Shifting: Immigration
- Jeanine Ruiz
- Jul 2
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 11
Shifting (immigration). It could be intense.
"ordinary" is different.
It's more than a landscape shift. The rain is different, the pace of life is different, the sounds, the amount of people within 100 feet, the energy...all different.
ordinary of 33 years (Trinidad & Tobago)
When I changed my physical landscape, my emotional landscape changed too.
new ordinary (New York)
It's obvious but not necessarily considered, that the sounds/frequencies around us, the nutrients in the soil or the chemicals in the water...affect us. Whether it's acknowledged or not.
(I'll add sounds when I figure out how)
I looked for the moon a few times and couldn't find it - the buildings are so tall. I was craving my ordinary. My emotional state was struggling. With the high amount of people and people things, there was constant energy coming from all directions at once. I couldn't find the calm I knew. In the parks, the energy of the trees and animals were different too. I'm not accustomed to this.
This wasn't the same as visiting. This is now home. I'm on alien territory, or I'm the alien - either way, I have to relearn what ordinary is.
One full moon evening, I came across two charming plants and took them home. I got the Rue plant in the middle before.
Maranta Prayer Plant (left), Calathea RattleSnake Prayer Plant (right)
I started to create my little calm space. It's different from my ordinary backyard, but it is my new home after all.
It's interesting how much you learn about home being away from it.
It's interesting how much you learn about the world, the more you see and experience.
It's interesting what you learn about yourself when you shift.
