What if we create an easy flow to our future? What if we flow into a dance for humanity that tunes into all our natural gifts and a desire to build future business merged with love to deliver a rich and fulfilling life for all?
Can you imagine your work-life, family, and personal freedom dancing together as we flow through our current world pandemic chaos? Can we use the pause of lockdown and ‘social distancing’ to assess the natural magic of flow and come together to mix individual rhythms to ensure world harmony, economically and socially?
As a young girl, born in the 50’s suburbs of London, England, the third child of four, I longed to sail the high seas and be a stowaway on the tall clippers sailing to a new world, America. I did not live anywhere near the sea. Maybe it was my spiritual contract to adventure in the world and meet different men and women from many cultures and so be living now in the USA in my 7th decade, in 2020.
However, way back then, I had no idea where this desire to flow over the horizon came from. My start in life was very normal, very loving, with no trauma or sorrow. Before I discovered my sea flow at age 11, I was sent to ballet lessons with my sister – I was 4 years old, she was 7. I loved to dance, to flow with music, I hated ballet rigour. My body was not geared to the discipline of pointed toes, the rigid posture, and arched back. I wanted to be free to express myself. To flow. Modern dance called me.
FLOW OF LIFE
Learning about how I could move with my music was natural for me. I would often dance in my living room on my own pretending to be on the stage, hiding my fame from prying eyes. In the 1960’s musical revolution of rock and roll, twist and shake, the music set the scene for my teenage years. I learned the prescriptive ballroom dances my parents begged to know, yet I loved the energy of the Beatles and free dancing. It was a time of liberation in dance.
THE FLOW OF CONVERSATIONS THAT MATTER
My confidence in dance was not replicated in my confidence to speak up. I was relatively reserved in my public chatter as a child and a young adult. OK with my friends but never on a stage. Yet conversations fascinated me. They either flowed and created an energy dance in a room where people gathered on purpose, or the conversations would turn into disruptive arguments or monologues from an authority figure. I remember one such uncle who always stopped the flow of dialogue at family tea parties. Later in my life, I saw that so often in a business meeting where men would rule the day with ‘business only matters’ that women felt stifled by the lack of flow. Wherein lies our choice to flow when we deem it the way to share ideas?
CONTROLLING TRADITIONS “shoulds and should nots”
I do believe that everyone who is born with the natural ability to learn to walk, can dance in some way. Yet so often people as adults tell me they cannot dance. If we learn to speak, we learn sentences and the ability to converse. If we can walk and talk, my perspective is that if we learn to flow, we can dance and create magical conversations, maybe even at the same time!!!
In the past, controls we have been educated by as we grow (parents, schools, teachers, peers, etc ) that places limitations and sets the boundaries on the dance of life that flowed freely and with expression of who we are. Self-expression has grown with entrepreneurial growth since the 90’s and yet flow has been stifled on many corporate agendas, with too much focus on wealth, power, and control.
Now our pandemic pause has brought us to value life and business to a new rhythm, with lockdown and social distancing, we now more in touch with what we missed.
CONVERSATIONS ARE LIKE DANCES
We can learn the steps yet if we are free to use our natural rhythms in our daily lives, maybe we can recognise a flow of life that is better? Especially as I paused and reviewed my world, magical conversations become my focus as these define our future, not the past. Magical conversations are creative spaces to seed great ideas from different perspectives – without judgement, anger, or coercion – simple rules that change the paradigm of control and limitations.
I knew I could dance, so I looked at the flow to find my answers.
Magical Conversations became like a dance to me. It is a dance that is in a flow, aligned, and magical. It is not stuck in a backwater or ferociously battered on a stormy sea. I can see now looking back, where the currents, tides, and underwater caverns sucked my confidence away and led me into conflicts, arguments, and controlling toxicity as a young adult new to the world of work. I pondered where the strict rules of business limited my joy. I questioned myself throughout my life as to where I got stuck when it came to conversations that mattered in my life. I knew I could dance, so I looked at the flow to find my answers.
