[mistiis]

"If we are strong enough to be weak enough, we are given a wound that never heals. It is the gift that keeps the heart open."

"We are afraid of pain--emotional and physical--and we want to believe that there is a way around experiencing our own sorrow, that we can avoid the pain and lose nothing of the fullness and joy of living. Its simply not true."

"But I do breathe, allowing the sorrows of the world to break my heart over and over, letting the joys make it whole again. Knowing how to do this, finding the courage to take another breath and not close my heart to myself or the world where there is pain, is what I seek to learn--how to love well."

This is out of the book "THE INVITATION" by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. I recommend it highly. The poem that inspired the book is very beautiful as well. Do you remember Alffe? You posted it for me way back there.

I believe, Alffe, that that is what you have done, and are doing. It is very beautiful. And the rest of us are working at it.

[Doody]

((Mistiis))

Very beautiful. And I like this too...

"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?"
Thoreau

[Alffe]

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 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 faithlessand therefore 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 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.

[tamiloo]

My day is a little brighter because of this thread...love you all!!