Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present…

~ anon

What’s the most valuable asset that you can’t put a price on? Why is it so much fun to waste if there’s a limited supply? How can something that so easily slips through your fingers be so difficult to grasp?

The answers to these riddles, of course, is time. A ubiquitous factor in your life yet try as you might not the easiest thing to fully understand. From the instant you are born you ride the stream of it through an endless series of present moments.

As you grow up and gain consciousness, you develop a recognition of your past that is immutable as if it were set in stone. Your personal history is your own private foundation upon which your present is built. ( That’s me on the beach in Bolinas with my six-month-old daughter Izzy on my back in a photo my brother took back in 1990!)

The color of your future horizon, however, depends entirely on who you choose to be in the moment. How you view your future greatly depends upon the feelings you hold about yourself at any given time.

If you have an internal baseline of fear and anxiety, then it only stands to reason that your thoughts of the future might be filled with dread. Conversely, if you choose to hold love and optimism in your heart, then you can expect to find more of that along your path.

Someone once said that walking by a funeral home every morning was the best way to keep his to-do list prioritized properly. Time is a trickster, a day can stretch before you with endless possibility, while a life in retrospect can seem surprisingly short.

It’s helpful to think of time as your cosmic dance partner. Like any good partner, you want to be responsive, thoughtful, and in balance. Time doesn’t like to be rushed and it doesn’t cooperate if you’re dragging your feet.

As a partner in the dance of life, time is the perfect mirror. How well you move together through your own personal timeline is entirely up to you. There’s no one way to do it, the ways to relate with time are as varied as the different kinds of people in the world.

Some folks like to sprint. Often driven by deadlines these are the folks who can produce great results in a hurry and take pleasure in the down-time after a milestone is met. Sometimes the pressure of a ticking clock is the catalyst for great feats of creativity.

Others are in the school of ‘slow-and-steady-wins-the-race’. These are the people who are happy in constant motion set to a speed that they can maintain well over time. The reliability of a routine is their secret sauce for results.

There are those who function best in a structure set by others, and those who only excel when calling their own shots. It doesn’t matter what sort of approach you prefer, only that your style of ‘going with the flow’ works for you.

Just like a partner on the dance floor, when resistance rears it’s head, trouble soon follows. You have no doubt met an unfortunate soul who insists on fighting with the flow of time, lurching from drama to disaster with predictable regularity.

At the root of any battle with time is a simple problem with priorities. Whenever I hear someone complain about ‘not having enough time’ I’m tempted to correct them with a reminder that lack of time is not their problem, it’s their priorities that are out of whack.

From the most dynamic CEOs to the laziest couch potatoes, we all have the same 24 hours in a day to work with. Somewhere in there, we all manage to eat, sleep, and (hopefully) attend to our personal hygiene. The folks who are producing great results spend the rest of their time focused on opportunities and outcomes rather than obstacles and objections.

When it comes to other people, beware of the chronically late. I have much personal experience in this regard because once-upon-a-time that used to be me. Years ago I careened through life trying to stuff six pounds of oranges into my metaphorical five-pound-bag. The result of me spreading myself too thin by saying yes to too many obligations and not prioritizing my time properly was a life of lateness and letting people down.

I eventually came to see how disrespectful this was to the people around me and how I was in effect through my actions conveying the message that they were less important than me. I finally got fed up with the crash-and-burns and learned how to say no to certain less-than-fruitful activities. By limiting my life to the more uplifting choices, I was able to find a balance in my flow that feels as if I’m in the right place at the right time, at least most of the time!

Show me a person who is punctual, and I’ll show you someone who probably has their priorities in order! When it comes to the great dance of life, we all share the floor with each other, yet we’re all arm-in-arm with time. Be that person who’s in balance and happy with the way you flow and your time at the grand party of history will be appreciated!

Much love and good times until next week!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine

Dance First Member Spotlight – One Dance Tribe at The Garrison Institute in New York!

This week’s Dance First Members’ Spotlight shines on One Dance Tribe and their upcoming international conscious movement gathering at The Garrison Institute in New York! Read on for info about your soon-expiring Early Bird registration opportunity!

If you’ve been paying attention to the conscious dance world for very long at all, you’re probably familiar with the work of Amara Pagano and Pier Paolo de Angelis. This dynamic duo are the paired powers behind the One Dance Tribe gatherings, the online Conscious Dance Conference, and the Azul Conscious Movement modality, “A Path of Awakening Love.

Paolo says “Peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh reminds us that community is the next Buddha. And we are learning that through the motion of coming together. The reason why the OneDanceTribe events always feel so good is that they leave us with a sense of renewed trust and hope for the future of humanity. They are a place where we experience the power of community and the love that is generated when we come together with intentionality and purpose.”

One Dance Tribe gathers a collection of leading facilitators, thought leaders, and modality founders twice a year to weave together a movement experience like no other. Coming up March 6-11 at the picture perfect environs of The Garrison Institute in upstate New York, you’ve got an opportunity to connect with the global conscious dance community.

Featuring Soul Motion’s Vinn Arjuna Martí, 5Rhythms’ Peter Fodera, Cathy Ryan representing Open Floor, Azul with Amara, TranscenDance with Jennifer Joy Jimenez, Megha Nancy Buttenheim with Let Your Yoga Dance and many more, this meeting of the minds and bodies is the perfect start to your somatic season of 2020.

Beyond the conscious dance and movement offerings skillfully woven together, you’ll find Hawaiian spirituality, morning meditation and yoga, workshops and integration sessions, cutting edge healing services, plus a live Hawaiian musical evening.

With the summer One Dance Tribe gathering happening in Europe June 11-17 , this is your opportunity to head to New England for a woven wave of wonder on this side of the pond.

Make plans soon and sign up by this Wednesday, January 15th using the Early Bird code ODTNY20EB to save $50 on your registration and make sure you’ve got your spot reserved.

Visit the One Dance Tribe signup page to learn more!