Dancing Hope
I walk through a local store past aisles bursting with untouched merchandise, my clicking shoes the only answer to an eerie silence. In response my stomache clenches recognizing the fear inside the quiet. Next I arrive at Rhythm & Motion Dance Workout. As our group of 30 begins stretching and moving to the music, an undeniable force of hope enters the room. I dance in relief and gratitude. Sweat begins to pour and my rocking hips shapeshift hope into joy and freedom.
My sacred witness can’t help but notice the discrepancy. Where does hope come from in this moment? Is it the potential of Obama (this is San Francisco, after all)? Is it the haven of our R&M dance class? Is it our dance teacher who is a gift of inspiration unto herself? Or could it be that hope comes through each of us in distinct ways but meets and grows in the presence of community?
Mostly, I don’t care about why, I’d just like to learn how to embody this state of being so it can source me completely as I navigate my daily life.
A quote by Karen Maezen Miller via Jen Lemen chimes in, ”Hope is the mask of fear; trust is the face of courage.” This wisdom haunts me. I would really like to separate fear from hope, banish it far away so I can hang out in the possibility of the unknown unencumbered. Then I realize that fear isn’t wrong, it’s just uncomfortable. In fact, it’s when fear taps me on the shoulder that I remember hope. And if I can feed hope, it may blossom into trust and courage.
How do you dance in hope?
Tags: dance, fear, gratitude, hope, life, Rhythm and Motion, spirituality, unknown
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November 6, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Fear isn’t just uncomfortable – it’s very compelling. In the Northeast at this time of year we’re hearing things like “The wide stripes on the wooly bears mean a hard winter.” or “So many acorns means a long, cold winter.” or “It was such a mild fall that we’re sure to have a frigid winter.” None of these are true connections… but they all come from fear.
Dancing – or for me, a gardener, planting – in hope requires seeing how compelling fear is and then loosening a bit to let it go. To some degree I can choose your dancing partner and what I plant.
November 15, 2008 at 3:11 pm
“loosening a bit to let it go”…yes, that’s it…if we hold on too tight to the fear, instead of motivating hope and change, we can lose ourselves to it. And, yes, choice is a supreme tool of navigation. Thank you! Staci
November 17, 2008 at 9:40 am
Not meaning to start a flame, but some of those sayings are borne out of generations of experience…like, “So many acorns means a long, cold winter.” or “It was such a mild fall that we’re sure to have a frigid winter.” Growing up in NY, I know it is quite true and usual for acorns to fall off the trees when it gets cold early,hence the “so many acorns” thing. It’s not fear, it’s just experience, or am I out of line?
November 18, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I’m a SF woman, so I wouldn’t know but speaking of weather patterns, we sure could use some rain out here. It’s been 75 degrees…crazy for November in SF. Thanks, Staci
November 19, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I sense hope in strange places too, and I’m trying hard to hang on to the glimpses of it when it shows up in my life. I think we each have a choice each day to choose hope, and we can interpret our circumstances as either being full of strife of full of hope. We can surely get bogged down by the media’s insistence that these are “hard times” and that things are “only going to get worse.” And that we should stop spending since we don’t know what the future brings.
I’d rather try and spread hope, however it shows up. And encourage others to live life to the fullest. As Nouwen said – “We are called to be fearless people in a fearful world.” I’d like to think that is one of our charges.