307. process over product
Find something that allows you to be you. It doesn’t necessarily have to be something you love or are even good at. For instance, you can be terrible at painting, but the process of applying paint to a canvas provides a place to pour out the expression of your thoughts or feelings. You don’t need to possess any level of skill because it’s more about the process than the product. It isn’t about creating something tangible to be sold or hung in appreciation, it’s simply about the activity that gives you the freedom to interact with the world without judgement.
247. the guest house
The 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’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.
— Rumi
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Each new day invites chaos into our lives. We know it’s coming, yet instead of welcoming the “violent sweep,” we guard against its reckoning. No matter whether that life is actually working for us or not, it’s familiar so we establish routines and habits to mitigate any disruption and hold on to that way of life as tightly as we can. Yet, we forget that the universe was created out of chaos. All the subsequent beauty, love and grace that we see came out of a time where things were disrupted. Just imagine what we could be missing by trying to guard against the chaos so intently.