The Invitation: What Real Intimacy Looks Like

This beautiful poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer expresses what intimate relationships can be like and what it means to live authentically.

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 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 center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled 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, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

What This Means for Relationships

True intimacy isn't about perfection. It's about authenticity, vulnerability, and the courage to be fully human with another person.

What This Means for Therapy

This poem captures what long-term therapy can achieve: the ability to be fully present with all of life's experiences, both beautiful and painful.

The invitation is to live fully, love deeply, and be courageously authentic.