Speaker 1: Hi everyone, Carly Taylor here for this week's My Joe Monday.
Speaker 1: So I'll be really honest with you. The last few
Speaker 1: weeks have been pretty tough. Some of you aware that
Speaker 1: Paul had open heart surgery and it's been quite a journey. It's,
Speaker 1: of course it's been quite a journey for him, but
Speaker 1: also for me and the kids. He's doing really, really
Speaker 1: well now, which is amazing. And so it was a
Speaker 1: challenging time in a very short space of time. And
Speaker 1: I came across this poem by pure chance. I had
Speaker 1: never heard it before. Some of you may have heard
Speaker 1: of the poet, but it really stopped me in my tracks,
Speaker 1: and its impact actually created this space for me to pivot,
Speaker 1: which is what I really needed to do. It's by
Speaker 1: Roomy Remy is a Persian poet Sufi mystic from the
Speaker 1: thirteenth century, which is just so amazing. And somehow this
Speaker 1: amazing human across centuries wrote down these words that really
Speaker 1: hit exactly where they needed to hit. So I'm going
Speaker 1: to read you the poem. It's called the guest House.
Speaker 1: This being human is a guest house every morning, and
Speaker 1: your arrival a joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary
Speaker 1: awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all.
Speaker 1: Even if there are a crowd of sorrows who violently
Speaker 1: sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each
Speaker 1: guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some
Speaker 1: new delight, the dark thought, the shame, the malice. Meet
Speaker 1: them at the door, laughing, and invite them in. Be
Speaker 1: grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as
Speaker 1: a guide from beyond. I sat with these words, and
Speaker 1: they made me realize something that while I was going
Speaker 1: through this sort of challenging time, that I'd really been
Speaker 1: resisting how I was feeling. And when life throws that
Speaker 1: sort of discomfort our way, which it inevitably will, whether
Speaker 1: it's stress or sadness or self doubt, our instinct is
Speaker 1: to fight it, to push it away, to distract ourselves,
Speaker 1: numb it, over analyze it, anything but not to feel it.
Speaker 1: And the more we resist, the heavier it can get.
Speaker 1: But what Rumy is saying is quite radical, and this
Speaker 1: is what amazes me. That is a thirteenth century poet,
Speaker 1: and it just shows that humans in the thirteenth century
Speaker 1: had the same struggles. Their thoughts and emotions as we
Speaker 1: do today. So Rumy is saying welcome it. Not because
Speaker 1: pain is fun and not because you want it, but
Speaker 1: because it's part of the deal. It's part of the
Speaker 1: deal of being human. And this being human is like
Speaker 1: a guest house. So some days joy knocks on the door,
Speaker 1: and other days it's grief barges in and flips you
Speaker 1: weled upside down. But every emotion, even the ugly ones,
Speaker 1: if you want to call them that, or the difficult ones,
Speaker 1: the uncomfortable ones, they come with something to teach us.
Speaker 1: And if we can stop resisting, when we allow these
Speaker 1: emotions to come and go, we stop being victims of them.
Speaker 1: They don't control us anymore. And that's what this poem
Speaker 1: gave me these past few weeks. It reminded me to
Speaker 1: stop fighting, stop resisting, stop over thinking, and just allow
Speaker 1: to feel it, to move through the emotions and trust that,
Speaker 1: just like every other emotion, it will pass. So this week,
Speaker 1: if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, take a step back
Speaker 1: and pause, take a deep breath, and instead of resisting,
Speaker 1: notice that urge to resist, Notice the emotion and allow
Speaker 1: them to come, let them go, and trust that each
Speaker 1: one is shaping you in ways that you might not
Speaker 1: see yet. Because when we stop resisting life, we can
Speaker 1: start truly living it. So I hope those insights have
Speaker 1: been valuable for you. I hope you have a great week,
Speaker 1: and I will catch you next week. See ya.