Mike O'Hagan on the web since 1996

it's my time......

A guide for life

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
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 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 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 its 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 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.
 

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

copyright © 1999 by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. See here to buy Oriah's book The Invitation.

A guide for life; truisms that matter on free  pictures that inspire