I own a home in Sweden, I rent in both Los Angeles and in

In the worldly and wistful words of Britt Ekland, the Swedish actress whose life has crossed oceans and decades, we hear both a declaration and a confession: “I own a home in Sweden, I rent in both Los Angeles and in Britain, and I’m constantly travelling.” At first, her words seem like the simple description of a life in motion — a map traced by glamour, opportunity, and movement. Yet beneath their surface lies a deeper reflection on what it means to belong, to wander, and to seek the elusive feeling of home in a world that is always changing. Hers is the voice of one who has lived between nations, languages, and selves, and who has discovered that sometimes, the price of freedom is rootlessness.

To “own a home in one place” but “rent” in others is to live in a balance between permanence and impermanence, between stability and freedom. It is the modern condition — the life of one who belongs everywhere and nowhere at once. In the ancient world, such a life would have belonged to the wanderers and envoys, the philosophers who saw all lands as their own, yet none as fully theirs. Diogenes, the Cynic sage, once declared, “I am a citizen of the world.” He owned nothing, carried little, and moved from city to city, finding belonging not in walls or possessions, but in the open sky. In Britt Ekland’s confession, there is a similar spirit — a quiet acceptance that to live fully, one must sometimes surrender the illusion of being settled.

Yet there is also a shadow in her words. To be “constantly travelling” is to live in eternal motion, but motion can also be exile in disguise. The heart longs for stillness, even as the spirit craves adventure. In her statement, we sense not complaint, but weariness — the wisdom of one who knows that success and recognition often scatter the soul like seeds across continents. The ancient Odysseus, after years of wandering, knew this ache well. Though he had seen the marvels of the world, his heart yearned only for Ithaca — for the scent of olive trees, the sound of familiar waves, the embrace of home. In the end, even the greatest travelers discover that the true journey is not outward, but inward.

For Ekland, whose life bridged Sweden’s quiet forests and the bright chaos of Hollywood, her words speak to a deeper truth about the modern soul. We are a generation of nomads — connected by flight and fiber, yet divided by pace and place. We rent the world but rarely dwell within it. We move from city to city, job to job, dream to dream, yet seldom pause long enough to let our roots touch the earth. Her statement becomes not just a portrait of her own life, but a mirror for ours — for all who seek both freedom and belonging, who own much yet feel that something essential remains unclaimed.

The origin of this quote lies not in philosophical discourse, but in the lived reality of a woman who has spent her life between fame and solitude. Britt Ekland, once the face of international cinema, learned early that the life of art and celebrity is a life in motion — always reaching, performing, adapting. Her “home in Sweden” represents origin, the soil of childhood and innocence. Her “rentals” in Los Angeles and Britain symbolize the impermanent nature of the worlds she inhabited — worlds of performance, illusion, and shifting opportunity. And her constant travel is the inevitable journey of the soul that refuses to stand still, always seeking, yet never fully arriving.

There is an ancient wisdom hidden here: that home is not always a place, but a state of peace. One can travel endlessly and still be at home within oneself, or live in one house and feel forever displaced. The Stoic philosophers taught this truth long ago: “No matter where you go, you take yourself with you.” True rest, they said, does not come from geography, but from harmony between your outer life and your inner self. Ekland’s words remind us that to move through the world without losing one’s center is one of life’s highest arts — to be rooted not in soil, but in spirit.

Let this be the lesson: movement without meaning is drifting, but movement guided by purpose becomes pilgrimage. If your life calls you to travel, to change cities, to reinvent yourself — do so with awareness. Let every place you dwell teach you something; let every departure purify your attachment. Build your home within your heart, so that wherever you go, you carry peace with you. For the one who has found inner stillness fears neither distance nor solitude.

Action to take: pause often in your journeys, whether across lands or through seasons of life. Reflect on where your heart feels most alive. Tend the relationships and memories that keep you anchored to truth. For as Britt Ekland reminds us, a life spent “constantly travelling” is not one of loss, but of discovery — if only we remember that the true destination is not a city or a house, but the place within where the soul can finally rest and call itself home.