Reply With QuoteFunny, the first thing I thought of when I read your subject heading was The Invitation too. Reading it always leaves me inspired and energized like nothing else I've ever read.
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
Words to live by
Does anyone have words that mean so much to them that you strive to live by them? I have been influenced by a number of writers. Some spiritual, others not, who have helped me see beyond my own problems to try to live life as a better person.
One book is Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning". His insight into how people choose to respond to suffering has had a huge impact on me.
One special piece which I try to reread regularly is "The Invitation" by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. We had an excerpt of it read at our wedding. It was too long to read it all, but the stanzas that were most important to me still are.
This is it in entirety
I suppose it speaks to me of resilience and being true to oneself.
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 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 center 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
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 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
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 center 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.
What words to you strive to live by?
Registered User
Funny, the first thing I thought of when I read your subject heading was The Invitation too. Reading it always leaves me inspired and energized like nothing else I've ever read.
Registered User
Interesting.
I like to know what people are passionate about ... what makes their face light up, what makes them tick.
I was speaking with a former colleague, and I asked, "Tell me about yourself - what are you passionate about? other than your family, of course."
And he went on to break my heart, by telling me that he wasn't passionate about his family ...
The things he went on to talk about didn't make him light up, and weren't things in which beauty or uniqueness or life were found in ...
I never quite could look at him the same.
I like the meaning behind the poem.
I wonder what my answers would be ...
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
The book is a guide to working through the answers. It's quite powerful.
Registered User
thank you
Sent from my Galaxy with the barefoot princess covering me in kisses, so please forgive the mistakes
Bookmarks