The Guest Housepoem is a method of explaining mindfulness and the importance of acknowledging and accepting unpleasant emotions. Emotion suppression has been associated with both psychological and physiological health detriment. It has also been suggested that attempts to control uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and emotions by deliberate avoidance are at the core of many psychological problems. When clients mask their emotional experiences or try to push unpleasant emotions away, they can return amplified. However, by welcoming them as visitors, the intensity and impact of those emotions can be reduced. In the poem, being human is like being a guest house, and emotions are personified as temporary visitors that should be welcomed even if they are unpleasant.

The poem can also be used to explain to clients that emotions are not permanent residents in their guest house; instead, they are transient visitors who can be welcomed, stay for a while, and then leave.

The Guest Houseby Jelaluddin Rumi

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 whatever comes. Because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

After you've read this poem and considered it, please video yourself answering 3-4 of the following questions:

• How do you interpret the poem?
• What emotions visit you most often? Why do you think that is?
• How might it affect you if you welcomed all your emotions rather than denying them?
• What benefits could there be in welcoming unpleasant emotions?
• Can you relate to the feeling described in the line "violently sweeps your house empty of its furniture"? Have you ever felt this way?
• How might you apply the message ofThe Guest Houseto your everyday life?