022: Goodbye Chicago. Hello South Suburbs.

2/17/2015

Know Your Nucleus.

Right after receiving my certification in permaculture 4 months ago, I felt myself synchronize with the cold winter season. I withdrew socially, and was more dormant on the outside, while Life was seeding wonderful things on the inside.

Some are starting to bloom... like the increased clarity about my life's motto and business tagline, which is: "Bridging the sacred + the solid." My diverse trainings + passions, finally distilled into a few words I intend to live out through writing and design.

I call this distillation -- this understanding your heart's core so well, that you can feel your own completion -- I call that "knowing your nucleus." I have lots of useful tips to share about this in my nearly done essay, "It's Beautiful Inside: An Introvert's Right to BE." Stay tuned for that!

Change of address

Chicago is America's 3rd most populous city. After more than 20 years of living all over it (South Shore, Rogers Park, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Hyde Park, Bronzeville and Englewood), I'm moving to a suburb for the first time in my life! Well, technically, it's a village -- which is bigger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town. The parking is easy, the square footage is double, and wild deer are near. The contrast is so startling, I wanted to show you some comparison video footage of the difference between the two front doors:

Chicago population = 2.7 million. Crete population = 8,200.

Flexin' Mind Muscles.

I chose to rest my grumpy attitude about being an over-stimulated sensitive empath in an urban environment that was too loud, too crowded, too industrial for my full flourishing. "No more pouting about that," I decided. I finally understood that my complaints actually fed and sustained the uncomfortable situation.

So I really made peace with where I was -- in a small-ish apartment on a busy street of a large city. And in about a month or so, my residential reality completely changed to include so many of the things I had been wanting more of: wildlife, privacy, square footage, quiet, greenery, and beautiful nooks + spaces in which to create, practice regenerative design and holistic living, and share with you!

While packing, I've been feeling nostalgic. I love my city's diversity, creativity, excitement, lakefront beauty, awesome public transit... oh, speaking of transit, here is an entertaining subway story, where I interrupted a nasty conversation about getting gang-banged: How I turned two frogs into princes. (And no, I didn't kiss them.)

Yeah, good times on the Red Line.

A bit of randomness: In Chicago, we lived a few minutes away from President Obama's former home, and The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan's current one. What a coincidence that his son -- Mustapha Farrakhan, who is the Supreme Captain of the Nation of Islam -- also lives in Crete. I have no ties with NOI, but am just noticing how permaculture has me spotting patterns in surprising ways :-)

Questions for You.

Are you a high perceiver (a sensitive sort) living in a big city? If so, how do your surroundings feel to you? Do you know what your ideal environment is? Are you moving closer to it... consistently thinking about its appeal? Can you imagine living in a way -- and in a space -- that supports your temperament + sensibilities? Have you already made a move to better suit who you are? Let's hear your voice in the comments.

6 Comments

Tanya

2/17/2015 06:01:54 am

This is so exciting dearest gorgeous woman!!! (and of course was bound to happen, smiles) It fills my heart with anticipatory delight at the All that you will gift us from this new space of being you in alignment. Smiles, smiles and more smiles.
I live in a gorgeous (what feels to me like a) tiny mansion with a magical woods behind it (literally magical). We have a firepit there and spend days communing with the trees, the consciousness of the fire, the earth, the stars above. The energy, the sentiency of the elements is breathtakingly powerful. When i need some help to lift me up and out of a low vibrational moment, i go outside and turn to the trees for help. They never refrain from embracing me with their infinite love and wisdom and often give me messages to help me with my 'next'. I am very clear that I could not live in a busy city for an extended period of time. I would be like a plant stuck in a too small container, it would diminish me and make me droop, smiles. Celebrating you, us, we. xoxo!!!

Erika Harris link

2/23/2015 10:18:52 am

"from this new space of being you in alignment." <--- Tanya, only could word-whip that truth into such a creamy, delicacy. Mmmmmm... And your magic-mini-mansion, surrounded by teaching trees, sounds *divine*.

Oh, to know that there are many ways to live other than the one we may have gotten stuck with by default. We can always make a change -- always make a choice -- as our domicile desires are likely to evolve right along with us. I remember decades of being as excited about big city living, as I now am about a smaller town.

I love your clarity, and largesse. Thanks for sharing that goodness here, and for celebrating. XO

Jill link

2/17/2015 10:14:35 pm

I live in the bustling, city of New York. I fit and I don't fit my surroundings. From an outer borough I commute daily to the heart of it, for work.

