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 attend them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of all it’s furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be cleaning 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 whoever comes, because they have been sent as a guide from beyond. – Rumi
Sometimes emotions come that shake us down to our core. We want light, fun, easy, and calm but we get anger, venom, revenge, and fear. Sometimes they take us over and it seems there’s nothing to be done. Put on the water for another cup of tea, sit in the sun or by the fire another twenty minutes. Sometimes the only thing to do is sit with these emotions and let them have their say, running away only makes it worse. That’s because it doesn’t change anything. When we finally come back to the home of ourselves we are right where we started, nothing has shifted. Avoiding these feelings or being carried away by them doesn’t make them disappear, in fact, we are the only ones doing the disappearing act by not facing what we find inside.
The truth is these emotions want our attention, most likely some love and forgiveness too. They need our honest appraisal and their time to be seen. And we need to sit still long enough to feel them and see what they want from us. This is why we sit with the sadness, the anger, or fear. We sit and face them honestly and openly until they lessen, morph, or drop away. They will. Everything changes and transforms, most of the time we just aren’t actively engaged with this process. When we finally take a closer look it changes everything, the emotion, their content and impact, and our lives.
We would be wise to follow Rumi’s advise and welcome them. They have something to teach us. They have hidden within them words of wisdom we need to hear. They point to what we want to let go of or what we want to embrace. They have the power to change our lives in ways we can’t imagine. So snuggle up in a cozy chair or sit out in the garden and let the wind dance around you and feel what you find inside. Take some time to honor the ever-changing prism of emotions within. Each has a story to tell that wants to be heard and a gift to offer.
Accept them all. They have the power to restructure the way we think, love, and live.
kb
