“What on earth is Xenia?” you ask. In my search for emotions, beginning with the letter X, I found the list to be rather limited. Good ol’ letter X and its interesting words! Let’s learn a new one, shall we?

From a standpoint of emotions, the meaning of xenia I’m working with here relates to the concept of hospitality to strangers. You’re being xenial when you extend kindness or hospitable gestures to strangers. Did you know that? This was a new one for me!

When I’m feeling xenial, I feel tenuous because I’m doing something new with someone I know very little about. As a person who trusts others cautiously at first, this is a brave endeavor for me. The most recent picture I have of this is inviting two women to join me at my fireplace upon my discovering they were each camping all by themselves. It impressed me; their hutzpah to camp on their own and wanted to celebrate that with them, so I invited them to join me around the campfire.

The purpose of this emotion is interesting to explore. I believe it helps me step out of my little box and expand my adventure repertoire. As SARK would say, “Invite someone dangerous to tea.” Executing this emotion deliberately, in the example above, allowed me to meet two new people and share the fellowship of women bravely living their dreams. When we act adventurously, we open doors to new possibilities (it did for me).

Perhaps you already understood xenia and its meaning, or maybe you learned about a new one today. In the spirit of feeling xenial, I offer you this opportunity to share your most recent experiments with extending hospitality to strangers. I want to hear your stories! Try something new day — extend a kindness to a stranger and then check in with your feelings and observe what happens.

Our feelings are fluid and color our life experiences…

If you would like to explore more feelings in the Stayin’ in Touch book, click here for more information.

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Image by laurelatimerO from Pixabay