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
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
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.

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An Affirmation for Becoming a Truly Loving Individual

From Lynne Namka’s
Inspiration and Transformation Newsletter
(14th of February, 2006)

My work is to keep striving for my growth and maturity, by examining my conflicts, values, expectations and neediness. My work is to understand how I limit myself by refusing to see that which is evident. My work is to let go of denial. I face those dark shadows within myself to find out who I truly am. I examine my need to clutch, cling, and hold fast to other people who are not right for me. My work is not to change another person to meet my own desires but to take responsibility for my own behaviour.

I watch how my expectations, desires and projections carry over to love relationships. I let go of my need to hold on to any person with whom I express unhealthy behaviour. My work is to open my heart beyond that which holds on. I let my old model of love, which has been unproductive for me fall away. I develop healthy communication skills, which will draw healthy people to me. I need only to seek and find my true loving Self.

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Maturity

"Maturity begins when we’re content to feel right about something without feeling the necessity to prove someone else wrong." Sydney J. Harris

"Maturity is the ability to do a job whether or not you are supervised, to carry money without spending it, and to bear an injustice without wanting to get even." Ann Landers

"Compassion for our parents is the true sign of maturity." Anais Nin

"It’s when you stop doing the stuff you have to make excuses for, and when you stop making excuses for the stuff you have to do." Marilyn vos Savant

"Maturity is reached the day we don’t need to be lied to about anything." Frank Yerby

Change

"We would rather be ruined than changed." W.H. Auden

"Before you’ll change, something important must be at risk." Richard Bach

"I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is one’s self." Aldous Huxley

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Imago ~ A New Way To Love