When you
are dancing, your intention can be many things—you may want to express the
music through your body, you may want to be in the moment so you forget
everything that you are anxious about, you may want to burn calories. Whatever your intention is, one of these
things or all of these things or something completely different, the underlying
truth of your intention to dance is the fact that in some way you are taking
care of yourself.
And when
you take care of yourself, it is an act of self-love.
Many
times when I would go to dance class as a student, I would run into
criticism—“Don’t you have other things to do that are more important right
now?” “You seem tired, are you sure this is the best thing for you to do?” (Surely
everyone else knows what’s best for me) “I could really use your help right now!”
Sometimes, in the past, I would succumb to the shame (since, obviously,
there were no other times – other than during
my dance class -- that I could help someone); other times I would slink away to
guiltily get my dance fix.
And try
to not look so happy when I got home.
Over the
years I have heard from some clients that their partners were a little jealous
of their taking time to go to dance class.
Others have told me that when they get a little bitchy at home, their
partners will say, gently, “Gee honey, maybe it’s time for you to go to dance
class? Can I drive you…?” These partners
understand that joy begets joy and refueling in dance class means that the
whole family can breathe a sigh of relief.
When we
love ourselves, it is not selfish. It is
not a form of conceit or of not caring about anyone else. Loving ourselves is the reason we can love
others. Selfishness is an attribute of
self-loathing. Loving ourselves makes us
more generous, not less generous with our time.
When you
are on an airplane and the oxygen mask unfurls, you need to put it on yourself first.
Even the airlines know you have to take care of yourself before you can
help anyone else.
For me,
dance is my oxygen mask.
What’s
yours?
Dance is definitely an oxygen mask for me, too, Susie, as is just taking time alone to simply BE. I realized recently that it's time for me to again have a usable keyboard/piano setup so that I have an additional oxygen mask to "revive" me when I'm in need of air. It's wonderful to have you blogging again! xoxo
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