Happy Friday!
I don’t know about you, but I love receiving invitations.
Invitations to fun gatherings, experiences, play dates. Invitations to weddings on beautifully designed paper that arrive by mail. Invitations via phone calls for spontaneous coffees with friends or emergency girl nights.
And then there is another type of invitation. One that doesn’t always show up via the mail or phone or email. And it’s not necessarily an invitation to show up somewhere at a specific date or time at all. Rather it’s an invitation to simply show up. Period.
This week I’ve been in beautiful Tofino, British Columbia, attending the Dovetail Summit for female entrepreneurs, masterfully curated by my good friend Alexis Dean.
And on the back of the program and schedule, she shared her favourite poem, The Invitation.
And so I am going to share it with you now. (Apologies if it’s a little deep for a Friday afternoon… but I invite you to – pun intended – to read and be open to what it may mean to you.)
The Invitation
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 centre 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
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 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 at 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 centre 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.
~ Oriah Mountain Dreamer
So this week I invite you.
Instead of waiting for permission to fully show up, to share your ideas, to take that first step, know you already have the invitation.
I invite you to dream. To try. To fail. To fly. To do it right. To do it wrong. To be real. To be brave.
I invite you to throw out old beliefs and stories that are no longer serving you. And I invite you to try on new thoughts, new ideas, new possibilities.
I invite you to be grateful. To be imperfect. To be scared and hopeful and trusting all at the same time.
I invite you to be who you are, where you are, with all of your gifts and talents and flaws and idiosyncrasies and questions and curiosities.
You’re invited. All of you. To attend the best party or event or playdate you’ve ever experienced.
And when you arrive in all your glory, let me know how it feels. I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Carol
LOOOOOOVE this one!! The timing couldn’t be better. It’s sometimes hard to explain why I have no interest in visiting with humans sometimes. But I realized that I have zero patience for conversations that avoid depth. I find them exhausting. I realize that it’s up to me to be brave and push for deeper conversation. But I find this to be a huge challenge…and not much fun. So I end up alone….a lot…and then judging myself for not being social.
Oh Angie I am so happy to hear this poem resonated with you! If you are a deep person – which you are – it is hard not to want to go beneath the surface… please don’t judge yourself, be brave and push for deeper conversation! Anyone would be so lucky 😘
I so can relate 🙏 and found this poem to be a great reminder of being willing to show up more fully as myself. Heres to daring and dancing wildly 🤗
Cheers to you showing up even more fully as yourself… and yes to dancing wildly! You’re a great example :-).
Oh my! How powerful. So many parts resonate with me. Reading I felt such feelings stir up inside ….”I want to know if you can sit with pain….” Trying to name the feelings I’m experiencing……such energy, overwhelming in a good way…..
Indeed it is a powerful poem – and glad to hear so many parts resonated with you. Especially as you are someone who fiercely shows up in the world, and has sat with her fair share of pain… may you continue to feel it all – as that is how you will continue to truly touch and help others.