The Invitation

Oriah Mountain Dreamer wrote ‘The Invitation' late one night after returning from a party. She was unsettled and disappointed with an evening that had been full of the usual social conversation. Her words from the book, The Invitation, describe the experience she had: "Restless, I sat down at my desk in the darkness and listened to the sounds around me diminish as the city settled into sleep. There in the quiet, with a street lamp casting a pale light into the room, I picked up my pen and wrote what I really wanted to say to the people I had met that evening, patterned on a writing exercise I had learned on a David Whyte workshop."

These words have touched and inspired countless people around the world to look at their lives and see if they are truly living from the source. I encourage you to do the same. Words like this are worth repeating.

With love and respect,

John

http://insearchofsimplicity.com/

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 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 shriveled and closed from the 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 accusations of betrayal and not betray your own soul; I want to know if you can be faithless and therefore be trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's 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 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