• THOUGHTS FROM THE COUCH
  • About
  • Contact
Thoughts From The Couch

The Guest House

7/23/2015

 
Staying present to our emotions can be a challenge.  Yet, it is often the path towards healing, towards a deeper connection with ourselves.  We can feel like certain emotions are bad, or aren't spiritual, or are ones we shouldn't have.  Yet, each emotion can bring a gift.  What we resist, persists, as the saying goes.  What we deny in ourselves is our Shadow and is destined to find a way to express itself.  This poem by the Sufi mystic Rumi, invites us all to treat each emotion as an honorable guest.

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.



-- Jelaluddin Rumi,
    translation by Coleman Barks


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Author

    Jami Parrish, LPC, CSAT, CMC is a therapist and coach whose aim is to help others live fully and find true freedom.  She is currently practicing in Tucson, AZ.

    Archives

    June 2021
    July 2017
    February 2017
    July 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014

    Categories

    All
    Addiction
    Contemplation
    Emotions
    Freedom
    Mindfulness
    Motivation
    Neuroscience
    Ritual
    Sex Addiction
    Sex And Love Addiction
    Shame
    Spirituality
    Vulnerability
    Wisdom

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly