I don’t care what you do for a living. I want to know what you desire and if you dare to dream of fulfilling your heart’s longing.
I don't care how old you are. I want to know if you're willing to risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
I don't care which planets are in square aspect with your Moon.
I want to know if you have touched the core of your own sorrow, if you have been crushed by life’s betrayals, or if you have shut yourself off out of fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain—mine or your own—without moving to hide it, numb it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can feel joy—whether it’s mine or your own—and if you can dance wildly, letting the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes, without warning us to be careful, to be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
I don't care if the story you're telling me isn't true.
I want to know if you can let someone else down in order to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal without betraying your own soul.
If you can be unfaithful and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it isn't always visible in your everyday life. And if you can draw strength from its presence in your own life.
I want to know if you can accept failure—yours and mine—and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the moon, “Yes—I choose you.”
I'm not interested in knowing 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 your children.
I don’t care who you know or how you ended up here.
I want to know if you’ll stand in the center of the fire with me and not flinch.
I don’t care where, what, or with whom you studied.
I want to know what sustains you from within when everything else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly enjoy your own company during those quiet moments.
I want to know if you will meet me in the place where truth stands naked,
and if you cannot, I will walk on.
I will be waiting for you in this lifetime,
but if you are not ready,
I am not coming either.
