Poems

The Guest House

by: Rumi

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.

Addiction is a brain disease. It doesn't mean you are a bad person.

David E. Smith MD, Daniel G. Amen MD

Human Bill of Rights

[Guidelines for Fairness and Intimacy]

1. I have the right to be treated with respect.
2. I have the right to say NO.
3. I have the right to make mistakes.
4. I have the right to reject unsolicited advice or feedback.
5. I have the right to negotiate for change.
6. I have the right to change my mind or my plans.
7. I have a right to change my circumstances or course of action.
8. I have the right to have my own feelings, beliefs, opinions, preferences, etc.
9. I have the right to protest sarcasm, destructive criticism, or unfair treatment.
10. I have a right to feel angry and to express it non-abusively.
11. I have a right to refuse to take responsibility for anyone else’s problems.
12. I have a right to refuse to take responsibility for anyone’s bad behaviour.
13. I have a right to feel ambivalent and to occasionally be inconsistent.
14. I have a right to play, waste time and not always be productive.
15. I have a right to occasionally be childlike and immature.
16. I have a right to complain about life’s unfairness and injustices.
17. I have a right to occasionally be irrational in safe ways.
18. I have a right to seek healthy and mutually supportive relationships.
19. I have a right to ask friends for a modicum of help and emotional support.
20. I have a right to complain and verbally ventilate in moderation.
21. I have a right to grow, evolve and prosper.

Taken from Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving
By Pete Walker

What renders a relationship bad or good is not the depth of disharmony, but the presence or absence of repair.

Terrence Real

Their marriage was on the brink not because of the acute crisis of Phil’s infidelity but rather a lifetime of disrepair. Their garden had gone to seed through years of inattention – not from implosion so much as simple rot.

Terrence Real