All the way from New Zealand we have these lovely contributions from Jan

 

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 hearts 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 further 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 your self; 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 is 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 the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to the children.
 
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be hear. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire 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.
 
 
 
Oriah Mountain Dreamer.
written after returning from a party where she had found herself frustrated by the level of superficiality.

 

The Secret Of Life

After awhile you learn the subtle differences

Between holding a hand and chaining a soul.

 

And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning

And company doesn’t mean security.

 

You begin to accept your defeats

With your head held high and your eyes open

With the grace of a grown-up, not the grief of a child

 

And you learn to build your roads on today

Because tomorrows ground is too uncertain for plans,

And futures have a way of falling down in mid flight.

 

After a while you learn that even sunshine burns

If you get too much.

 

So plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,

Instead of waiting for someone else to bring you flowers.

And you will learn that you really can endure,

And you really do have worth.

 

So think deeply, speak gently, love much, Laugh often, work hard, Give freely, and be kind.

 

This is the secret of life.

 Author unknown

Also from Jan ... 

" An action plan without a vision is
random activity.
A vision without an action plan is a hallucination...."

Tamati Kruger