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 matter to 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.

I want to know if you have touched the center of your sorrow, if you have 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 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, or to remember the limitations of being human.

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day.

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 a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done.

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 interests 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, Indian Elder

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

~Albert Einstein

“Good therapy is educational, and good education is therapeutic”

A great quote by therapist and practitioner of  Transactional Analysis, Dr. Muriel James.

Here is a great example of someone who follows their intuition – from a Q&A by the CRAVE Company with entrepreneur Raquel Lozano:

What tip would you give women who are starting a business?
Make sure it’s something you really believe in. Follow your first gut instinct and then flesh it out later. Exercise caution when taking advice and remember: Ultimately the final decision is yours.

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space.  In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.”

– Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” Albert Einstein

“Doubt means don’t”

~Oprah Winfrey

1. Will this choice propel me toward an inspiring future or will it keep me stuck in the past?
2. Will this choice bring me long term fulfillment or will it bring me short term gratification?
3. Am I standing in my own power or am I trying to please another?
4. Am I looking for what’s right, or am I looking for what’s wrong?
5. Will this choice add to my life force, or will it rob me of my energy?
6. Will I use this situation as a catalyst to grow and evolve or will I use it to beat myself up?
7. Does this choice empower me or dis-empower me?
8. Is this an act of self-love or self-sabotage?
9. Is this an act of faith or an act of fear?
10 Am I choosing from my Divinity or am I choosing from my humanity?

What every human being wants to know:
Do you see me?
Did you hear me?
Did what I say mean anything to you?
~Oprah Winfrey

“You are unique, just like everyone else!”

-(bumper sticker, source unknown)