Woman

Six60 - Someone To Be Around (Red Bull Studio Live Session)

Do you have a minute for Pure Genius?

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children.. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly..

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

The questions raised:

*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*Do we stop to appreciate it?

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.

How many other things are we missing?

Carl Jung and Idleness

"Were it not for the leaping and twinkling of
the soul," said psychologist Carl Jung, "human beings would rot away in
their greatest passion, idleness." To that edgy observation I would add
this corollary: One of the greatest and most secret forms of idleness
comes from being endlessly busy at unimportant tasks. If you are way too
wrapped up in doing a thousand little things that have nothing to do with
your life's primary mission, you are, in my opinion, profoundly idle. All the
above is prelude for the climactic advice of this week's horoscope, which
goes as follows: Give everything you have to stimulate the leaping and
twinkling of your soul.

Yeasayer-Crazy (Seal cover)

The soul that can speak through the eyes can also kiss with a gaze."
~ Gustavo Adolfo Becquer ♥

Be Content

“Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”

Muse

Lao Tzu quotes (Chinese taoist Philosopher, founder of Taoism, wrote "Tao Te Ching" (also "The Book of the Way"). 600 BC-531 BC)

Gandhi’s top 10

by Paulo Coelho on August 31, 2011

I came across a blog that listed Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World.

1. Change
“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”
“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”

2. Control.
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

3. Forgiveness
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

4. Action.
“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

5. The present moment.
“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

6. Everyone is human.
“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

7. Persist.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

8. Goodness.
“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”
“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”

9. Truth
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”

10. Development.
“Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”

Measuring love

by Paulo Coelho on November 19, 2011

‘I’ve always wanted to know if I was capable of loving my wife as much as you love yours,’ said the journalist Keichiro to my publisher Satoshi Gungi over supper one night.

‘There is nothing else but love,’ came the reply. ‘It is love that keeps the world turning and the stars in their spheres.’

‘I know. But how can I know if my love is big enough?’

‘Ask yourself if you give yourself fully or if you flee from your emotions, but do not ask yourself if your love is big enough, because love is neither big nor small, it is simply love.
‘You cannot measure a feeling the way you measure a road.
‘If you do that, you will start comparing your love with what others tell you of theirs or with your own expectations of love.
‘That way, you will always be listening to some story, rather than pushing your emotions to their limits.’

Ed Sheeran - Small Bump (Acoustic)

Rumi once said:

“Let the beauty you love be what you do.
There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.”

Tin Sparrow - Bricks

Practice loving yourself.....
this is the biggest and most important investment you can make with your life....

Angus and Julia Stone - Say it right

Angus & Julia Stone - For You (LIVE)

The Most Beautiful Heart Story

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.

A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed. It truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, “Why, your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars. It had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing. The people stared. ¬ “How can he say his heart is more beautiful?”

The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”

“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love – I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared.”

“Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges – giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?”

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect, young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.

The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his.

They embraced and walked away side by side.

Unending love

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it’s age old pain,
It’s ancient tale of being apart or together.
As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,
Clad in the light of a pole-star, piercing the darkness of time.
You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.
At the heart of time, love of one for another.
We have played along side millions of lovers,
Shared in the same shy sweetness of meeting,
the distressful tears of farewell,
Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you
The love of all man’s days both past and forever:
Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.
The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours -
And the songs of every poet past and forever.

"Cloud Nine"

Shadows on the water,
From a memory that turns inside,
From the last time I saw you happier,
Than I've seen you, than I've seen you in a long time.

And all these faces, oh how they adore you
With every blessing, every strength of the storm.
And it seems to me it all worked out so different
Funny how distance and time they don't change at all.

So may your worries, may your worries
Never fall too loud.
And may you stay here, may you stay here
Happy in your own skin,
On the ninth cloud.

Cold to every warning,
Oh these ships that passed through, years before
And bolder now, than a brand new morning,
With the sun on your face, the bruise and the breaks of these careless arms.

So hold your body, hold your body
Strong in these winds that blind
And may I find you, may we sit together when we're grey and old,
On cloud nine.

