Friday, November 15, 2013

Day Fifteen



What does it look like to move with gratitude? To carry thankfulness in our bodies, and to express gratitude not just with words spoken and written but through our physical being?   Have you ever met anyone whose body said "thank you?"

To me, the video below is a body that knows how to say "thank you."   It's of a woman preparing for her breast cancer surgery by dancing. It's exuberant, and it involves everyone in the OR. Soon she'll lie down to have her surgery, but not before affirming the real presence of joy.

Her dance isn't going to make the surgery go away, or ensure that she won't have pain, or eliminate the chance that there will be difficult days ahead.  But her dance expresses an amazing resilience, an infectious "yes" in the face of the "no" that many of us feel when faced with a disease or a dire time.

"Why in the world are we here?  Surely not to live in pain and fear."  Surely, this person has answered that question the same way John Lennon did. Today, how might you dance, move, or strut your way into walking the talk of gratitude?



--Ken

4 comments:

  1. The first time I saw this video, I was especially impressed by how GOOD a dancer this woman is! Not just that she danced in the face of a life-threatening illness and a dangerous operation - of course - but come on, she's got moves! It reminded me of the journey I've gone on, personally - to not see my body as a place of pain and fear, to not buy into what the world might tell me about how my body isn't what it should be, but instead to truly love and cherish this body as much as I cherish any other part of myself. Many people know the experience of living in a body that the world has taught them they should hate and fear and be disconnected from. This woman's dancing - not just her dancing but the WAY she dances - reminded me today that I should never not love my own body, regardless of what anybody else might say. So for my gratitude practice today, I am starting a personal gratitude dance party in my living room, riiiiiight... now.

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  2. I had the EXACT same response to this video that Lee had.... MAN can she dance!! And laugh!! In the face of THAT!! HOLY CRAP!!! I haven't stopped smiling since I saw that.... so grateful that energy like hers is out there for us to experience first hand... thanks, technology!

    For me, today... I acted "like a child" today... like a wonder filled, awe inspired child... I do my best to be "with" my son when we are out and about... running and jumping and exploring by his side but sometimes/often I don't do it wholeheartedly. I am too busy thinking of what I am going to make for dinner, what appointments I have this weekend, etc to really engage at his level... today, at the aquarium I crawled on the floor to see the glowy fish, touched the sharks and the stingrays, made some NOISE at the diver show, and ate junk the cafeteria... I am so grateful for the pace of my life, for the time and dedication I have the honor to bestow upon my child... and today I feel grateful for the chance to just be with him, in his way, in and way that is so damn much fun.

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  3. "Why in the world are we here? Surely not to live in pain and fear." Try telling that to a starving child in the Sudan or the child's parents. Life is so arbitrary. We who feel gratitude have to remember that we did not choose to whom or where or how we came into the world.

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  4. What a great video!!! I am blessed to work with someone who often sings--in the office, in the car, walking to a meeting... Whenever the mood strikes, she sings. I love that about her! So, today as we walked together to a meeting, we were talking about a song we both like and then we both started singing and dancing. We had so much fun, and my stomach hurt from laughing. We decided that we needed to do that more often!

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