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.
Rumi’s Guest House could be the SoulCollage® anthem since SoulCollage® allows one to connect with the myriad, fascinating and contradictory aspects of one’s self. SoulCollage® is a profound, playful and accessible collaging process that can lead to tremendous insight and depth experiences. Seena Frost developed the process. Full information is available on the very generous website. SoulCollage.com.
I was introduced to the process in 2010 at a daylong workshop and was immediately hooked. A year later I took the facilitators’ training from Seena. I now have 144 cards, which I use almost daily, as a way of dialoguing with the deeper self.
Here’s an example of a card– Reaching Out — along with the journaling format I use to begin the dialogue process with the images. Here’s a description of a surprising insight resulting from making a card.
I facilitate cardmaking groups monthly at Mercy Retreat Center, Auburn. http://www.mercycenter.org/ongoing-series You can also see my facilitator profile or look for upcoming workshops here.
An Artist In His Studio, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1630, courtesy of the Getty Museum
The lines of poetry above are from The Guest House, the Essential Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks, Castle Books, New Jersey, 1997