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...
...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...
...I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence..."

I don't want to reprint someone else's work here, but you can find "The Invitation" by Oriah Mountain Dreamer (I know, the name can be a bit too much), right here.

It is one of my favorite pieces of writing, along with Max Ehrmann's Disiderata. I like it because it is beautifully written, but also because I struggle with it. Can anyone really be all that? When I was younger, I would have said definitely, but now, I find myself "shriveling" more often than I would like. At the same time, it is invigorating each time I read it. Like when you enter a room full of people dancing, and no matter how bad you are, the energy in the room gets you moving and flowing to the music. So I keep the link to "The Invitation" in my favorites bar, click on it several times a year, and remind myself in which direction I want to move.