third wave
/I was recounting to a friend last week how I used to dance, in my favorite tie dyed leotard, right in front of the picture window of our living room.
My mom would ask, "why do you have to do that, right in front of the window", and I’d reply, with a roll of my 7 year-old eyes:
“If a talent scout walks by, how are they going to see me dancing if I’m not right in front of the window?”
Sheesh mom, get with the times.
I’ve always craved an audience. I’ve thrived in front of one, enjoyed the applause, the laughter, the deep sighs. I’ve loved that part of my dance life.
I’ve always danced in front of the window.
Until now. All of a sudden I could care less if anyone ever sees me dance or perform again. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to dance anymore - oh I do.
It’s only that the dancing is about something else.
It’s about the sensation of that slow, deeply rooted, and intricately woven dance that I'm dancing right now, and it’s about sharing that dance, in any way and much.
Maybe this shift has something to do with this thing I heard about on the radio the other day (maybe not though - who actually knows):
This guy (who was kinda annoying, so that’s why I don’t feel totally sure about this) was talking about the 4 “waves” of life, as seen by the Hindu religion, within a 100-year life span.
It goes like this:
1st Wave: 1-25 years - Learning.
2nd Wave: 25-50 years - Career Building/Family Making - peak time for innovation and ideas.
3rd Wave: 50-75 years - Less focus on personal ambition and more focus on spirituality, service, and integration/distillation of ideas.
4th Wave: 75-100 years - “Fruits of Enlightenment” (not exactly sure what that means, but I can guess).
So if I look at this little chart, then it appears that my ambition has started to wane — that’s true.
And it looks like my drive to come up with new ideas has diminished — that’s also true.
According to this chart, I’m much more curious about distilling all of the ideas surrounding dance, rather than coming up with new ones, and I’m more interested in service, and also spirituality ---that’s all true!
So, huh.
Nice little packages make me suspicious, and this appears to be a nice little package.
But it does ease something in me to hear about these waves, and to name that I've just leapt onto the third. The focus of my work is changing, and this little chart helps me am trust that change a bit more.
It's eased my fretting.
So go - learn, build, family make, integrate, distill, and then eat the fruit - in your own way and your own time.
Let me know how it goes.
You dance mission for this week is (what else?) this:
Lie down on the floor, notice your breath, wait for the magic carpet, and then let yourself be pulled into the singular dance that is waiting, just for you.
With Warmth,
Joanna
of
Joanna and The Agitators
sweetly agitating/persistently upending
www.joannaandtheagitators.com