I know this is more of a poem then a quote....but someone did say it all once...plus its one of my fav top 3. It speaks what my soul truly wants..
"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 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