If I could live closer to that center I would. In my far-flung corner, not too many of the things I am interested in are going on overtly. You really have to seek it out.

For various reasons I am not in a position to move, however there may be some opportunities for seeding the "creative nourishment" I need/crave a little closer to home in a nearby business district (BID):

>> non-profit arts organization is in the process of making it's new home there, so they will bring some new programming to the area.

>> I've also inquired about the possibilities for any or all of the following: a CSA, a weekend farmers market, community gardening and/or fixer/maker space

>> this spring, my life-partner will be teaching a poetry class in the historical space of another institution located there.

>> I am hoping to possibly submit a proposal to teach a workshop at this space as well

So we'll see.

2/23/2015 09:48:08 am

Jill, thanks for engaging with the question, and sharing a little about your perspectives as a New Yorker. I'm realizing now that it's my old habit of reading nature writers that got me so preoccupied with place as perspective... and even place as (factor of) identity.

I admire your intent to create/contribute to the artistic things you want to experience. Making it, rather than awaiting it. Right on.

Best wishes to you + your partner,
Erika

Vinita Ricks link

2/18/2015 10:36:16 am

Good for you. I wish you much joy and happiness in your new move. I moved away, totally. first for two years to a middle sized city in Italy, and now to the Capital city of Belize, Belmopan. Let’s say it has 10,000 residence. I stay in the city here because of essentials I need like electricity, internet and phone. My land, about 15 minutes away, is totally OFF the grid. I’ve added some solar, but I don’t have enough for a refrig as one example. In the “city,” these are things I do not sweat.

But my biggest reason for moving was the Chicago winters. After 35 years, I had had enough. Italy was warmer, but it had snow — guess I did not do enough homework, LOL!! Now, I don’t ever have cold days. One day a couple of years back, it was 67 degrees. That’s the lowest it has been in my 6 years in Belize.

I left to find the kinder, gentler Vinita. I knew that Vinita would NEVER show up in Chicago. In Italy I did not curse, or get angry. No one ever followed me around in stores, or suspected me of wanting to take their husbands. That happened to me AGAIN just recently, during a weekend visit to Cleveland. In Chicago, I rarely got invited to functions where most people were coupled. Since I did not have a man, no invitation. Oh well. Here, in Belize where anyone can go, I just don’t go. They might want my money to attend, but too many Americans. I know how they feel about black women. In Italy, they had no problem with you dancing with their husbands, gave them a chance to rest their feet.

The kindest, gentlest Vinita ONLY appears in place outside the Americas. My work on the Transatlantic Slave Trade helps me to understand and endure. Humanity got hijacked as the New World was populated. The deceit and demonization of first Native Americans, and then Africans, and now everybody via credit and debt slavery, makes for a difficult world for us, who are emphatic. My friendship with you has allowed me to FINALLY embrace it. When I met you I was already living in Belize, but the Vinita I got to be in Italy was not called emphatic. Growing up in the Jim Crow south, and being almost 66 years old, squashed her so many years back, I just knew in my heart that I was different, IF given the chance. The lies, the corruption, the disdain in the current world is SO huge. Finding all of these things out is probably why this slave trade topic has become a passion for me. Each day, I get to pull back more of the onion skin.

Please do yourself one favor, if you are planning to buy, check to see if Crete is redlined. If it is, and if you care, businesses will move out and that brings down property values. Some communities in the southern suburbs have been. Just ask around. If you rent, it does not matter too much. You lose all your prior work on the land, but maybe that is ok. When things get too difficult you just move again. But if you plan to buy and then want to sell further down the line, to get a new buyer the terms may be too burdensome to get out of the land in the redlined area -- and you have also lost value.

My empathic self seeks a world of no money, no central banks, no redlining. But I’m usually ahead of the curve. I do not see that world in the foreseeable future. Being ahead of the crowd, especially as a black woman — the double minority — keeps you kicking and screaming — not a pleasant place for people with big hearts. We seek harmony.

May your move bring harmony to your life.

Best wishes,

Vinita

2/24/2015 01:28:07 pm

Vinita, you crack me up! :-) I love reading your accounts of life in Italy and Belize, compared to Chicago. It sure sounds like your decision to relocate is serving you well! Warmth *and* a degree of freedom from stress and anger.

I've heard intriguing interviews of John McAfee (creator of the McAfee Antivirus software) talking about barely escaping Belize authorities alive. He says the government corruption is epic, but overt. Just the opposite of the more masked variety here in the States.

I see + celebrate your kindness + gentleness ;-)