The Guest House
listening is a form of kindness
This season, let all the feelings in.
Image by Lacy Phillips
Practicing kindness is tricky
We all have a list of things things we like about ourselves, but often push away unwanted thoughts or emotions we don’t like. When you’re able to welcome all the emotions, it helps you process them. Pushing them away or avoiding them just buries them to come out again, at a different time, in a different form. Allowing them in and seeing them for what they are is the first step towards then deciding if you want to pay attention to the thought or emotion, or simply let is go. This is one of my favorite poems for practicing kindness and being with it all.
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 honorably.
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.
— Jellaludin Rumi