The Sufi poet Rumi once wrote:

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.

I share the image of Rumi’s Guest House because if you are like me you feel lots of things throughout the day but don’t often give yourself the space and the time to really feel your feelings. We feel the discomfort – the difficult feeling and we have all kinds of ways to not welcome it. We defend against it. We resist it because often we are in places where we don’t feel the safest being present to our feelings – it can be especially hard in the middle of the work day. But the problem for me comes when I don’t give myself space at work – and then I don’t after work either.

Where do the feelings go that I have avoided? For me sometimes they build up in tension in my body, or maybe they’ll be offloaded in a situation that makes you scratch your head (why on earth did I react so much to that). It’s difficult to learn how to care well for our emotional selves, but it can make all the difference in the world for our long term health and wellbeing and our resilience through difficult seasons.

So I crowdsourced a group of friends the other day asking them, “how do you practice feeling your feelings?” And a couple of memes were sent my way that I thought were very helpful distillations of good emotional care habits and I wanted to pass them along to you as a way of inviting you to join me in practicing better care for our hearts that feel so much. And if you are able when you are feeling a thing (or at some point later when you find a moment to stop), take some time to feel your feelings and allow them to stay a while as guest. This may be on your own or – if you’re more extraverted – by calling a friend who’s earned the right to hear your story. And I pray that you can relief and feel freer and more peaceful as you do.  And have more strength for the ongoing journey.

May you be well and supported today and may the blessing of God or all that sustains you, keep you safe, grant you peace and fill you with all that you need, just for today. Amen.