This life will move you with every step outside,
It's alright, it's alright
My arms are open wide for you
This life will move you as graceful as the tide
It's alright, it's alright
Loosen the fears that fears that bind you.
Loosen the fears that fears that bind you

Benjamin Franklin quotes

“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?”

Angus & Julia Stone - You're the one that I want - Rolling Session#12

"When you have come to the edge of all the light you have
And step into the darkness of the unknown
Believe that one of the two will happen to you
Either you'll find something solid to stand on
Or you'll be taught how to fly!”

Richard Bach

Brett Whitely

"If you want to be an artist you go to an art supple house and get some ink and some paper and pens and a calligraphy brush and charcoal and aim at virtually whatever is in front of you. The subject matter is not that important. And then try and cheat and deceive and lie and exaggerate and most particularly distort as absolutely, as extremely as you can. And after some 6 months or a year or usually after a period of intense frustration you will see something that you truly have never seen before and that is the beginning of yourself. And that heralds the beginning of difficult pleasure."

Ben Howard - Diamonds

"We're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone- but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy"
Walter Anderson.

Be Who You Are,The Best You Can Be

"Certainly you can inspire others with your words. Yet you can inspire other people even more with the way you live. By skilfully arguing and presenting your beliefs, you can convince others to consider adopting those beliefs. Yet you can express those beliefs even more convincingly by consistently applying them to your life. With what you say, you can get some attention. With what you do, again and again, you can build real and lasting credibility. If you wish to lift others up, the first step is to bring your own life to a higher level. Then you can bring along as many other people as you wish. It's not selfish to follow your own authentic dreams and to create a life for yourself that's the best you can imagine. For in doing so, you also create outstanding opportunities along the way to be of real, meaningful service to others. Your life has unique and immense value. Share that value far and wide by living your dreams and making your life a true inspiration" Unknown.

Fumbling for Matches in the Dark

“Because, that’s the thing about love, really. No one will love you how you want to be loved, they’ll love you in the only ways they know how. Life throws everyone down drastically different paths so how can we expect everyone to love in the same way? The person you’ll spend your lifetime with will love you in their way and you’ll love in yours, and maybe you’ll meet in the middle and it’ll last. None of us know what we’re doing, you see, we’re just fumbling for matches in the dark. If you’re lucky, you might eventually just strike the right one.”

Asa Questions

A Note From The Universe...

Someone once said,
"No pain, no gain."
And so it became their reality.

Bummer, huh?

“Everything is energy and that's all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.” Albert Einstein

Dakini Grace Blog

To the dearly departed


So you have passed from this world.

The world of sand between your toes and sunshine on your face.

The world of touch – of hugs and kisses, of holding hands and stroking hair.

The world of cherries and berries, and mangoes which drip down your face each time you bite in. This tactile, sensuous world you enjoyed with such appetite.

And yet, how does the proverb go? This too will pass.

And so your time has come. To pass through. To pass beyond.

What awaits you now, I cannot know. For this journey is yours and yours alone.

What I do know is this; I miss you. I miss your voice and your smile. I miss your eyes so kind. I miss your hugs and the times you told me you love me.

I do feel you around. Always I feel you. Your presence, your love, your protective energy.

And yet you are not here. In form. In this material world that seems so real, so solid, so distinct to me.

The sadness comes in noticing that absence.

It’s a sadness that extends beyond my own loss. It’s a sadness for others you’ve left behind. A sadness for the space you used to fill. And also, a sadness for you.

For if your death has taught me anything it is this; life is precious. Exquisite. Wondrous. More magical than Houdini, more joyous than the first bloom in Spring, more heart opening than holding a baby’s tiny hand on its first day on earth.

Your death reminds me that life is so big, so expansive, so extraordinary that we can’t take it all in.

It’s too much. And so we take it in bite size pieces.

You were one of my bite size pieces. You were life for me.

So I say thank you. Thank you for honouring us all with your life.

And thank you for honouring us with your death. For in death you teach us to savour every moment, to hug more, to smile more. To spend more time looking people in the eye and seeing them, really seeing them. You remind us that nothing is to be taken for granted, that everything is here for us to relish, to experience freshly with childlike wonder.

