Finding self-love and peace through acceptance inspired by “The Invitation” – by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
We’re in week two of our Shine New Year Challenge and our focus this week is on self-auditing and planning a path to self-love through presence and acceptance. (we spent week one on the fundamentals of nutrition, exercise and decreasing/eliminating alcohol). We started today with gratitude and then each participant did a self-audit on where they are in their life and how they felt about themselves. Many women felt there was still quite a way to go before they could truly love themselves. They saw this journey as pivotal to life well lived.
When we delved deeper, we found that we all believed that self-love is rooted in acceptance. Focusing on what we can control, doing everything we can to ensure we achieve success and fulfilment within our control and surrendering, letting go of what we can’t control. This combined with living true to our values and purpose will ensure self-love and self-acceptance. It will pave the way for true peace. When you are at peace with life, we all believed we were truly living. Presence was our other goal.
We aspired to accept the invitation as written by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.
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, be realistic, 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 everyday. 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.
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
