Resonance of Place: Part 1 — A Quest for Rivendell

Perhaps I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth revisiting in the context of today’s topic.

Finding a place to live that best aligns with who you are—and who you want to become—is one of the keys to what I call Radical Lifestyle Design.

This idea sits at the heart of the Zeroscaping program I created for myself to develop the freedom to live my truth.

One metaphor I would use to describe this is that each of us is a particular kind of vegetation.

If I were a redwood, I’d need a certain climate and environment to thrive.

If I were a cactus, I’d likely prefer something entirely different.

I think place influences us far more than we realize.

Part of the reason we overlook this is because the industrialized world has made it possible to live comfortably almost anywhere. Air conditioning, heat, good lighting, and global food distribution have insulated us from many of the natural differences between places.

But comfort isn’t the same thing as resonance.

After reflecting on this, I realize this belief has probably been with me my entire life.

Something inside me seemed to know, even as a child, that the relationship between a person and their environment mattered deeply.

It even appeared in my dreams.

For years I had recurring nightmares about violent tornadoes descending on my family and me. I was always running, separated from the people I loved, trying to survive.

Then, while I was in college, I spent a summer working at Mount Rushmore and lived in the dormitory connected to the park.

One night I had the tornado dream again.

But this time something changed.

In the dream I said to myself:

“I don’t need to worry. I’m in the Black Hills. I’m up in the mountains. The tornado can’t hurt me here.”

That dream had a big impact on me and my thinking about where I live.

Years later I encountered this same idea from another direction.

I was working through one of Barbara Sher’s exercises for discovering what you truly love.

She suggests dividing your life into three periods—early childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood—and identifying something from each period that deeply shaped you.

For adolescence, I chose reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Not long afterward, I bought a new boxed set and reread them, beginning with The Hobbit.

This time I took notes.

I wanted to understand what I loved so much about those books.

It quickly became clear that my favorite chapter was the arrival in Rivendell.

I remember thinking:

Ah… there’s a huge clue.

I think I want to find my own real-world Rivendell!!

That realization played a significant role in my decision to accept a job that eventually brought me back to the Pacific Northwest for the second time.

But, it wasn’t the only reason.

I’d lived here once before after graduate school. However, I left for another career opportunity, and almost immediately missed it.

From the day I left, I felt homesick for the Pacific Northwest.

I’ll never forget returning.

It felt like I could breathe again.

It felt good.

Real good.

Fast forward to 2020.

A friend introduced me to an astrologer who specialized in astrocartography.

At a very high level, astrocartography proposes that the date, time, and place of your birth create planetary lines that extend across the Earth. According to the theory, different places tend to amplify different aspects of your experience.

For example, living near your Sun line may feel like living more authentically or being seen more clearly.

A Saturn line often corresponds with responsibility, obligations, or heaviness.

A Venus line may emphasize relationships, beauty, and personal or social magnetism.

Each planetary line is thought to carry a particular quality of experience.

Having lived in several parts of the United States—and noticing very different themes emerge in each place—I found the framework not only fascinating, but likely having some merit.

When I compared my own experiences with what astrocartography suggested, I was surprised by how often they aligned.

Since then, I’ve also used a few AI tools to identify places that might resonate with my astrological chart, personality, values, and lifestyle goals.

As a result, I’ve developed a shortlist of places I want to visit and experience firsthand.

That’s what the next part of this series will explore.

I’ll share some of what I’ve discovered while testing this approach in the real world.

For now, I’ll leave you with a few questions.

What places have you lived?

Which were your favorite places—and why?

Which were your least favorite places—and why?

And if money, obligations, and logistics weren’t factors…

Where would you choose to live—or at least spend enough time to discover whether it might become your own version of Rivendell?