The Northern Cardinals are in their nesting season right now.
They are famous for aggressively defending their territories during nesting season.
Today, a cardinal has posted itself outside one of our windows, and it keeps flying right up to the window, and attacking its reflection. It has mistakenly seen its own reflection as a threat, an intruder.
This is life, reflecting to me, what I do sometimes. When sadness, anxiety, frustration come up, from within, I sometimes see them as intruders, and I want to attack and banish them, to force them out.
If you have never read the poem The Guest House, by Rumi, you can see it here. It is definitely worth a read.
Rumi poetically describes how, every morning, there is a new arrival.
And that we might “meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.”
Invite them in? How radical would that be?
He goes on to say that we could choose to “be grateful for whatever comes.Because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”
I happen to agree with Rumi, that all of our emotions are important messengers, and that they have something important to tell us. It won’t serve us to dwell on them, but what if we welcome them, as honored guests, and find out the reason for their visit?
The cardinal wore itself out today, knocking on the window, before I could get out there to cover the window with paper. It is exhausting to fight ourselves.
I’m grateful for the visit from the cardinal today, because it reminds me how important it is to be kind and compassionate with myself, and to welcome all parts of myself, as if they are important guests. And, how important it is to give up the inner fight. It’s exhausting, and I can choose to drop the rope.
What would you like to welcome in, today?
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