"BEING HUMAN IS A GUEST HOUSE" Written October 2021

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

                                        Rumi

A guest house analogy...hmmm....I never looked at life that way before. 

The directive to welcome and entertain them all is a bit frightening. I don't enjoy the fear and the grief and the regrets. I get caught up in them and sometimes, ofttimes, cannot see a way thru. Will they really clear the way to a new delight? Will they really ever actually leave?

Rumi claims all the "guests" have been sent as a guide from beyond. If I could grab onto that and believe it, perhaps that would lift me a bit above the darkness and help me to a larger, clearer view?

I do recall how in my early widowhood, I had the sense of being transformed,  transmuted,  re-calibrated into a newer, fresher, wiser version of myself. Even deep in my darkest sadness, I could sense joy waiting for me around the corner. I remember writing about it. "Who will I become?," I wrote.

I am still waiting for the answer.

(259 Words)

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