Autumn started, the days start to be shorter and the leaves on the trees change their colors. Here in Molde we already got our first snow and it’s cold.
A quietness starts to settle over me and my surrounding. I start to prepare for winter! The last harvest from the garden is picked and the garden prepared for the winter, winter clothes are taken out, I take mental stock and see what I want for the next months to come. We start to cook more warming and grounding food. I have an urge to get quiet and still and increase my spiritual practice after an energetic summer . Preparing for the dark and cold months ahead. Bring coziness and comfort in. Ground myself!
It’s time to go within!
“The invitation” a poem by Oriah expresses the need to go within and ground yourself wonderfully. And I want to share this wonderful poem with you today.
The first time I heard this poem, was in a leadership seminar during my studies. We were asked to lay down on the floor and close our eyes. One of the instructor had a drum and start softly drumming while the other instructor started reading the poem.
It was one of the moments, that make you shiver. The content of the workshop, with the presentation of the poem worked magical.
During the years I forgot about the poem. Some weeks ago, I was taking a walk in nature, by a lake, all by myself, feeling in tune with my surroundings. Seeing the beauty around me, leaves changing colors, hearing the wind gently shaking the leaves and the water moving in the breeze.
And there in that moment I remembered.
I remembered the presence and quietness of the poem. The profound beauty of it, that it’s so easy to forget in everyday lives.
The Invitation by Oriah
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
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 is 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 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.
Did you feel a shiver reading the poem? My wish is that it helps you prepare for the next season, that may be for autumn and winter or your next season in life.
While I enjoy reading this poem, I can’t let go of the experience I had, listening to it with closed eyes. Unfortunately I can’t take us back in time to share my experience, but I recorded the poem for you if you want to lay back and listening to it rather than reading.
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