In reminding us of this, you do us great service. Your death becomes more than a transition, a passing beyond what is known. It becomes a contribution of immeasurable value.

You remind me to take each day more slowly. To stop rushing. To be still. To appreciate. To be grateful.

You remind us to honour every aspect of our own lives so that when we too pass, we might each say this; ‘I have lived with awareness, in the fullness of each moment, with a deep respect and gratitude for all that is.’

Namaste dear, dear departed.

“ I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my Love for Truth, and Truth rewarded me.”

"Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower" by Rainer Maria Rilke

Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.

letting go, letting go, letting go and then all that is left and all that ever will be, is, Love.

“What doesn’t bend breaks.”

Ani Difranco

“Sometimes the beauty is easy. Sometimes you don't have to try at all. Sometimes you can hear the wind blow in a handshake. Sometimes there's poetry written right on the bathroom wall.”




“Love was always the goal, and my point every step of the way was that nothing is wrong with love, no matter what flavor it comes in.”

“Change is the essence of life.Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”

Forgiveness

“Sincere forgiveness isn't coloured with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don't worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time.” ~ Sara Paddison

The Four Agreements

“1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.” — Miguel Ruiz

Rachel Naomi Remen

“Most people have come to prefer certain of life’s experiences and deny and reject others, unaware of the value of the hidden things that may come wrapped in plain and even ugly paper. In avoiding all pain and seeking comfort at all costs, we may be left without intimacy or compassion; in rejecting change and risk we often cheat ourselves of the quest; in denying our suffering we may never know our strength or our greatness.”

Abraham Hicks

“What it IS as simple as this. You’re interacting with one person, who could feel happier than they do. And you have the ability to see them as they really are. And hold your picture of who they are, so clearly in your own mind, that when they’re with you, they see it to.”
(Abraham,“If Child Patient Cannot Speak?”, Alaska Cruise 7/21/08, 1997-2009 Abraham-Hicks Publications)

Responsibility

It's 3:23 in the morning
and I'm awake
because my great great grandchildren
won't let me sleep
my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the planet was plundered?
what did you do when the earth was unravelling?

surely you did something
when the seasons started failing?

as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?

did you fill the streets with protest
when democracy was stolen?

what did you do
once
you
knew?

Drew Dellinger

Ashley Smith quotes

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”

Hermann Hesse

Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke.

Chuang Tzu:

“Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.”

Louise Brown you will be missed, earth angel, now an angel of true light.

"In the middle of winter I discovered that there was in me an invincible summer."

Daily Law of Attraction Quotation

What true patience is, is knowing that you want it and knowing that it's coming and actually enjoying the unfolding along the way. Understand that you never get it done. So you might as well be patient. You never get it done, because every time you want and receive, you also receive a new perspective from which to want. Life is a constant unfolding of new desires and then a constant alignment to those desires.
--- Abraham

There are no positives and there are no negatives.....for all is one.... when in full balance. Each is part of the whole. One does not exist without the other. Fear is the opposite of courage. Love is opposite of hate. One needs to choose how they wish to be, but also recognize and accept both sides of the coin and bring them to a balance.

Herman Hesse:

"You know quite well, deep within you, that there is only a single magic, single power, a single salvation... and that is called loving. Well, then, love your suffering. Do not resist it, do not flee from it. It is your aversion that hurts, nothing else.”

Kelee

When your head
no longer blocks your heart
the path to love
becomes clear.

- Ron W. Rathbun

Paulo Coelho

There was once a wave in the ocean, rolling along, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the swiftness of the breeze.
It smiled at everything around it as it made its way toward the shore.

But then, it suddenly noticed that the waves in front of it, one by one, were striking against the cliff face, being savagely broken to pieces.

‘Oh God!’ it cried. ‘My end will be just like theirs. Soon I, too, will crash and disappear!’

Just then another wave passing by saw the first wave’s panic and asked:
‘Why are you so anxious? Look how beautiful the weather is, see the sun, feel the breeze…’

The first wave replied:
‘Don’t you see? See how violently those waves before us strike against the cliff, look at the terrible way they disappear. We’ll soon become nothing just like them.’

