169 Marbles
Do whatever you can to capture, or recapture, your life spark - unless it harms others, in which case suffer with as much happiness as you can muster. Your nobility of spirit will spark itself.
Corri Alius
My first flamenco lesson was both exciting and humbling. I am not a dancer and since I spend most of my time in my head, the whole body movement thing can be a bit of a challenge. Sure I can run, cycle, hike, and do yoga but these are athletic activities and none of them involve rhythm. It’s the rhythm that’s a challenge and flamenco is extremely percussive and rhythmic.
I’m noticing that as I get older, I’m less comfortable with being bad at something, with starting something as a beginner. Yet, even as I wrote “I’m not a dancer” I wondered, “What does that mean?” I know that when I was a wee child, when music came on, I would take great joy in moving my body to the music. There was no right or wrong way of moving my body. With age, I have acquired a desire to be expert at things, or more correctly not to be bad at things. This interferes with my ability to keep trying new things that stretch me. I know that if I don’t keep learning and growing, I’ll stagnate and die an early death while still breathing. What would it take to lose the idea that with age comes the need to be good at things? What would it take to embody the beginner’s mind?
There is a part in a flamenco dance called the llamada or a call. It is used by the dancer to cue the musician to start a new section of the dance. For me, I picture the llamada as calling back the young girl who danced when the music came on. The young girl who didn’t care who was watching. The young girl that hadn’t learned to be her own worse critic.
Are you still engaging in new activities that interest you? Do you stretch yourself outside your comfort zone? Post breakup is a perfect time to try new things. What would it take to keep learning and growing?
Do whatever you can to capture, or recapture, your life spark - unless it harms others, in which case suffer with as much happiness as you can muster. Your nobility of spirit will spark itself.
Corri Alius
My first flamenco lesson was both exciting and humbling. I am not a dancer and since I spend most of my time in my head, the whole body movement thing can be a bit of a challenge. Sure I can run, cycle, hike, and do yoga but these are athletic activities and none of them involve rhythm. It’s the rhythm that’s a challenge and flamenco is extremely percussive and rhythmic.
I’m noticing that as I get older, I’m less comfortable with being bad at something, with starting something as a beginner. Yet, even as I wrote “I’m not a dancer” I wondered, “What does that mean?” I know that when I was a wee child, when music came on, I would take great joy in moving my body to the music. There was no right or wrong way of moving my body. With age, I have acquired a desire to be expert at things, or more correctly not to be bad at things. This interferes with my ability to keep trying new things that stretch me. I know that if I don’t keep learning and growing, I’ll stagnate and die an early death while still breathing. What would it take to lose the idea that with age comes the need to be good at things? What would it take to embody the beginner’s mind?
There is a part in a flamenco dance called the llamada or a call. It is used by the dancer to cue the musician to start a new section of the dance. For me, I picture the llamada as calling back the young girl who danced when the music came on. The young girl who didn’t care who was watching. The young girl that hadn’t learned to be her own worse critic.
Are you still engaging in new activities that interest you? Do you stretch yourself outside your comfort zone? Post breakup is a perfect time to try new things. What would it take to keep learning and growing?
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