The Guest House

I came across this Rumi poem yesterday and found it to be a sweet and challenging reminder of “right relationship.”

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

Starting with myself, I become aware that I am not a fixed solid being, but rather a guest house to many visitors … Do I welcome and recognize them each as a visitor to my guesthouse?

And if I do, how do I “entertain” them in right relationship rather than just closing the door in their face? Or worse, yell at my partner/colleague/friend as if she is the guest! Am I willing to recognize a gift of awareness before I send them on?

In my experience, this time of year brings more speed, joy, multitasking, competing opportunities, unspoken assumptions than any other. And unbeknownst to us, it creates an open house to many unexpected internal guests of all ages!

I invite you to share the opportunity of being in right relationship with meeting all of your internal guests—the shame, the dark thought, the innocent, the malice at the door. Laughingly invite them in. Find the variety in your own “me-ness” and be grateful for each as a gift that has been sent as a guide.

What might right relationship with each of these guests look like? For that is essential to being in right relationship with yourself and other. Be grateful for whatever came, for as Rumi states later in the poem, “each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”


As you celebrate and share with family, friends and colleagues, know that relationship matters from within you to the board room and to the living room. May you be free to honor all of your unexpected guests, finding appreciation and curiosity for every guest house that shows up alongside and in front of you.

From my guest house to yours, may you celebrate the end of the year with joy and gratitude. May you find the time and space to drop into the silent “beingness” of awaiting a new year and new beginnings.
 


Best wishes!