My Guest House Book

In ruminating on Rumi's The Guest House poem, I have come to face my feelings and dwell in them yet not be absorbed by these feelings. In the intense moments of the feeling where it is me, I take a pen and paper or simply type on my keyboard, journaling as I visualise the feeling entering my living room. I am the innkeeper in the guest house, where feelings come and go.

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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’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.

When I first read the poem, it immediately resonated because a part of me craved for an understanding of how some people seemed to simply let go and be able to face all storms in life with a calming resilience and assuredness. Whereas I would dwell and ruminate on and on, allowing feelings to fester and grow like a cancer within me.

This was the very first time I experienced the separation of my being from the feelings I had. In that moment, I became ready to see with clarity, that I am not my feelings, and gradually learned to let each feeling come and go as they wished. With that knowledge I was better able to lose the need to control feelings of uncertainty which often led to stress and anxiety. By allowing the loss of control to be a separate entity, I met it and its entirety and let it get reacquainted with me like a newly separated Siamese twin. Only then I came to understand that I was not this person and that was enough to let it go.

How it began

This being human, is to experience fully all of my feelings. I am what I feel, in which that feeling shapes my thinking.

At least this is what I think when I am fully immersed in a feeling. It started with rage, an anger which comes in fits and moments of eruption as repressed thoughts and judgments burst through the seams. After the rage comes fear, an anxiety from within and formed by the constant thoughts that swirl in my head. They keep swirling and repeating line after line, I end with the same opinion, a conclusion of futility, the fear turns into anxiety, and anxiety into desperation, and hopelessness.

In my quest to manage these emotions, I had stumbled on a course at MindValley.com based on Vishen Lakhiani's Code of the Extraordinary Mind and the Buddha and the Badass in which Vishen read the Sufi poet Rumi's Guest House.

Like a light which illuminated the darkness, a gift came to me which brought me consolation. This inspiration came as a pleasant surprise for me. I continue to evolve my practise of visiting my inner guest house and allowing wisdom to surprise me. As I continue to learn and grow, I begin to experience more pleasant surprises in my life. Each moment I tune in to my inner wisdom, intuition kicks in and I begin to see more miracles and wonders at work, especially in my the ordinary life. I started learning to be curious and am still seeking to see like a child appreciates the smallest things in my every moment.

Before we start

Contemplating on the guest house as my inner state of being and allowing feelings of both good and bad to arrive and depart reframed my mind. I no longer see feelings as mine, or my own (mine to own). I learn to see them as they are, message bearers from the divine.

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This book is about feelings, is not about Our Feelings and how we feel. The starting point is to create a safe nurturing environment to through visually constructing the guest house, and to allow feelings to be distinct persons.

I wrote this because I struggled and could not meaningfully separate out the emotions from my self, and it was through this desolate situation where all was dark and gloomy, and suddenly the light began to shine brightest.

Perhaps it is the same for you too! So observe these beliefs and have them deeply entrenched in our soul and in our heart. Then the seed which is in the depth of our being will grow tall and bear fruit in the mind.