I came across this late yesterday afternoon, and it has to be amongst one of my favorite pieces to read and share...I love her work, as I do Khalil Gibran and many others...however...I also wanted to share this with you;

Sometimes I feel, that things are being put in front of us, to give us answers to things that may plague us from within...or even to shake us up, and bring us back...when we have lost ourselfs in some way...it can be something very small, and to others meaningless as reading an old long forgotten poem...that brought back a memory thru a familiar scent etc....I know you understand what I am saying...well this is happening to me more and more again, it started late last year...
I have been innessled in a phase of my existance that seems to be a metaphor of some sort...like a catipillar cocooning itself to finally become a Butterfly...the seeming death of one to give birth to another...however consider that all energy can bring with it memory...so it happend in a way again yesterday...

I share with you the piece I read on a friends page here, that made me go into one of my folders...and search for it since I have had it for years...I read it again and again...and then realized just how much I have become someone that I dont truly know anymore...and for what reason I asked myself...
once I answered the question within my own being...I must say now, I TRULY NEED TO SNAP THE HELL OUT OF IT....lol, being a cocoon is one thing...but not breaking free to ever fly again is another...
So here is the Piece...Called "The Invitation"...I am sure a lot of you know it well...and if not...ENJOY...pay attention and take to heart...and never ever setle...for anything!

PS...the pic is me eactly 4 years ago...before I kinda got lost...into a maze of confusion, and choices that seem to have not been wise...yet...understanding that whatever we do, has it's own intend!
 

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder

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 hearts 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 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, or 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.

I want to know if you can be faithful 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 life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine, and still stand on the edge of a 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 for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are, 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.

May 1994