Rule #50: Dancing solves problems
“Any problem in the world can be solved by dancing”- James Brown
The Godfather of Soul sure knew what he was talking about when when he said this.
I have no rhythm. I have very little grace. I do however have two left feet. I was not born to dance. But…when I do its incredibly bad, and incredibly fun.
Dancing is something that helps us connect with our emotions and inner-self in the way that words can not. Most of my dancing is to Bobbi’s music selections and can be best described as the “white man’s bogie”, picture Mitt Romney dancing and you got the image right. But, despite this I continue to dance whenever the music or opportunity allows.
You may ask, “if you know you are really bad at it why do you do it?”
I think that the answer to that question explains a lot about life.
Because it doesn’t matter if your good at something, it matters that you enjoy what you are doing. Some rewards come from excelling at something, but most rewards come from just showing up.
Woody Allen said “Showing up is 80% of life”. Although Woody lacked significant judgement in the rest of his life, he was dead on with this statement. Most of what we get in life isn’t from being great, its for being there and involved.
My father use to tell me in his later years that he thought of himself as very good dancer and that women thought he danced well. The truth is that I inherited all my dancing talents from him, which as have pointed out amount to zero.
What Dad did was enjoy himself, and when he heard music and saw a dance floor he would not sit back and watch, he would get out and dance. Women liked to dance with him because he was having fun, and frankly of the +75 year old men in the room willing to dance he was one of the few options. But he clearly loved it.
And he taught me this important lesson by dancing.
Bobbi during really stressful times or in the middle of a long winter would crank up the music in our house and have all the kids dancing. Some could dance well, and well some others could dance more creatively, but she always got everyone to dance. These tension breakers let us let go of our pains and depressions in life and remember, at least for that moment, that life is good.
Dancing teaches us this important lesson, that to get out and express what we are feeling, even in an awkward, funny way allows us to embrace life. It teaches us that fear of failure is something to be laughed at, because in the end enjoying life is far more fun than fearing failure.
So when the music starts get up and dance.