Remember to dance

I met someone on my journey
sitting by the wayside
watching the pilgrims go by
Now he is writing again

Magnificent, that’s what I thought of yesterday’s performance of Coppelia and other dances by the students of Manila’s Claravall Institute of Dance. Their display of skill and costumes was dazzling. The lighting was a feast for the eyes too.

A man sitting behind me grumbled about the three-hour sit, and I wondered if he would prefer watching a long movie in stead, like Pirates of the Caribbean 3. For me, I would prefer the dance anytime. Watching people perform on stage is alive and magical.

Meanwhile, change keeps happening in my life, and I keep responding. When I lead a change, it is a profound experience. I pick myself up from the wayside. I reaffirm my will to live and write rather than to follow other people's whims and my own short-lived feelings. I prioritize what actions I will do. I allow myself to shine.

In the past weeks I traveled half the world and back. I lived forward and inspired myself and others. Yet my pen remained dry, as if to signal the need for change from within, from my private wellspring. Don’t rely on anyone, don’t consume from others, said my muse. Draw authenticity from within. And I remembered what I wrote with 51 days to go about my first arena:

“It is about being true to myself, to live in the now, from inside out, about laughing a lot, like a Zorba the Buddha who appreciates both the spiritual and the mundane planes and lives fully in both. It is about the ability to be happy in any moment, without dependence on others or any particular reason. It goes to the root of knowing my purpose for being in this life, and being happy about it. Maintaining good health and energy are part of experiencing success in this arena.”

“I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom”, Simone de Beauvoir wrote long ago.

“The freedom to dance and to change”, I thought.

Photographs: After dancing, the flowers (top). A change to look forward to (below).

Fit your feet

“It is up to you to choose the appropriate mandala for the way in which you want to develop… just like you choose shoes that fit your feet!” – Lama Yeshe

I return to the joys and agonies of writing.

My week was filled with communicating with others. I led a three-day workshop, and I spent most of the days and evenings writing an article in time for tomorrow’s deadline of submission. I had so little time left for other tasks that I wrote a monthly column from 11 pm to 2 am to deliver on my promise.

And, strangely, I still feel as if I have not written enough. I want to write more. Yesterday I read the Tigers in the Lowland chapter of Gail Sher’s One Continuous Mistake – Four Noble Truths for Writers. As always, her message didn’t fail to inspire me.

“Part of doing anything is creating an environment that supports it”, says Gail Sher. Aspiring writers are not exempted. She encourages writers to examine their environment. “As you hold writing at the forefront of your consciousness, your life increasingly will provide a context for that activity, not only containing but promoting and inspiring it.”

Every time I thought of my approaching deadline, I also thought of the opportunity to enjoy writing more. And I reminded myself of my choice to make it one of my life goals to become an accomplished writer.

Nothing else to do then but writing, with a glass of red wine in hand and humor in mind.

Photograph: Beauty in Asia, Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore.