The Invitation

If doesn’t interest me what you do for living, I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are, I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon, I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened to life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from the fear of further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or you own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with your joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic or to remember the limitations of being a human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true, I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy! I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you source your life from its presence.  I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon “YES”.

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.  I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer…Indian Elder 1994

When I first read this many years ago it resonated so deeply with me. It touched my heart and my soul  in such a way like never before...and  even today I am moved to tears by the power the words evoke in me.

I relish it, I embrace it, I sometimes struggle with it and I am in awe of the message....  I am reminded of my desire to become my authentic self.....fearless, courageous,  selfless, joyous, spontaneous, harmonious and the REAL ME ....the person I have been  invited to become.