bettybruises

"It doesnt 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 hearts longing. It doesnt interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive. It doesnt interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of you own sorrow, if you have been opened by lifes 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 a human. It doesnt interest me if the story youre 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. 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, and if you can source your life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "YES!" It doesnt 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 for the children. It doesnt interest me who you are, 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 doesnt 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."

-The Invitation- Oriah Mountain Dreamer


I read this and thought, this is what I mean when I say "most people you meet are only 25% alive, or if you're lucky 50% alive, I want to meet those who are 100% alive"
This has been a saying I have had to clarify for years, and this excerpt is what I mean by that.


Practice was cancelled agin due to rain tonight which makes me sad, I really wanted to skate and wish we had an indoor space to practice. But I opened a bottle of this:

and am working on the new painting I started Sunday