A Guest House

The human being is a guest house
Every morning there is 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
and empty it from 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 whoever comes
because each has been sent as a
guide from beyond.

-Jelaluddin Balkhi Rumi

Taken from Intensive Psychotherapy
for Persistent Dissociative Process:
The fear of feeling real by Richard A. Chefetz

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