Thank you for being here.
Shoshana Weinberg,
I'm here.
I'm honored and grateful that you've decided to show up.
Thank you for allowing me to be here with you so that we can find some peace and maybe some inspiration together.
Thank you for your trust.
I know you're in a process now of being aware of the present and accepting all that's past.
Let's take this moment to call to the divine power of our higher being so that we can connect together in this mindset.
I would love to share this poem by Oraya Mountain Dreamer called The Invitation.
This poem has been with me for quite a while and I wanted to share it with you because it has inspired me to do better,
To be better.
So here it goes.
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've touched the center of your own sorrow.
If you've 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 that 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 and your own.
If you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you from the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful,
Be realistic,
Remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you're 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's not pretty every day and if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live without failure,
Live with failure,
Yours and mine,
And stand at the edge of a lake and shout to the silver sliver of the moon,
Yes!
It doesn't interest me to know where you live and how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,
Worry,
Bruise 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've 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 those empty moments.
