What does “home” mean to each of us? The question seems simple enough, but the varied answers are unimaginably expansive. In trying to get a deeper understanding of what the word means to all of us, I interviewed a few friends who have strong ties to the notion of “home,” to discover how they created their safe space and what went into the process for them. We know that home shelters us while we grow and evolve--that it can serve as something of a safety net while our lives continually change. That it is truly an expression of our very selves.

Alexander Muzio is a fellow real estate agent here at our COLLECTIVE, and the two of us work closely together in helping folks find their perfect space. He is one of the most intuitive humans I’ve ever met, full stop. He knows himself well, and he has a gift that enables him to share that with others and tap into their own uniqueness and power.

I’ve been wanting to dig a little bit with Alexander—as someone I find to be truly inspirational and compassionate, I chatted with him to find out more about how he creates his personal space and what goes into that self-reflection where “home” is concerned.

"I don’t really follow a routine, I just pay attention to all corners of my space."

Samuel Green: What does the word “home” mean to you?

Alexander Muzio: To me it feels like a sense of being. It feels like a place that I come from. It’s a place that I live, but it’s more of a representation of what’s inside…what I carry with me.

SG: How do you maintain your home? Do you have any rituals or routines you perform?

AM: Having plants helps me maintain it actually—it’s a living being in my home that I need to tend to. That keeps me in an awareness: things dry out or things get dirty, so I know that there are aspects of my home that need me. I don’t really follow a routine, I just pay attention to all corners of my space. When it feels like something needs to be touched or mover or cleaned, it feels obvious because I spend a lot of time moving around my space and looking at the different corners.

SG: Share with me a time or a place you lived in the past that gave you the truest sense of “home”..

AM: I lived in the desert for nine weeks, and that was when I found “home”. I was sitting on the edge of a cliff, journaling, and the wind touched me in such a way that I really felt like, “the entire earth is holding me, this is my home." From that point forward I have always been able to carry that spirit, especially in low times. I use it as fuel…for how I paint my life and perspective into my home.