Title: In, Not Of

Gender: Female

Age: 28

Sun Sign: Gemini

Chinese Sign: Metal Rooster

Location: New York, NY

Spent most of my life in the Boston area, brief periods in England and Italy, then 4 years at Wellesley studying economics and music with some very smart women.  An odd combination of mind and body: someone who became, over time, a very cerebral person but whose roots are all in movement and needs to be physical and use my body to feel alive.  Music is and always will be my first love because its sensations cross and harmonize both fronts of experience…

Currently recovering from 2 years spent working around the clock in investment banking: transitioning to a more forgiving job, trying to take very good care of myself, starting to recover all that has been forgotten, and learning not to worry so much about the future.  I'll consider myself Successful when I can get back everything I gave up to be “successful”.

Contemplating that the world changes in part by waking people up one at a time.


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 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 touched the center 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 ecstasy fill you to the tips of your
fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
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 bare 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 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 a 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 center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me with 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

Member Since: Friday, April 28 2006

Last Visit: 414 days ago.

Profile Viewed: 3692 times (last viewed less than a minute ago)