Hostmanship on three stages

Hostmanship is enacted on three stages, and each stage is interconnected with the others.

The first stage: Welcoming others. This is everything we think, say and do that makes the people who we don't have a close and clear relationship with, feel welcome. This could be strangers, temporary customers, visitors or people we have just briefly met. Welcoming others is not the same thing as welcoming everything people say and do. Hostmanship is saying no to things that create conflict, xenophobia, hostility and prejudice.

 The second stage: Welcoming each other. This is when Hostmanship focuses on the people we live close to or work with. This could be family, friends or colleagues, but it could also be people that share the same living space, i.e. a town, a province or a country. If we can't welcome each other, we probably won't be able to welcome anybody else.

The third stage: Welcoming yourself. The true source of good Hostmanship is being able to welcome yourself. Being able to welcome your thoughts, your insights, your self-esteem and your self-confidence. Being able to look at yourself in the mirror and see your own value, see that you have something to share. Welcoming and accepting your feelings. Listening and trusting your body's signals and daring to express them. Welcoming and respecting your body: work it, feed it and rest it; keep it in shape. These are things that clearly affect our mind and the Hostmanship we practise. The shorter the distance between ourselves and other people, the better the Hostmanship.

It is possible to see a stranger as a friend we don't yet know. It is possible to see a colleague as someone who, just like ourselves, sometimes does fantastic things, but sometimes does the opposite. It is possible to see a guest in the same way, based upon what ties us together more than what separates us. We are all part of the same humanity, with both good and slightly less good sides. With Hostmanship as the starting point, we are vastly improving the situation for a true meeting, beyond our apparent differences. Seeing and respecting each other, first and foremost because we are humans, is the ideal basis for real togetherness. How then can we not welcome people?