Happy Canada Day!

Its a holiday here in Canada so I will write my next blog post tomorrow.


Happy Canada Day!!!






In the meantime, here is one of my favourite blog posts from a while back. Enjoy.

There's a story behind this picture.

He asked me for a dollar.

I said no.

He said "What about I let you take a picture of me for some coins"

I smiled and gave him five dollars .

I am naturally curious about people. I enjoy finding out who they really are ... you know, after the veneer (pardon the pun) that we all have is peeled away, what's underneath?

A lot of that curiousity is eloquently detailed in the poem below. It rings true for me. I find it very insightful...only someone who has traveled through life's journeys can write it.

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

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 hearts 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 center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's 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, 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's 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 on 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 doesnt interest me who you know or 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 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.

BTW. One of the components of success to me is when you are alone with yourself, do you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. Or as a friend said to me the other night, you only truly feel liberated when you stop caring what everyone else thinks :)