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Celebrity Spotlight: Oriah Mountain Dreamer Oriah Mountain Dreamer is the author of the inspirational prose-poem and international best-selling books, THE INVITATION and THE DANCE and THE CALL. Her writing explores how to follow the thread of our deepest heart's longing into a life of meaning and purpose. Her new book, WHAT WE ACHE FOR: CREATIVITY AND THE UNFOLDING OF YOUR SOUL, explores and offers practical ways to cultivate creative work that is not separated from our spirituality or our sexuality, allowing our souls to unfold.
Oriah lives in Canada. 1. Tell us about a time when you were in fear about your creative career journey and you didn't think it would go anywhere... I think the hardest times for me are when I do not know, cannot see or sense, where my creative work is going next. I am in one of these periods right now- a time when I am not sure what kind of writing I will do next, when I do not know if I will return to facilitating retreats or offering something at speaking venues. I think these "in between" times, times of not knowing what direction to take next are the hardest. We have to be willing to sit still with not-knowing, with uncertainty and wait for the vision of what is next to come. And it is so easy NOT to sit still, NOT to stay with not-knowing but to fill the time with activity or ideas of what I think should or could be next- good ideas, ideas about worthwhile work, but necessarily ideas that will take me deeper into my own life, the world or the unfolding of my own soul. To sit in the void and wait, to be still and allow myself to feel the depth of not-knowing what comes next – what direction or project – I have to have faith that the impulse to move will find me, that the emptiness (if I can allow it to be spacious and take the time that it needs) will be fertile ground for something I may not even be able to imagine right now. 2. Tell us about a time when you were feeling confident about your creative career journey and you absolutely knew you were going to be okay.... I feel most confident when I am actively involved in a creative project - writing a book, designing or facilitating a workshop. It's not that I know what is going to happen. In fact, when I am most involved I am very aware that although I start with an idea (because you have to start somewhere) the creative process involves a continual letting go of where I thought the work was going to allow it to unfold. I have absolute confidence in this process. This does not mean I think it will always result in worldly success, in a piece of work others want to buy or market or talk about. What I have confidence in is that this process will always teach me something, always take me deeper into my own life and so make it possible for me to offer something of value to others- if only one or two others, if only in how I am with others. And on some deep and essential level if I am learning, if I am surrendering to what is in front of me in this process, I know I will be OK. OK does not necessarily mean perky. OK means that although my mind may be confused, my heart may ache and my body may be tired, I know that nothing can really harm the essence of who I am. 3. How did you discover your passion? Well now, what is my passion? I think of Krishnamurti who in one of his talks urges us to have non-specific passion. To have A Passion for a particular kind of work or a place or person or activity is to pin our happiness on the fulfillment of specific outcomes. Sometimes it works out the way we wanted and we are happy fulfilling our passion. But since all things pass this kind of passion is bound to lead to disappointment. This doesn' t mean we should not enjoy it when we are doing what we love, but rather it might be a more useful strategy to learn how to love what we are doing. Krishnamurti urges us to have passion for Life itself. For me, this has meant recognizing that my passion is not so much for a particular thing or activity or person but for being awake, connected to that which is larger than myself, no matter what I am doing. I am passionate about the divine, about seeing and tasting and feeling the sacred in my daily life, about listening to the ways the Great Mystery speaks to me, about feeling my place in the arms of the Beloved. I am passionate about the Truth (which is just another way of saying I am passionate about God) which can only be accessed in the present moment. When I was young I thought fulfilling this passion meant finding the right work, the right home, the right relationship. Now I understand that living this passion makes what I am doing, where I am and who I am with "right" no matter how many times each of these changes. Read other Celebrity Spotlights: |
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A gifted speaker, Oriah has shared her insights and stories with audiences throughout the world at conferences and retreats and through radio and TV appearances (CBC, TVO, Oprah, NPR, PBS, Wisdom Network.) Blending ruthless honesty, humour, insight and compassion for our human struggle, Oriah seeks to inspire and challenge herself and others to live life fully. In addition to sharing stories of both her personal life and her years of training in an inter-tribal tradition of shamanic medicine, Oriah draws upon her years as a facilitator of spiritual retreats, as a social worker assisting women and families in crisis and as a student of philosophy in seeking to understand how we can be all that we truly are. Her name was given to her by the elders with whom she apprenticed and means "one who likes to push the edge."
