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 ~

“ When a significant relationship in your life ends, allowing a ceremonial time of reflection can assist in placing the experience in the context of a larger life lesson. There are many situations in which the end of a relationship is a catalyst for movement toward intense growth and deeper spiritual connection. Completing a healing ceremony can be very simple and still be amazingly effective.”

When I was single, my friends and I had a Christmas tradition. Every year we decorated a Christmas tree together for our apartment. We would bake gingerbread men & decorate them with colored frosting to look like all of our friends from our summer shore house. Then we would hang them on the tree. We shaped one gingerbread cookie like a tombstone & wrote the name of any guys that we had dated that year that had dumped us or vice versa. We called it “the dead boyfriend cookie”.

Jill has chosen a different ex-boyfriend tradition, choosing to burn the photos of her ex-boyfriends with the aid of family or friends to honor the end of her relationship.

Taylor Swift would approve.

When I started watching the UN Security Council vote on a no-fly zone over Libya tonight, my first thought was, “that’s so cute - they sound just like the Republic Senate in Star Wars.” duh!