I have been in Sydney for eight days now. Looking at a map, Sydney is far away from Copenhagen, where I usually live. It is actually more than 16 000 kilometers away. It is hard to get further away, unless you go to New Zealand. Or to the South Pole.

Far away from Copenhagen (where I have lived for the last four years) and Oslo (where I was born and grew up) means far away from fiancee, family and friends.
It also means many things are different. Even though I did find the Norwegian cheese Jarlsberg in the supermarket, and watched a Danish criminal series on TV, I do not feel at home in Sydney.
Right now, my meditation is a home for me. Like a turtoise or a snail carries its home, as a meditator, I bring with me my inner home, wherever I go. All I need to enter my inner home is to sit comfortably down in a calm place, close my eyes and start repeating the meditation sound in my mind. And doing that, I will open up for my inner spontaneous activity – for my impressions from the day, for my emotions, for my impulses. These are of course currently influenced by the fact that I am right now establishing myself in a new place. But they are also influenced by me – by the way I perceive and the way I act in the world, in other words by who I am. So meditating is a way of being in touch with oneself, of being at home.

I know that when I will leave Sydney in December, I will feel the city has become a home for me. And maybe my meditation has helped me in that – by helping me keep in touch with myself, it also helps me being in touch with others and with my environment.