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 honourably.
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.

~ Jalaluddin Rumi, The Guest House

Rumi was, like all true poets, a mystic, a seer, a soothsayer. I came across this particular poem today by chance and it reminded me of an EFT practitioner’s talk that I listened to yesterday.

(Of course, I do realise that all things are governed by the Mystic Law of Causality and therefore this reinforcement of what I heard yesterday isn’t “by chance” at all. The Universe is very deliberate and doesn’t do anything by chance!)

The EFT practitioner, Margaret Lynch, is a woman with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering as well as certifications in both EFT and Hypnotherapy. So she has one foot in empirical materialism and the other just as firmly in the invisible world of energy.

She discussed feelings, and what to do about the uncomfortable ones, such as anger.

Women in particular are cultured to bottle anger, to stuff it down, to repress it. Because anger isn’t “nice.” The problem with that is it establishes a pattern or habit of repressing other feelings, also. That’s a pretty lonely existence, when no one knows how you feel.

Like Rumi, Margaret recognises the benefit of welcoming what normally we might regard as unwelcome or unmanageable feelings. She says:

“Anger properly channelled is the energy to transform your life.” 

So then, how do you channel it?

According to her, when we tap on meridian points and voice our anger, “we honour the anger because truly it is honouring us! We honour what it tells us, that we deserve better than that, that it is justified. Voicing and validating the anger with EFT will greatly enhance releasing it, because we don’t want to get to anger and then stay stuck there. And… tapping while ranting is productive!”

Buddhism has a similar approach.

Contrary to what we might imagine about practising Nichiren Buddhism, it isn’t required to be in a well-balanced and peaceful mood before chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Actually it’s far better to sit down and chant in whatever mood you’re in. Because, as I discussed last week in The Facts and Fiction of Life, the way you feel will change as you raise your life condition through the practice.

And after all, you have to admit something – to let it in, or welcome it – to be able to transform it. Denial is just more stuffing it down inside, and that will have negative repercussions of some sort at some time. Remember that Mystic Law of Causality?

Back to Margaret Lynch: “As [anger] ‘comes down’ and you feel a more balanced perspective, you can ask yourself this important question, ‘What is all this anger calling me to do in my life right now?’ Just as importantly, notice how much energy is flowing through your body… This is the energy you need to put your foot down or set a boundary or take a huge step up – to take the action you need to take to transform your life!”

In other words, to paraphrase Rumi (if I may be so bold!): Appreciate whatever comes up in you; it’s in your life for you to transform it into “some new delight.”

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash