Taste Life Blog

We had a rear end collision last week with our niece and two nephews in the back seat. Life knocks me down at least once a week. When it does, I feel sad for a bit and then remember my beliefs are not a fact, just a belief. I have a choice: respond or react. When I respond I take two steps forward and when I react I take two steps backwards. Just thinking about it for two seconds helps us respond. Which reminds me of dancing…let me explain.

Gary and I had a marriage contract; the kids would be Catholic, they would not go to Catholic school, Gary would take ballroom dancing lessons, and I would go camping without electricity. Yes, we honored them all. Since then, I have thought of my life as a dance.

The waltz is the smoothest ballroom dance of all! Almost effortlessly, we glide along the dance floor with flowing movements, continuous turns and “rise and fall.” Life happens and we are moving towards our goals and dreams with ease and grace.

The foxtrot is a smooth dance of flowing movements across the floor. Sometimes you can stop and just stay in one place and do little square movements. You are not gliding around the dance floor like the waltz. But, you are still moving.

Our favorite was the quickstep, which is a quicker version of the foxtrot. It is comprised of extremely quick stepping, syncopated feet rhythm and runs of quick steps. We made the most mistakes but felt the most accomplished and had the most fun.

“Doing life” is like dancing. Sometimes days and weeks fly by easily and quickly, like the waltz. We love the feeling of an accomplished satisfying week. Sometimes we may get stuck for a while and end up dancing in a little square for a bit like the foxtrot. We cover the same ground over and over. Just because we are in one place for a bit doesn’t mean we have failed as we are still MOVING! We just need to figure out what is not working and how to begin again.

Sometimes there are detours or distractions in our lives that take us away from our initial purpose. Maybe we step backwards. But that is ok because sometimes it is good to step back and look at the distractions as they create opportunities for us to adjust the dance as needed. But remember we are still MOVING!

I love it best when life is like a waltz and good things are happening…like Gary’s recent retirement and seeing him so worry free while I feel stressed out. But that doesn’t happen every day UNLESS I change my beliefs and focus on abundance. To protect myself from the negative, I pick my dance partners and if I have to have a dance partner in my life who brings me down I know I can only be in charge of my beliefs and my actions – not theirs.

Even on my worst days when I am struggling to continue to foxtrot and feel like I am doing the same move over and over I have to remember I am still moving! Life is ok. My beliefs create my happiness, which create my success. Now that Gary is so worry free maybe I can convince him to take more dancing lessons again…or maybe not.

Remember successful people are not necessarily happy but happy people are successful. Better get busy deliberating creating your happiness dance of success!