My Anywhere But Here Blog

Sometimes I notice that I return to this topic often in my writing. The idea of My Anywhere But Here space seems to appear again and again in my reflections. But the truth is, it keeps returning because it is something I deeply believe in.

I truly feel that each of us needs those quiet hiding places — our small secret corners where we can step away for a moment and simply breathe again. Sometimes those spaces are physical places. And sometimes they exist quietly within our own hearts.

Perhaps that is why I keep noticing the same quiet truth about peace.

Peace rarely arrives in grand places. Instead, it appears in small familiar corners of our secret places. Those where we let no one in because it is where we can find space to breathe without any thoughts from the outside world. I have two of those places where I pray that it doesn’t get to crowded and I can rest from all the inner voices that are inside my head, shouting, this pain will last all day, you’ll never get rejuvenated from your exhaustion.

Negative voices always seem to crowd into our public spaces when we ourselves are having issues. Negative voices like us to be around crowds because it is harder to ignore them crowds and people tend to be our toughest critics if we let them. When it comes to our inner voices particularly when we are not doing well, when people are tired, overwhelmed, ill, or emotionally stretched, the negative voice tends to become louder. The mind is simply trying to process too much at once. That is when I seek out my favorite private spaces.

Sometimes the negative voice is simply the noise of the world that followed us inside.

Our peaceful places — a window, a chapel, a small café, a quiet room — are where we learn that not every voice deserves our attention.

I crave quiet tranquil places that allow me to block out all the things that take away my one priority, that of keeping the peace alive in my world.

The mind often believes it is helping us by analyzing every misstep, every uncertainty, every imagined outcome. How we feel and gives us very little rest when we have so many things pressing on us like our health or our other small things that like to cause us some stress. Yet the more it speaks, the less peaceful our inner world can feel.

Sometimes the mind forgets that we are not meant to carry every worry all at once.

It gathers yesterday’s concerns, today’s fatigue, and tomorrow’s uncertainties and places them all on the same table. No wonder the room inside our heads can begin to feel crowded.

That is when stepping into a quiet refuge becomes more than a simple escape.

It becomes a gentle act of care — a way of reminding ourselves that we are allowed moments of stillness, even when life itself refuses to slow down.

Somehow these private and quiet places hold something steady within them and they don’t allow for disruptions. When we enter them, our shoulders relax, our breathing slows, and for a little while the world feels manageable again.

That is why quiet places matter.

Mine happens to be a very small were talking 2 tables of 6 three tables of two and one table of 3 and one of 4 so very small coffee café called Eat with more too the name but I don’t want to give away my hiding place, it is my happy little places. Today I went there for coffee and I was asking myself why do I have to hide out here? I had a rough nights sleep woke up in a rough mood and thought nobody needs to be around this mood first thing so said Susan move on from the pain focus on your My Anywhere But Here Space and try to plow forward for the day.

In places like these, the mind sometimes loosens its grip.

The critical voice grows quieter.

And in that quiet we begin to remember something important — that not every thought deserves our attention, and not every voice inside us speaks the truth.

Sometimes peace is not found by silencing the mind completely.

Sometimes peace comes simply from stepping into a space where the mind no longer feels the need to shout above all the voices in our heads.

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Susan Thomas

My Anywhere But Here