Ground yourself, listen to a powerful poem, and ignite the fire within your soul.

English

In this meditation and reading of The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, we are invited to release all external labels and identities, creating space to reconnect with our true selves. Imagine yourself as an empty chalice—releasing all preconceived notions and distractions, making space within. 

As you let go, you become open to receiving your true essence, filled with the wisdom, love, and joy that have always been within you. Like the chalice waiting to be filled, you are ready to remember who you are and allow your true self to emerge.

Music: Earth by Liborio Conti

Reading taken from: The Power of Letting Go: A Reading of The Invitation
By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming, from the book The Invitation published by HarperONE, San Francisco, 1999 All rights reserved

The Power Of Letting Go: A Reading Of The Invitation

Hello, I'd like to welcome you here. My name is Tracy McCree and welcome to this meditation, to this time together, to be held here in love and light, whether it be in the morning or you're listening in the afternoon. Today I'm going to share with you an invitation to ground, an invitation to listen to one of my favorite quotes, and an invitation to listen to a poem entitled that very thing, The Invitation. So I invite you to firstly settle in and just allow yourself to be held here. Allow yourself to feel grounded. Maybe even picture in your mind's eye sitting with your back against a big tree. Maybe you have a favorite tree. Maybe you did when you were younger. Allow yourself to feel yourself sit on the ground. And your feet become anchored just like the tree. Just take a deep seat here and let go of anything, any thoughts of the day, or if you're just starting your day, just allow yourself to settle in and be held. And as we feel our grounding cords like the tree, we can feel that tree trunk-like image around our hips and the roots descending through the earth, through all the layers of the earth, grounding us and our roots descend deep and far and wide. And just like the tree receives the beautiful nutrients and the things that may keep it alive when they go into the roots, allow yourself to receive the holding of the earth, the slow heartbeat of the earth. And as we're grounding here and the roots continue to descend through all the layers, anchoring us, allow yourself to lean back into the beautiful waterfall of grace, receiving the top of your head, your crown. Just picture a waterfall coming down your back body, showering you here with love, with grace, with connection to the divine, to the universe, to source whatever you may connect with. And as we're connecting and we're feeling grounded and held by the earth mother below and receiving from the divine above, I invite you to listen to one of my favorite quotes, and it's, when I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. What I invite you to do now is to picture yourself emptying, becoming an empty chalice as you receive and listen to the poem that I'm about to read. And that's my invitation to you, and that's the title of this poem. And it's by Oriah at Mountain Dreamer. And it says, doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and what 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 center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from the fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide 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 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 the 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 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 are truly, if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. And I'll just allow you to sit with this and with the quote of letting go of everything that we are so that we may become what we are, what we might be. And I invite you to lift your arms as if your body is serving as that empty chalice and lean your head back into the waterfall of grace. And as you sit in the center of your soul, the light of who you are in your heart, in your solar plexus, and you feel that fire within, allow the divine to source you, the universe, and allow yourself to remember who you are. That is my invitation to you. May you be held. May that fire in the center of your soul ignite with the passion in your heart and may it flow. That is my invitation to you. Have a beautiful day on purpose and I love you because I can. Namaste.