It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living

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"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

to be realistic to 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."

By Oriah / Mountain Dreaming,

from the book The Invitation