The Guest House

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house
Every morning 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're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empt 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

When the Unexpected Happens

How many times do we set our sights on a specific outcome only to find our later that there is not only little likelihood that the result will be exactly as we had hoped, but that the outcome that does occur might in fact be a better one than we had envisioned? It is human nature to want to know and this includes knowing what, when, and how something will happen followed by the inevitable why did it happen or why might it happen this way or that?  All in the future and ripe for confusion and fear at worst and avoidance of the moment at best. Our minds seem to wander easily to an unending labyrinth of possibilities many of which may be based on fears, some on hopes, but all on thinking of what may occur which lands us in future trippin' or caught up in the past.

Take for example a young woman who wanted to enroll in the college of her choice. She was bound and determined to study at UC Berkeley and was profoundly disappointed when she was not accepted due to over enrollment. One scenario here is that she then regrouped, applied to another college where she had several major agreements waiting and saw in retrospect that this college was a better fit for her. Another would be that when she was denied entry into her first choice college, she decided that she was going to become a lobbyist for education reform and based on her experience chose a different life plan.

We are only limited by our inability to be in the moment and to accept life as it is. The next time you find yourself in a situation where the unexpected happens, take a breath and remind yourself that all is well.