‘Oh, but you don’t understand,’ the second wave said. ‘You’re not a wave. You’re a part of the ocean.’

Faith

In the middle of a storm, a pilgrim reaches an inn and the owner asks where he is going.

“I’m going to the mountains,” he answers.

“Forget it,” says the innkeeper, “it’s a risky climb, and the weather is awful.”

“But I’m going up,” answers the pilgrim.”It is my dream”.

“If my heart got there first, it will be easy to follow it with my body.”

More on Love

Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.

Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger,
Only to someone who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.

Stay close to any sounds that make you glad you are alive.

Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.
I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in the darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.

There are different wells within your heart.
Some fill with each good rain,
Others are far too deep for that

Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.

Even after all this time the sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me”

There is no pleasure without a tincture of bitterness.
.............................................................
Khwāja Šamsu d-Dīn Muḥammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, known by his pen name Hāfez (1325/26–1389/90)[1] was a Persian lyric poet.

Mary Oliver - The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate. Carl Jung

Nothing is static. Everything’s a mirror.-Blog By Dakini Grace

At some point in the last year or two, I started paying close attention to the people who were showing up in my life. I realised that their presence wasn’t mere coincidence and that they weren’t showing up out of luck (good or bad). They were showing up because of me. Because of my thoughts and actions.

This is true for friends, romantic interests, colleagues, and neighbours. Our experience of others is always a reflection of our inner world.

This is why people can tell wildly different stories about the same person. So often we hear and tell these different stories, and yet we seem to have this notion that there is a ‘true’ version of each of us. We assume that our understanding of someone is an accurate reflection of who they ‘really’ are.

You know when people say ‘oh she just doesn’t see that about him’ or ‘I know you think they’re nice, but I’ve seen differently’. Well, guess what? You saw what you put out. There is no definitive person standing in front of you, with set personality traits and characteristics.

There is only a reflection of your perspective at a particular point in time. It’s a bit like the ocean. Initially, it looks constant and unchanging. But when you take the time to look more deeply you see that in fact, the ocean is always evolving and changing, that the currents are constantly shifting, the temperature rising and falling, and the water that makes up the ocean is ever moving.

People are like the ocean.

Ever changing and evolving….

“Some things you’re not letting happen right now because the timing isn’t perfect for you. Some you’re not letting happen because you are very aware of where you are. But all things, as they are happening, are happening in perfect order. And if you will relax and begin saying, ‘Everything in its perfect time. Everything is unfolding. And I’m enjoying where I am now, in relationship to where I’m going. Content where I am and eager for more,’ that is the perfect vibrational stance.” –Abraham

“Better to have a clean heart and soul and produce nothing than be an asshole and conquer the world.”

Very little grows on jagged rock.

Be ground, be crumbled.

So that flowers will come up where you are.

You've been stony for too many years.

Try something different.

Surrender

-Rumi-

Thoughts Become Things....Choose the Good Ones!

Let your Light Shine!

irish blessing

“May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day. May songbirds serenade you every step along the way. May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue. And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.”

Admiration is the daughter of ignorance.

Everything is Waiting for You

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

are you wondering where you are and what your doing?

guess what!... you,right now, are exactly where your ment to be, learning all the right things, feeling all of the right joys and sorrows that have alined perfectly just for you, in this moment..you dont even need to think or worry... can't you see... it's simple...it's like everything that has gone before you is a thread,it has been apart of this knitted blanket,that is your life...and where you are now is a piece in the woven magic that will create further patches in your blanket...your life.

surrender,breathe and enjoy the tangabel and mysteriousness of it all.

Self Portrait

It doesn't interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.

-- David Whyte

Change

"It is not the strongest of the species who survive, not the most intelligent, but those who are the most adaptive to change." - Charles Darwin

The Invitation

Oriah Mountain Dreamer
Canadian Teacher and Author

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.

Remember that if you're an open channel, you lack nothing. Love flows through you and out to others.