The Dance of Life. Planning in a Way that Makes Sense

This time of year often has us looking ahead. Setting goals. Creating benchmarks.

Work.

Personal.

Health… AAARGGGHHH

These boxes don’t work for me… do they work for you?

And then you’re told to BALANCE your work life with your personal life??? Never gonna happen!

Grandma Audrey dancing with abandon! (Grandpa on the piano)

Relax and love the fact that life is a constant dance. Let’s GET UP OFFA THAT THING and DANCE ‘TIL YOU FEEL BETTER!

In GIFT FROM THE SEA Anne Morrow Lindbergh compares relationships to a dance. I believe that life itself is also… “…like a dance and is built on some of the same rules. …. To touch heavily would be to arrest the pattern and freeze the movement, to check the endlessly changing beauty of its unfolding…”

“… joy of living in the moment. Lightness of touch and living in the moment are intertwined.

“…Why is it so difficult? What makes us hesitate and stumble? It is fear, I think, that makes one cling nostalgically to the last moment or clutch greedily toward the next…”

but I do like to look forward

I do like to look ahead, though, and when I do – whether it’s for a week, month, year or longer – I like to use a model from the Yoga tradition – called the Pursarthas… the 4 Aims of Life. According to Hillari Dowdle the 4 aims – Dharma, Artha, Kama, + Moksha – create a

“… blueprint for human fulfillment… Working with them can help you create a satisfyingly balanced life at the deepest and most holistic level.”

This model makes sense to me!

DHARMA = Duty or Service: That is, your purpose. Your responsibilities, serving yourself, your family, community and society;
ARTHA = Prosperity or Currency: The Stuff… The capital, the computer, the home, the car – the material things you need to get #1 done;
KAMA = Pleasure or Joy: Desire for pleasure drives all human behavior – this includes love, art, beauty, fellowship, intimacy, kindness;
and
MOKSHA = Freedom or Liberation: Freedom from. Freedom to. And freedom of expression. Expressing yourself and own creativity as fully as possible.

It’s about getting off the wheel!

So, I’m taking a weekend of planning, looking forward – and at the same time, dancing into the joy of living in the moment. I’ll do it verbally in my journal first – then I’ll illustrate it visually – with found images, ephemera, drawings (gotta love stick figures!) and color! Can’t Wait!

Do a little life-dancing yourself. Download a worksheet here and dream!

(and by the way, if you are looking for a community to join for support in your creative emergence, our next ROAR AWAKE: THE ARTIST’S WAY AT WORK group starts in February!) Join Us! Free Call CREATIVE EMERGENCE: Entering The Gate on January 25th, 2012 and to learn more about the 12 week ARTIST’S WAY AT WORK telecourse.