Journey to the Heart

ok so i know i can get pretty into quotes and finding the meaning for things...but hey that's just the way I am... Any who as everyone knows yoga is a huge part of my life and lately i am finding myself going several times a week...and to my joy a new instructor has started instructing at moksha: Kinndli (she is awesome! and has been taught by Baron Baptiste - the reason for my love of yoga)...any who at the end of her INTENSE classes she reads an excerpt from "Journey to the Heart" - it might just be that my mind is super clear after yoga and i appreciate it more...but none the less I find it very inspirational and true to life. I am heading to chapters tomorrow to pick up a copy!! I cant find the excerpt that she has read online but did find the following and enjoyed reading it, so of course i thought i would share.

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
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.

© Mountaindreaming, from the book "The Invitation"
(the author breaks the book into daily readings...which i love the idea of...i love starting or ending each day with something inspirational to read)