Walking the Earth of your Ancestors, Part 2
As humans, we are wired to belong and to seek those places where we fit.
We do this in our families, in our work, in our in-person and online communities.
Previously, I shared about reclaiming part of myself in Ireland, specifically my 21-year-old self who came home early from her trip to Ireland because she was lonely and overwhelmed.
During the trip I took a few months ago, however, I felt a deep sense of belonging.
My family and I visited Kilrush, Co. Clare in Ireland, the town where my paternal grandfather was born and raised. My dad wanted to see the homehouse, a slang term for the home of one's parents.
As we walked through town, I felt that I belonged there. It wasn’t just the businesses named Clancy that dotted the main street. It was something deeper and harder to pin down.
Later that night, we hosted a dinner with my dad’s first cousins and their families, none of whom I'd met but whom I had heard stories about. As we came together, I looked deeply into their faces. And you know what? I saw myself in them. I saw myself as if I was looking in the mirror. Again, I felt that deep sense of belonging.
On this trip, I also visited several neolithic sites in Ireland: Newgrange, Loughcrew, and the Poulnabrone dolmen. These sites predate the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge ... to about 4000-5000 B.C.
Above is a photo of the front rock of the Newgrange site. Look at those spirals carved into the rock! Aside from a guess that some of them were passage tombs, very little else is known.
Since I was a teenager, I've been wondering about why we are here on Earth and what we're doing. While at these prehistoric sites and with this sense of belonging, I wondered if the people who built these sites are my ancestors too. I wondered if -- in a past lifetime -- I was one of the souls who carved into the stone like the one above at Newgrange.
To activate your own wondering and sense of belonging, I give you the journal and/or thinking prompts below. If this calls to you, take some time to dive in and notice what you feel in your heart and in your body.
Where do you belong?
Have you looked at other people and seen yourself mirrored back to you?
Is there a place or are there places that gives you a deep sense of belonging?
What's that like in your heart and in your body when you feel as if you belong?