may have a chance to get to know the Southwestern USA deserts too. Your wonderful piece calls me to do so - thank you Susan!
I couldn’t agree with or relate more to your heart felt words about Nature’s Sanctuary. The marvel of how everything is in balance, works together for survival, & the amazing beauty of it all astounds me! My home in the Sierra foothills of 50 years has been a gift that keeps giving even through the extreme droughts in the past & the changes on the land. Nature teaches us so much if we only listen & tend to it.
Recognizing the sacred in the ordinary- yes! My querencia is changing, due to both the limits of this illness and the secularization of modern society. I live both on tiptoe and in fog now….i wonder what my deeper, more enduring querencia is….
I love the idea of Querencia. It would be in nature for me, on my many walks and trails. I always wish I lived there and could just step out the door and be there! I make do with my gardens of flowers, so alive this Spring. I would so hate living in a high-rise. I need to find a way to grow veggies that the animals about can't get to. I don't mind sharing, but decimating is no way to get along, I tell them--deer and bunnies and squirrels!
I didn't know there was such a word. And my answer to your question is the subject of my piece I published this morning. I belong to the land where my mother grew up and where I spent many childhood summer vacations. Fierce attachment and spiritual connections to land is something we share. These two pieces almost seem in conversation with one another. Thanks for the WORD.
My ten acre home in the wild Sonoran grasslands is named Querencia Hill. Querencia is that safe place where we can be our authentic self. For me, it is inextricably tied to wild, dark, silent places and the natural cycles. I have nurtured this place for several years. I am selling and moving on to my next Querencia. Where is that? I don't know. Life has shown me that spirit puts me where I need to be. Our querencias definitely change with age.
Oh Susan. Thank you! Can you hear raucous joy emanating from my heart like a flock of wildly excited birds? Such a beautiful piece. I love the numinous idea of Querencia. I speak Spanish and have not caught onto this until your piece. I’ll going be marinating in it for a good long while. So thrilled I get to carry this idea with me as my husband and I go to Santa Fe (from BV) for a couple days. The “sage sea” is my true heart’s home. I always explain this landscape, this palette of silver sage and golden grasses (so stunningly captured in the photo) with mountains rising around me as the landscape of my heart, and the red desert of Canyonlands and Utah as the landscape of my soul. Thank you for sharing this powerful journey you are on. I’m enjoying every nourishing morsel. Hugs to you, kindred heart.
Susan, your journey is so moving to me. It's one I have been traveling for a number of years, though maybe not as thought-fully.
My first experience of my hearts home was moving to our farmhouse in rural Arkansas 35 years ago. In the decade we were there, I learned more about place, nature, sky, spirit, self. A path was laid and I have followed its route until reaching my trues hearts home in western North Carolina three and a half years ago. Here I've found a life I never dreamed possible. One of peace and comfort, community and love. I still wander my path but in my own garden. A place I firmly believe was given to me from my deepest need.
And I am grateful.
Kathleen
I need to do a deeper dive into this question. I grew up in the mountains and valleys in NE PA. I've lived most of my adult life in the prairie land of Ohio. My heart swells when I step onto the quartz beach in Siesta Key, Florida. Lots to ponder and appreciate. On my first visit to Sante Fe (My first visit to New Mexico) it was the smell that captivated me. That and the gorgeous contrast of red and silvery green there. Thanks Susan, for this thought provoking piece.
Susan, thank you for introducing me to this wonderful word! I have spent my life looking for my "querencia." Its meaning, or something like it, has driven my life. I moved a lot as a child, living in different regions of the country. Then I continued to move as an adult, always looking for home. When people ask me where I'm from, I say, "nowhere." Sometimes I say, "everywhere." The landscapes of the west speaks to my internal geography. NYC speaks to my mind. I want to find the physical place that I don't want to leave, my querencia. I don't know if I will. In some ways, I've stopped looking. I have found my home in certain people, in relationships, and in myself. I carry my belonging with me. And now I have another word, another nuance with which to look at this life defining topic.
The list of books looks great!
Truly lovely, and although I may have been honestly a little too 'right brained' for science, I managed to make a good thing of it, and in my fifties learned to fully embrace my scientist's heart as well as my lover's heart with the world around me. My own deserts are the Namib, Kalahari and Karoo, the lands I adopted as a young woman, and now that my daughter is moving to Arizona to finish her studies, I may have a chance to get to know the Southwestern USA deserts too. Your wonderful piece calls me to do so - thank you Susan!