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What Is A Welcome?
A couple of years ago, in November, I asked my therapist what it feels like to go home for the holidays, if you have a family.
He thought about it for awhile. When he finally answered, he said, “Well, when you go there, you know that you are welcome. You walk in and know that your presence, your being, is wanted.”
Since my therapist is concerned with helping me get better, which rarely translates to making me, in the moment, feel better, he (correctly) threw me back on myself and we spent the rest of the session talking about what it would mean to make a home for myself, within myself, sufficient in my own company.
Even so, the word ‘welcome’ has stuck in my mind quite peculiarly since that conversation. I’ve looked it up in the dictionary more than once. The adjective usage of the word is defined as: “(of a guest or new arrival) gladly received.”
“Gladly received” is often easy for a gift, especially from someone who knows you on a deep level and is likely to have chosen well.
What does it mean to gladly receive oneself?