The Invitation, reimagined

Poetry of the moment

It doesn't interest me
what you do for a living
I want to know
how you surrender to time
how you inhabit space
I want to know
what you want to create
and if you dare to dream
the impossible dream 
of world building

It doesn't interest me
how many followers you have
I want to know
if you will risk
acting out of character and 
destroying your image
for aliveness
for alignment
for the adventure of living
authentically as you

It doesn’t interest me
what six-figure months are
adding to your bank balance
I want to know
if you have touched
the well of emptiness within
if you have grown
more courageous and generous
by seasons of plenty
or shrunk to guard and protect 
your personal treasure chest
from fear of losing everything 

I want to know
if you can sit with
anger and shame and fear
personal or collective
without moving 
to deny it
or change it
or bypass it

I want to know
if you can be with abundance
mine and yours and 
ours naturally
in interdependence
if you can dance with gratitude
and let life force energy flow 
freely through you
enlivening every cell of your body
without trying to hold it
to capture it
to keep it

It doesn't interest me
if the story you are sharing 
on social media
is true
I want to know if you can love 
and accept yourself even 
and especially 
when nobody “Likes” you

I want to know
if you can bear 
both criticism and indifference
and not abandon yourself
nor dim your light
if you can boldly fail at meeting 
expectations
and therefore stay congruent 
with your deepest truth

I want to know if you can see 
blessings in every experience
even when you have confronted
many dark and difficult days
I want to know
if you can self-source power
and divine your assignment from
the personally activating information
hidden in pain

I want to know
if you can walk through the fire
of rejection and humiliation
and still stand proudly
in front of the vast sea 
of nameless faces
and howl at waning moon,
"Yes, I’m still here."

It doesn't interest me
where you did your training
or how many certificates you have
I want to know 
if you can show up
for family and community
in the wake of trauma and tragedy
and do what needs to be done
to repair and regenerate 
new life from compost 
and seedlings

It doesn’t interest me
who you have slept with
or how you came to be here
I want to know
if you can be steady with me
in the flames of awakening
if you can watch the old world die
and not shrink back from
response-ability 
for the new one we are
now birthing

It doesn't interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied
I want to know 
what keeps you grounded
and connected
and engaged
when everything around you 
feels chaotic and messy

I want to know
if you can relax your striving
to build a personal empire or legacy
and show up fully to participate 
in planetary wave-making
I want to know
if you can feel utterly lost and weary
in the wild storms of these 
change times
yet remain relentless in holding
hope for humanity

I want to know
if you can be completely out of control
and yet still be soul willing
to step into the unknown
to trust the unseen
to relinquish safety
I want to know if you are ready
to play your part in upgrading our
emergent reality

~ The Invitation, by Wendy May, author of Regenerative Purpose
(inspired by the original poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer)

I recently felt inspired to write my own version of the well-loved poem The Invitation, which was originally penned by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. This is what came to me. I share this now as my prayer and my offering to humanity. And I send you blessings for love and abundance and ease, as we walk forward into 2023.

If you feel moved to share my “Invitation” on social media, please find me on Facebook or Instagram (@heywendymay) and check my recent posts there.

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Thank you for your support and for being with me on this part of the journey.