The Invitation
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a 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 dream, 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 by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with 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, remember the limitations of being 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. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at 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 the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed 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~
This magnificent poem offers an invitation to every single one of us to "show up" in the universe.
She reminds us that we do not serve the universe by being small. Rather, we serve the universe by making the most out of our lives.
I discovered this poem a few years after it was published. Every line of it resonates with me on various levels. So I want to share it in case you may not have read it, with just a few of the highlights for me personally.
The first line pulled me in immediately “It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living”.
I remember being on holiday in Peru, I had given up work due to CFS, and people were asking who did what for a living. I was already feeling anxious at what I would respond with.
Then someone else in the group said that it simply was not relevant! I’ve taken her lead ever since.
Simon Sinek also spoke to this “I define myself by who I am, not what I do”.
For me, before CFS, my identity was intertwined with my work. So the fall was greater for me when I had to give it all up.
It presents you with an identity crisis.
I then baulked at identifying with much else thereafter.
Even now I believe labels to only be helpful within certain situations and certain social circles. It turns out the author also had CFS.
“I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.”
Hurt people hurt people, the bullied can often become the bully. This has ever been present raising my kids and trying to keep them open, despite the pain but it resonates with all of us.
How people behave in adversity can be telling.
I love this quote:
“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”
― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
“I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.”
Life can be hard! The small joys are what get you through – not necessarily the big stuff!
“I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘Yes.’”
There is no failure, only feedback. I talk to the moon A LOT.
“I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.”
I NEED my own company. I am an introvert. However not everyone can, and not everyone likes their own company.
But I’ll leave you with this thought.
There is a vast difference between solitude and loneliness, and if you can embrace your solitude, learn to be at peace in your own company, a new joy opens up to you.
