Dance Moves

This morning, while unlocking my front door after returning home from an errand, I heard the sound of something making its way down my street. Someone on a bike? A car? Obvious possibilities though it sounded like none of these. I turned to look, and saw that it was leaves, dry and crisp, blowing down the street in the wind.

Okay then. Mystery solved. No big deal. This is what I'd think if it were any other morning. Except this morning was different. Or, I should say, I was different.

This morning I took a book off my shelf titled "How to Use Your Power of Visualization", by Emily Bradley Lyons. To those who understand the importance of this skill in our everyday lives, this book is considered a classic. For me, this is a skill I've recently learned the value of and wish to strengthen in myself. So I've committed to completing the four-month regimen of daily exercises that will enable me to do this. One little exercise a day. Very simple. Decidedly enriching. Practical and constructive.

Today's exercise required that I tune in and hear sounds in different ways - the depth, breadth and essence of them. I wondered how tuning in to my sense of hearing would enrich my sense of sight. I learned this then and there. Those leaves blowing down my street? After I'd heard them in a new way, I also saw them in a new way. To me, in that moment, the leaves tumbling over the pavement mimicked water running over rocks in a stream. Rapids of leaves...what a cool image.

Mission accomplished. I had seen something in a new way after hearing something in a new way. This made me smile. I had a new appreciation for how our senses intermingle and harmonize to elevate our experiences when we are tuned in.

But wait, there's more. It got better.

Without flexing my brain or putting much mind muscle into any further thoughts on the matter, a sweet little nugget of wisdom bubbled up and presented itself. So here it is. I present it to you as a gift to perhaps help elevate your day. Disclaimer: it may at first seem ridiculously simple and obvious, and possibly even mundane. But here it is anyway:

Everything moves. We are meant to move. There is movement everywhere, and we are all just trying to stay upright in the face of this, and gravity (and any other forces that may be trying to pull us down). This, along with keeping our balance and trying to do so with purpose and grace, is the dance of life.

It is my hope that we can all learn the steps and strengthen our ability to dance through life with purpose, with grace, and most of all, with each other.

Maybe those leaves were really dancing.