by Bridget Webber

Created on: April 20, 2007   Last Updated: September 25, 2009

For me, the word home conjures up a picture of how I believe a real home should be. Within my vision is the sound of laughter, and the feeling of love. There is the smell of freshly baked bread, reminding me that home is a nourishing place for your soul and sustaining for your body. There is a vase of flowers on the dinning table, reminding me that a real home is where beauty resides and it is always alright to be natural like the flowers are in the vase, your true self. In the winter there may be a roaring log fire, reminding me that a real home is a warm and safe place to be.

Most of us live in a house, but a house is just a physical structure that is functional, until we make it into a home.

A home is made by the people in it, not by the builders of the house. It contains an atmosphere and memories made by the feelings and actions of its inhabitants.

If bad memories are made in a house it becomes our prison until we can bring love back into it and clear away the negative atmosphere. This leads me to believe that a true home is where love resides.

A home is also a place where we can find shelter, not just from the elements, but from the trials and tribulations that accompany everyday living. When the trials and tribulations happen inside our dwelling, we begin to associate that place with difficulties and misery, rather than with comfort and pleasure.

Every action we and others take in our house affects whether we ultimately see it as a home, or merely a place in which to live. Our every day activity can provide us with structure and routine, but it can't always be enough to make our house into a home.

How we feel about the place in which we live may depend upon our knowledge of its past, as well as our knowledge of its present function. If we feel uncomfortable and uneasy due to negative memories, or tales told about our abode, the likelihood of it truly turning into a home diminishes.

The feelings we have toward any other inhabitants of our house can affect our viewpoint too. If we are in an unhappy relationship, and fill our house with arguments and shouting, we will come to associate unhappiness in relation to it.

However, a real home doesn't always have to be full of memories of only happy times. It is often during times of hardship that we appreciate the support of the relationships that we have with other household members. It is also at such times, that we may welcome the safe feeling that our home provides us with.

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