The following exercise will help you recall your childhood home or homes.

1. Think carefully about what went on in your home(s) and think about how you interacted with the following:

The home(s): ____________________________________________________________________________

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The neighborhood: ____________________________________________________________________________

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The backyard: ____________________________________________________________________________

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The front porch: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Your room: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Your parents: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Sisters and brothers: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Other family members: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Roommates or housemates: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Friends: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Neighbors: ____________________________________________________________________________

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People in the larger community: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Other spaces inside or outside: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Other visitors or people: ____________________________________________________________________________

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2. List as thoroughly as you can your feelings about each home: your favorite home and your least favorite home. Recall if you can and make notes about the events that caused the following and other feelings that may not be listed here.

Do you remember any of the following feelings?

When you reminisce about your childhood, new revelations about your housing choices and preferences will emerge.

3. Continue this exercise by creating two brief written descriptions, one positive and the other negative, of homes you have lived in as an adult.

Positive Home Experiences

Go back in time to your favorite adult home. List or make note of the following:

The things you enjoyed about this home: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Any special features you liked: ____________________________________________________________________________

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The location of special features: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Roominess: ____________________________________________________________________________

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The style: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Anything else you want to remember that made the place feel like “home” for you: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Negative Home Experiences

Go back in time and think of the home you liked least in your adult life. List or make note of the following:

What you disliked when you were in this home: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Any features of the home you did not like: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Its location: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Its size: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Its style: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Everything about the home you did not like and, perhaps, could not wait to leave: ____________________________________________________________________________

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Take as much time as you need, write down not only what you liked and did not like, but why this may have been so, and try to be thorough. If you have only lived in one home, list all the things you like and do not like about that one place.