How Do You Treat Your Guests?

We never know what each day has in store for us. We may start with a general plan, but unexpected turns often occur. Each turn is an opportunity to experience something new. We may feel a joy, a depression, a meanness, a pain, or some other temporary feeling.

Rumi wrote a beautiful poem called The Guest House. He forms an image of this daily human life like being a guest house, and your guests are your emotions. The poem reads ...

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. So fully embrace your emotions. Feel them and learn from them. They are only temporary and will pass, just like guests in a guest house.