I want to know...
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
Native American Elder

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 your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are, I want to know if you can risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon, I want to know if you have been touched by the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled or closed from fear of future 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 sit 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 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.

I want to know if you can be faithful 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 life from God’s presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine and stand still on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the 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 for the children.

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 truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.