Welcome to poetry corner. I’m by no means an expert but I admire the poet’s ability to communicate volumes in a few verses. Of all the poems that have resonated with me in recent times, this one by prolific 13th-century mystic Rumi really hits the mark:
THE GUEST HOUSE
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honourably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
So what does it all mean? My take on it is this: whatever we feel in any given moment – be it joy, sadness, anger, fear, shame, guilt – it’s important to welcome that emotion, to honour it and acknowledge its presence.
Even if you are overwhelmed by grief and you want it to stop, don’t push it away. Embrace it, because while you are in reaction you can’t see the bigger picture – the one in which grief is creating space for your next stage of development.
Each emotion that arises in your awareness is a messenger from beyond, i.e. your unconscious. Pay attention to the emotion (energy in motion) and take the information it has for you before letting it go.
Wave it away as you would a guest when they leave your house. Smile to yourself, and look forward to the arrival of the next unexpected guest with the awareness that they may not look like a guest at all.
Each guest has a gift for you, even if the gift is in strange or unattractive wrapping. And the payback you get for welcoming your emotional guests is that you bring them in from the shadows. As they come into the light, they can no longer sabotage your behaviour.
And that’s all from The Pearl Within’s poetry corner.
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