Artwork: Fernando Botero
Good Morning Beautiful People,
I hope that you are safe and healthy, wherever you are in the world.
Today, I am sharing with you a beautiful poem called The Guest House, written in 13th century by Persian poet Rumi.
This poem compares being human to a guest house, welcoming each day, a new emotion or thought, just like we would welcome a new guest, giving them room to be, to rest, without attachment to however long they choose to stay.
We tend to attach ourselves to the thoughts and emotions we are experiencing, either clinging to joy or wanting to numb our pain.
But what if we were just present to them all, without judging or wanting to fix them? Taking actions coming from our presence, instead of our usual knee jerk reactions?
On this note, I am inviting you to take a deep inhale, feeling the air moving through your nostrils and your sit bones touching the chair you might be sitting on. As you breath out, how about planting a new conscious seed: you may be going through a rollercoaster of emotions, and instead of saying “ I am sad”, you could rephrase it as “I am feeling sadness,” remembering that we are neither our emotions nor our thoughts, we are the presence watching them and holding space for them.
My wish for us all today, is that we keep waking up to what is, knowing that “this too shall pass.”
If you feel called to know more about this practice, we are still meeting daily on zoom at 9.30am CET for a 30 minutes reset, it is a gift to the nervous system. https://zoom.us/j/6911455565 password 739019
Until then, please have a look at the poem below and do message me your comments or questions.
With Love and Deep Respect,
Vanessa
The Guest House by Rumi
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 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 whatever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
