I was in a group session last week and the topic of dancing through life came up. One of my favorite songs when it was released, was “Life’s a Dance” by John Michael Montgomery. Here is the chorus of that song.
“Life’s a dance you learn as you go Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow Don’t worry about what you don’t know Life’s a dance you learn as you go”The words are quite significant to living a fulfilled life. If you believe you have to lead all the time, you’ll never experience the strength and leadership of others. If you are always following, you’ll never find your own strength. One of the drills I use in my empowerment workshop is the lead and follow skill. Participants are partnered and one starts as the leader, the other is usually blindfolded and they are the follower. The follower places their hand on the shoulder of their leader and then has to trust in them as they walk them around the room, hopefully not allowing them to bump into things or other groups. Each group then switches their leader with their follower and the fun begins again. As the facilitator, it’s quite interesting to watch this study of human nature. The leaders are quite careful as to how fast they move or the pattern they take, as if to protect their follower. The followers shuffle their feet, feeling their way, even though someone is leading them. When I ask at the end, “Which was easier, being the leader or the follower?”, almost always, the group resoundingly says the leader.
When our eyes are open to the world, we often think we can see our way clearer. In actuality, when we are blindfolded as to what is coming next, we eventually learn to trust in the process and go with the flow. Notice I said eventually. Each time an experience comes before you, you will begin to recognize it as a wonderful lesson in trust. Each time, you get to that discovery much quicker. As you do, trust comes into your experience and you can go with the flow of life and enjoy yourself.
When times are good, there usually isn’t a lot of worry around you. When times are “bad”, worry permeates every cell of your body. I put forth to you, even when times are good, how do you know something “bad” isn’t around the corner in the next second? You don’t. Yet, worry isn’t present because all is going well. We never know what is next on our path, yet our human nature is to put some energy aside, just in case. This keeps us from being present…and living a fulfilled life!
Live every moment as if it were your last. Put some music on, grab a partner and dance. Maybe you lead….maybe you follow…just take it one step at a time and you will get to where you are meant to be much quicker.