The Guest House

                                                       The Guest House



                                     This being human is a guest house.
                                     Every morning a new arrival.
                                     
                                     A Joy, 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 it's furniture,
                                     still, treat each guest honorably.
                                     He may be clearing you out
                                     for some delight.

                                     The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
                                     meet them at the door laughing, 
                                     and invite them in.

                                     Be gratetul for whoever comes,
                                     because each had been sent
                                     as a guide from beyond.

                                                        -Rumi


Many people suppress or ignore their emotions by using externals such as alcohol, food, drugs, workaholism or busyness. Suppressing your emotions causes more harm than good. For one you will never find out what your emotions are trying to tell you and not grow from the experience of allowing yourself to feel.


The other drawback is that suppressing your emotions harms your body. Doctors are now finding that suppressed anger is one of the main causes for heart problems and high blood pressure. Long term depression is another cause for heart problems. Experts say that much of what leads to depression is suppressed anger. Anger that you feel hopeless or afraid to do anything about. Suppressed anger is also correlated with cancer.

Like Rumi, I recommend that you feel what you feel. What you resist persist and will continue to cause havoc in your body and life. Ofcourse you do not want to hurt others by expressing how you feel in order to let it pass through your body. There are various ways to feel your emotions in a healthy way so that it does not hurt you nor others. I have written several articles on just how to do it in this blog.

There are huge benefits for happy people, as I wrote in Happy People Win.  But you have to be a genuinely happy person. You can't fake it. It does not do you or anyone else any good to be synthetically happy. You also have to keep in mind that even people who are normally happy, experience sadness, anger, shame and envy. As long as we are human we will be experiencing human emotions. The difference is that real happy people experience emotions  and then release them. They do not hold on to negative emotions for days, weeks, months or years. Ofcourse there are exceptions, such as when there is a death of a loved one.


Don't feel bad and think that there is something wrong with you or that you must to do something when you are melancholy from time to time. When we try to avoid the feeling is when we end up getting into trouble. You have the right to feel what you feel. Don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't feel a certain way. Their perceptions, experiences, character, and beliefs are different than yours, so they will not feel what you feel even if they are on the same boat as you.

If you would like more information please contact me on facebook under Zulma Carbajal.

Individuals who suffer from depression are four times more likely to have a heart attack than those who aren't depressed. - National Institute Of Mental Health (NIMH), 2001