"I have decided to stick to love; hate is too great a burden to bear."
― Martin Luther King
Happy Valentine's.
February is the month that reminds us, whether we ask for it or not, that love is not an idea. It’s a practice.
It’s something felt.
Something chosen.
Something lived.
And in coaching, in storytelling, in the way we sit with another human being, that matters.
So this week feels like a good week to talk about stories. About meaning. About what moves people from the inside.
The Month of Love and Valentines and so much more.
I often use verse when doing trance inductions because of the beautiful and rich language, and because the rhythm of trance inductions and (some) poetry is so similar.
This poem is an excerpt from the book, "The Invitation (1999)", by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. Oriah is a spiritual counselor and storyteller among other things.For more information about her, please visit her website:
http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/
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 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.
THE ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS PODCAST
Willpower vs. Design
This week’s podcast continues a theme many of you are wrestling with: why willpower works… until it doesn’t.
We explore why pushing harder is not always wiser, how identity replaces discipline, and why sustainable change requires better design, not more force.
If you’ve ever set a goal and then quietly burned out trying to maintain it, this episode is for you.
You can listen wherever you normally find the podcast.
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Upcoming Class: Ericksonian Storytelling (Feb 17)
If you want your stories to create insight instead of explanation, this 6-week class will show you how.
You’ll learn to design therapeutic metaphors based on real client struggles — stories that bypass resistance and speak to the unconscious.
Each week you’ll write, tell, refine, and strengthen one story you can use immediately in coaching.
We begin February 17 inside the Essential Coaching Skills Membership.
Thanks for being here!
Doug
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