Boomerang

I start my day of with acknowledgments of myself, how great life is, full of abundance, where everything comes together. Last night I had a terrific time going to salsa lesson, flowed with staying for a group dinner, meeting new people, and closed of last night with an enrollment conversation about Meet up, Landmark, and Wisdom. I will be bringing Tom to my Monday night Living Life Passionately class - he's heard a lot about Landmark and wants to see what it's all about.

His reciprocal acknowledgment of me is sending me this poem by Oriah. He felt the enrollment conversation had placed him in the middle of this:

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 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 itor 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 usto be carefulto be realisticto 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 lifefrom 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 meand 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.

*********

What I create in my community comes back to me like a boomerang, and for that I'm blessed. I started my day by acknowledging Tom and Tim for their being contribution in playing full out in being great in the world.