Rumi – tierneycreates

I am busy working on my Happy Ending quilt top from my recent post, What’s on the Design Wall. I hope my next post will be to show you the completed quilt top (fingers crossed). For now, here is something from the tierneycreates archives…

The Guest House (originally posted June 27, 2016)

Happy Monday to you and I hope you have a wonderful week filled with Inspiration, Creativity and Joy.

As I mentioned in last’s post “Listening and Reading“, currently I am listening to the audiobook The Here and Now Habit by Hugh Byrne. This book focuses on using “mindfulness” to break unwanted habits.

During my walk on Sunday with this audiobook, I listened to the author discuss one of my favorite poems by Rumi (Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī – a 13th century Persian poet and scholar) – The Guest House.

The author discusses this poem in relation to finding peace in dealing with unwanted thoughts and feelings. What I love about the work of Rumi is that it can be interpreted in so many ways and the meaning can be personalized to what you needed to hear/read at that moment in your life.

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.

-Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī

Photo credit: Domagoj T. – freeimages.com

Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s latest musings at schnauzersnips.wordpress.com/blog

Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s blog on the Schnauzer Snips page for her latest insights from a 16 inch tall person’s point of view…

Words…

Time to continue my series on my sources of creative inspiration. In my last post on creative inspiration, Creative Inspiration: Organization?!?!?, I explored how getting organized makes me feel inspired creatively.

Recently I have been thinking about how written or spoken words inspire me creatively.

Not just any words. The “words” that inspire me are motivational words, inspirational sayings, words of truth, insights into the human struggle, words with meaning – words that matter.

The Spoken Word

In previous posts I discussed some of my favorite nonfiction audiobooks (see my series “Life is Nonfiction”) that I enjoy listening to while walking or working on a quilt. Most of these books are in the “self-help” or “self-improvement” genre and they inspire me to be bold and take chances creatively with my art or with my tierneycreates business.

Recently I listened to some very inspirational audiobook with lots of “great words” to inspire me:

Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work, and Never Get Stuck by Jon Acuff
The Tools: Transform Your Problems Into Courage, Confidence, and Creativity by Phil Stulz and Barry Michels

I continue to be addicted to self-improvement books and they inspire my creativity. When a book encourages me to be brave and take risks, I translate this into my work on art quilts or new ideas for tierneycreates. These books reinforce what I already know deep in my spirit but somehow do not implement in day to day life.

Quotes

There are some wonderful quotes that stick with me and encourage me to continue on my creative artistic journey:

“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” – Henry Van Dyke

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu

“Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” – Rumi

All these quotes I have posted in my house somewhere: in a frame, on a bulletin board, or in a piece of wall art. I feel like the words in these quotes are part of me. They make me feel safe to do my art and to go where I want to go creatively.

One of the quotes is by Rumi. Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī was a 13th century Persian poet and scholar. I am currently listening to an audiobook, Pure Water – Poetry of Rumi and I want to close this post about inspirational words with one of Rumi’s poems, 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.