Archive for December, 2009

I’ve watched Deb­bie Ford’s,  The Shadow Effect DVD a few times now and she men­tions the poem below, which likens being human to a guest house with new emo­tions arriv­ing every day. I think this poem is a great one to have in our diaries so when we’re hav­ing a hard day, we can read it and remind our­selves to accept what is and that all from all hard times, good things arise.

I think this runs par­al­lel with what Eck­hart Tolle sug­gests in The Power of Now (Page 218); “Become and alchemist. Trans­mute base metal into gold, suffering into con­scious­ness, dis­as­ter into enlightenment.”

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

(The Essen­tial Rumi, ver­sions by Cole­man Barks)

I’ve also been read­ing Deb­bie Ford’s The Dark Side of the Light Chasers and par­tic­i­pat­ing in a vir­tual book club with Liz Fos­ter, who has been work­ing closely with Deb­bie for some years now. I’m find­ing the book and the book club offers me a won­der­ful oppor­tu­nity to under­stand those ‘shad­ows’ that bring me down. Debbie’s words help us realise that each shadow is indeed a guide and a gift which, if we embrace enthu­si­as­ti­cally, we can use to for­give our­selves. So, we use it, instead of it using us.