Feeling at Home
Unpacking boxes in our new house, and starting to get my head around teaching again, I came across a copy of Rumi’s famous poem “The Guest House” in notes from a previous class:
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
Our house is our safe haven, and at the top of Maslow's hierachy of needs, together with food, water, warmth and rest, which could be why moving house is on the list of "most stressful life events".
Meditation or mindful observation of our feelings is always an interesting exercise, especially when life throws us a surprise, when we feel stressed or uncertain. Mindfulness is our opportunity to tap into the broader picture. A larger picture than just the small, single-minded “me.”
I know if I don’t sit for a while, I tend to fuss more, push myself harder, and I become a bit more fixated on the need for things around me to be neat and organized. Then I know I need to get back to my regular meditative practice!
One of the great things about sitting practice is that, after I sit, I usually don’t mind the surprise or the uncertainty as much anymore.
It takes a bit of courage to open up our heart and sit, especially if we're expecting “a crowd of sorrows” to visit. Whatever uncertainty we are faced with, it’s good to remember that we can also use the practice of “feeling at home in our body”. All our thoughts and emotions manifest somewhere in the body, and noticing where the feelings sit as they move through us is an important skill to master. Especially since we are increasingly subjected to a media frenzy of feverish reporting, already bad before, but definitely exacerbated by Covid, keeping many people locked in an anxious, panic-stricken cycle of thoughts.
You could read this article to be about Rumi's poem, or about the uncertainty of moving and setting up house in a new place. You can also read this to be about feeling at home where ever you are. But mostly it’s a reminder to us that we create our own good conditions, no matter where we are or what’s happening around us. With our thoughts, we create our world.
