Okay, so I have moved over forty times, had over forty jobs, lived in five different countries and I’m sure there were a lot of challenging, confusing, and amazing times. It begins with my book The South African: True Colours. Check out my book and places to purchase it here. It is also available as an audiobook. Here is the link https://tdenchpatel.com/purchase-the-book/
People often ask me about roots and going back to my roots. I wonder after all this life experience aren’t we from the same earth? Mother Earth? The ground below us is always moving, I mean we’re on a planet spinning in space. Wherever there is earth there could be roots, right? Over time roots can mean multiple things i.e. your country, your family, or the house in which you were born. I mean the house never remains the same, it’s going to get old and people move. So, literally, your physical home is ever-changing. The people who you grow up with have grown up. You might get a small piece of you if you return to the home in which you were born.
I think that in a person’s life roots are a combination of two things while for some it ultimately comes down to one thing. This is an opinion of a traveller who has become like water over the last five years. This is the way I have come to see it.
So, you have been brought up in a family, raised with some values through them and the experiences you’ve lived. Perhaps you decided to seek life elsewhere, went travelling, ended up staying in another country or met a man or woman and moved countries to be with them. Support circles change, they grow but one thing that is valued highly in third world countries is family. This is just an observation I’ve made over time. The people I’ve met in third world countries are very united with their families. When we’re young we often want things our way and it’s only until you leave the nest you realise how each member of the family you were born in has given you some really strong values that aided you and still aid you in your life today. While some habits might not be that great look at the good ones that you have and how you’ve come to have them i.e. be it habits or values.
So, I’d credit family to be one part of bringing you to your roots and the second as meditation. In meditation, I usually ground myself first like a tree. This is when I feel rooted hence why the most successful people say meditation is important on a daily basis. I see it as coming back to your roots as often as possible. Yes, sure you might have to leave home again but seriously people, most of us always keep in touch with family which helps us to stay in touch with the essence of us. Am I not right there? Meditation always brings you back to your true home and your true home is inside of you. Think about it. When you’re going through difficult times and good times it’s up to you to balance your home i.e. you. Wherever you go in the world it’s up to you to keep yourself in check.
Why do roots then ultimately come down to one thing for some?
If you have no siblings or parents because you’re the only child, then mediation is what I call the ultimate form of grounding. Where heaven meets earth.
These days a lot more people are waking up. People are becoming vegetarian and treating their bodies and mind as a temple. Yoga, travelling, meditation, eating properly, mediation and for some prayer are ways that people enhance their vibrations, connections, and enlightenment with all living things and the higher being.
I would say that there is initially a combination of things that can bring you back to your essence. I see them as stepping stones to the ultimate form of grounding i.e. meditation. For me coming back to my country of birth, family, meditation and mediation are what takes me full circle. It was often seeing the difficulty people faced in South Africa and within my family that’s gave/gives me the power to make a difference.
Love is a powerful force. It can move mountains.
Where is home?
Home is the place inside you that you can keep still when everything figuratively around you is shaking i.e. the peace you find inside you to be clear headed and focused through emotionally charged events be it extreme happiness or extreme difficulty. This is why the practise of returning to your roots is so helpful when it comes to willpower, balance and enlightenment.
Yours sincerely,
T. Dench Patel
You can take a look at Part 2 of this article on this link What does going back to your roots actually mean? Where is home? Part 2
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The audiobook for The South African: True Colours is available on iTunes, Apple and Audible. The South African: Roamer and Light will be released soon.
Note: Do keep referring back to this site as much as possible, as I grow, a more profound perspective may form and so I will always come back to each of these articles to reevaluate them.
