Dare to Dream

Last week, I began working with three singers who have been performing professionally for years. Each of them expressed a long-standing desire for professional coaching. Artists, singers, and athletes alike possess this inner drive to reach their full potential. I get it, deeply appreciate their passion and welcome their commitment. It’s a coach’s dream.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer speaks of the heart’s longing this way:

IT DOESN'T MATTER TO 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 would risk looking like a fool for love,

for your dreams, for the adventures of being alive.

IT DOESN'T INTEREST ME WHICH PLANETS ARE SQUARING WITH 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 from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain - mine and your own -

without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine and your own;

if you can dance with wildness and ecstasy,

fill the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic,

or to remember the limitations of being human.

IT DOESN'T MATTER TO 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, Native American Elder

RiverSong Reflections

~Patrick Cunningham