We Need Emergency Shelter
home for ourselves and each other
Friends,
I recently attended a Banff film festival viewing in our city, and while all the films were inspiring and timely, one stood out in the middle of them as witty and contemplative, a perfect deep breath between intense, adventurous stories.
The film is called Sælehús or House of Bliss, and is about a shelter built in the mysterious nowhere-shores of Iceland by Elli Thor Magnusson.
As shared in the trailer of the film below, Elli opens with thoughts on this idea of shelter, that the word Sælehús refers to finding a shelter when you need it most, an emergency cabin in a remote place that will care for you.
I can’t tell you all the metaphors that run through my mind with this. And the reality is, we are living in a time of emergency in so many ways, huddled at our own shores and wondering who is going to save us, or if we must save ourselves.
We are in need of physical shelters, for those who are pushed to the margins of our societies—for immigrants and trans folks, for the houseless, for the abused and misunderstood. We need spaces that keep the light on, people who are willing to fight for solidarity and care in a time when we’d rather look away from one another.
But every single day, we also have to find shelter within ourselves, a Sælehús for our souls, a place created for rest and care, a space to ask who we are and who we hope to be.
David Gray sings in “Sunlight on Water” from his new album:
We're the ones that waited all winter//
Can't even begin to//
Explain the way that felt//
Yeah, we're the ones that waited all winter//
Collided right into//
Our own true selves
And Rumi writes:
If you want the moon, do not hide from the night. If you want a rose, do not run from the thorns. If you want love, do not hide from yourself.
There are beautiful emergency shelters waiting inside of us for when we need them most. What does yours look like? Smell like? Is there a bed waiting for you, a nice cup of coffee or an animal friend who will be at your side?
We dream our way into care and safety, and we create it for ourselves with passionate fire.
In our Anishinaabe culture, we are a gifting and hospitality society. I recently watched the first episode of With Love, Meghan and even though I don’t have an official guest room in my little house, we have guests sometimes, and I set up an air mattress in our basement playroom. I pull a table or wooden crate up beside, and place on top of that a vase of flowers, a box of tissues, some water and snacks.
We create houses of bliss when and where we need them, because who knows when we might be facing an emergency? Who knows when those we love might need a place to land?
Who knows when we might need to settle back into our souls and pay attention?
My dear friend Simran Jeet Singh is releasing a new book TOMORROW! It’s a celebration of Spring and Sikh culture, and I hope you’ll grab a copy or two. In fact, purchase this alongside my book Spring’s Miracles and have your very own Spring celebration and story time!
“When a Sikh family moves from their village in India to a faraway city on the other side of the world, a girl yearns for her grandmother’s hugs, her goat Ramu, and the lush fields filled with yellow flowers and wheat. How will they celebrate Vaisakhi in her new and unfamiliar surroundings?
But the girl soon discovers soothing touchstones—a special outfit, a trip to gurdwara, delicious food, and new friends—that make gathering for Vaisakhi still the best day of all.”
Order the book here
Pennsylvania friends, I’ll be at NOOKS bookstore Sunday, March 16th to host a story time and book launch! Please come by and say hello!
Register here
There is a quote that moved me deep when I heard it for the first time, years ago and it stayed with me untill now and beyond now. It will last for ever inside me. It is from Maya Angelou and sounds like this:
There's a place in you that you must keep inviolate. You must keep it pristine. Clean. So that nobody has a right to curse you or treat you badly. Nobody. No mother, father, no wife, no husband, no-nobody. You have to have a place where you say: 'Stop it. Back up. Don't you know I'm a child of God?
This quote made me realize that also my own negative thoughts had to be changed and transformed, so I myself didn't invade that pristine clean place inside myself, where I find my shelter. It isn't an easy task, and it can be done. When we realize that the voices who undermine and overrule us, who are seductive and seducive are all result of trauma and when we invite them in to open themselves, underneath all the pain .. love can arise for the one we truly are. It cleans the place and creates a safe place. A house where we belong and can be our own self, together with others.
Thanks for this beautiful writing Kaitlin and lots of joy watching, knowing, faces light up when they read your book(s).
Thank you Kaitlin! This is so timely and so necessary - the need to build an emergency shelter within ourselves. I've been thinking about this for a while, not with words as eloquent as yours, but the idea of finding respite within. It is harder now, at least for me, than it has ever been, and I find that the tools and techniques I've used in the past aren't working as well. I deeply appreciate your acknowledgement this need and for sharing thoughts, poetry, and ideas to help us along.