I come across things that I love quite frequently. Words that resonate and I go damn that is exactly what I have always wanted to say. Most of the time they are from people brimming with passion, searing through layers of cliche captions to say something they really mean. I want to be that vulnerable, that forthright. Sometimes it’s just thoughts from someone so much more knowledgeable than I am that I really feel enlightened and educated. I’ll be sharing quotes, images, things that I love…things that I could never find the right words for and maybe you couldn’t either. Here’s to those people who find them for us.

Life is one heck of a day-job. “Well you got it nice, pal!” If I had a nickel for every time a person perpetuated their own misery by blaming my positive attitude as though it was given to me like some sort of inheritance, well let’s just say I’d have a lot of nickels. 
To have a life you love, love the life you live. It’s cheesy, trite and painted on sanded drift wood, sold in thrift stores and plastered on your aunt’s Facebook page. But it’s a saying for a reason. There’s no denying the birth of a good idea, even if you roll your eyes at it. “Well you have this and that and…” “I could do better if…” “I’d be positive too if I had…” “you’re lucky because” compare, compare and compare until you’re blue in the face, but it won’t help. The more you place where you are against where others are, you’ll always find a reason to be unhappy. 
Your self worth will never come at the cost of another. 
So when you wake up, do ya cry and moan about where you want to be, bitterly clenching your teeth as you glare at someone else’s happiness? Your bitterness is not a helpful crutch, your position is not forever. 
These tracks have been here before, new and old, and the sands of time wash ’em away over and again. 
Your happiness is not defined by what you think you lack, but by what you have in abundance in any state – rich or poor. “Easy for you to say” no, it’s not. Because what you see is not what you get, Instagram is not the end-all for who people are. 
Life is one heck of a day job, and we’re all lucky to get to come into work tomorrow.

I was lucky to meet Suzanne this February on a trip to the Philippines with HELP international. She’s my age and the director of HELP with a heart of gold. But more than that she is a lioness, a go-getter, a fearless advocate for what she believes in and a good listener to boot. If you are interested in world events, in seeing joy in some of the most heartbreaking places, give her a follow on Facebook or instagram. She’s my dose of reality and meaning in a complex world. This is a blog she wrote that really made me think called “Who Cares about the Piano Guys Daughter Anyway?”

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When the Surf was high, the sounds of the sea was one continuous roar, heavy, deep, dark, sombre, with all kinds of variation, and at its height you felt it also came from the very earth beneath your feet. Composers would have called this the opera of the sea, poets would have called it the expression of the bleeding dawn sky, and priests the voice of god in nature. ” – Þórbergur Þórðarson (Icelandic poet)

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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 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.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,
from the book The Invitation