This is my home. This is my land. This is the place I was born, the place I belong to, the place I feel rooted in, the place I want to nest, the place I want to die. When I stand in front of this lake, time stops. I am absorbed by the vastness of the place, I am captivated by the sounds of the birds, I am moved by the sensations the sacred water offers. My heart is serene, my body is relaxed, my mind is still, my spirit is open.

For many years I ignored this connection with the land. I thought passionately that Cyprus is not for me. I took every possible opportunity to escape, to run away, to fly towards other places and search for “my place”. Oh but boy, isn’t life a mystery? To walk a thousand kilometres only to return back to the same place? Yet, the return back to the same place is not a failure, but a victory. It is a repatriation not to only the land, but to yourself, to your core, to your essence.

Feeling indigenous to the land, as well as feeling indigenous to our own body, feelings and mind is one of our dimensions as human beings which is perhaps pushed away nowadays. I would say it is one of our basic needs. Without this connection we feel incomplete and in an endless search to find them, mostly in other places or other people or material things. I need to tell you though that the place we are all looking for is there and it’s mostly inside. It’s waiting patiently for us to lift our eyes and see it. We will know when we find it by experiencing the feeling of deep connection, rootedness, tranquillity and serenity.

Eleni Michail