Being human is a unique kind of joy, a unique kind of sadness, and pain, and ecstasy. An old woman sat at my bar the other day, and told me she was having a bad day. She said, "Not all days can be good days, you know." As short as my life has been, I know this as well. Not all days are happy days. Some days are full of anxiety, others brim with sadness, and some seem dark but are laced with hope. On days like these, I sometimes have trouble accepting my life as it is. I think "If only they didn't have to go," "If only I hadn't been that way," or "Why is this happening to me?"
At times like these, I try to pay attention to the opportunity that I have. I chose to have a human experience, and that means that I will find many challenges in my life: separation, death, and parts of myself and others that I do not like. The tremendous opportunity that I have is to love it all, especially these things that I do not like, and to remember that each of these is a gift from the universe to make my life even more amazing. Rumi (a 13th century Muslim Mystic and poet), muses on this in his poem 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 are 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.
Today, I invite you to find something about your life that you don't like, and to practice loving it.
Say this: "Even though I don't like ________________, I fully love and accept ___________. I fully love and accept myself."
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