Emotions – positive, negative – all welcome?

I love Rumi’s poem below and have been reminded of it recently in a couple of conversations with carers I have been working with. Hope you might like it.   

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’re 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 whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

RUMI

From “The Essential Rumi”, translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne, 1995.

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