Beautiful Words

I copied this from Yogagirl's blog because it made me weepy. It is beautiful. I read these words to myself and there are also others out there whom I think should take these words to heart. I know of someone who it might speak to. Life is so very precious and I've learned that I have wasted entirely too much of it.

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 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 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.

~Oriah Mountain Dreamer