While I have learned many things in my life so far, one thing that I have truly learned about life – both through my own experience and that of others – is that life is truly full of many things.
Life is full of both beauty and pain. The world will break your heart, yet you have the opportunity to heal it. This will happen again and again – if you allow it to. There is something about embracing both the rupture and repair that can promote so much growth – if you are willing to embrace the pain that may present itself in the process. Allowing yourself to experience both; the pain and the pleasure, is truly the only way to live fully. Running from your fears, or taking the easy road will only lead you right back to where you started in attempt to learn the lesson yet again, only this time you may take the risk you need to take and endure the pain you may need to endure in order to truly live and feel alive. It is very true that we are never truly alone, though it may feel like it at times. In essence we are deeply connected to that which we create… What are you creating in your life right now?
To live life fully means to embrace the hard parts and the amazing parts every single day. Someone who has done a lot of work in this realm is Oriah Mountain Dreamer. I first came across her work a while back and was immediately impacted by it. Oriah, amongst many things, is a story teller. She has written several books, one is which is titled “The Invitation”. She explores how we can each become the person we are truly meant to be at our core. Additionally she explores how we can create this meaning with other people in this world as well – if we allow ourself too. Her work is fierce and she writes with much intensity and truth. Overall, Oriah’s words encourage all of us to be brutally honest, yet also kind towards our “selves” and the many strengths and areas of weakness we may possess.
In the work I do, I am honoured and consider myself incredibly fortunate to witness the many people day after day who take a risk to become who they truly are. This is not always an easy road or process as there may be some hurt and pain in the process, but the end result is always worth it.
Listed below is a poem from Oriah’s book “The Invitation”. I invite you to read it in its entirety and gently, without judgment, notice or observe what comes up for you in the process.
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, be realistic, 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.