THERE IS A RHYTHM AND EXPRESSION TO LIFE’S CONVERSATIONS
“It is not what you do that counts, it is the loving you put into the doing that matters”
I learned steps to dance ballroom, tango, Latin, disco, street dance, etc. The enjoyment differed as to whether I was the owner of the dance or merely dancing the steps. As a young girl, I danced the sailor dance “The Hornpipe” (must have been a sign of my soon to be alignment with sailing) It was my signature dance. I realised that the way I expressed my dance routine made it more joyous to me and to my audiences! This was my first realisation that how we enjoy our actions matters. We perform best when the content and the knowledge is what we are passionate about and love doing. I found this quote one day and felt I could have written this: “It is not what you do that counts, it is the loving you put into the doing that matters” Anon
FLOW NEEDS BALANCE AND ALIGNMENT
I started sailing aged 11, family holidays in the west of England. I fell in love with my unknown adventure to come. The flow of the sea, as with dance and conversation, was exhilarating and rewarding. It required core knowledge to know the glory and the pitfalls. The sea – like conversation and dance – can be dangerous and deep and utterly changeable in a moment. The full experience enriching and uplifting when we perform with our heart (the emotion) as well as our mind (the steps) and our spirit (natural essence and meaning of life) The mix is dynamic and genuine when you get it right. However, you need a sense of balance to sway and move with the waves and the movement of the dinghy. If you go wrong, you will be in the water!! Like stepping on some one’s toes in a dance, or uttering a wrong word and being chastised falsely, you feel a fool when you are thrown out of the vessel you thought was so safe. Balance gives YOU the control. You and the wind are in a dance and a conversation!
Dr. Pauline, a pleasure reading this. I never thought about dance as ‘flow’ but that pretty much describes it. At least when dance is done well. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks Byron
Always appreciated when I can inspire others to flow with life’s river dance!!
smiles
Pauline
Dear Cynthia
Thank you for your words, so appreciated and am honored to receive. I love that idea of flowing and since writing this piece so much has happened. I hope you are safe and well and flowing!
smiles
Pauline
This is Beautiful Pauline,
Thé “magical conversations”. I like this. I resonate in that natural dance within our souls to reach and connect from where we are connected first. That magic overrides what you are born into and introduces what you are able to do. The intimate dance with your soul is passion for you to grow. We learn to dance and join with each other in life and when you are dancing your own truth, you are dancing in the right direction. We need this internal relationship to prosper. Hopefully the lockdown has helped others realize this. It’s almost like the Universe stepped in and said “find yourselves people”. We don’t usually get it right the first time and every now and then, nature reminds us of what it is we are here for, and when we are ready…then join in again. We may do it over and over, but we have to keep trying
Thank you for this great read and story of an ideal connection, that I believe is possible too.
A human alone that dances, allows the soul freedom to sing the song of passion, lift our race gracefully and find the dancer in others, it is an attractive form of energy that opens up communication on a level of peace we find rest in.
Hi Paula
Gosh I so appreciate your words… and so delighted that Dennis reposted this, I lover magical conversations and to me they are the dance between us and fill the sacred space we share as we talk… since writing this so much has evolved even more – covid – pandemic – lockdown – growth of my wise tribe who meet and dance every second Monday of each month – I have leaned so much more about the DANCE!!! Do join us and discover the real synergy I am here to help create for a new narrative for #lifeatwork…. I’d love to meet you in person! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWlKD0AO3jI
Smiles
Pauline
Brilliant Pauline! Yes, I’ve found that acting on loving intention gives a rhythm to all things. Including conversations and work. Thanks for all the images of flow. Flow, for me, gives me a feeling like walking more easily… reminding me fondly of walking long ago on the sand of the sea.
blessings,
Cynthia
Dear Cynthia
Thank you for your words, so appreciated and am honored to receive. I love that idea of flowing and since writing this piece so much has happened. I hope you are safe and well and flowing!
smiles
Pauline
Thank you for this creative and thoughtful piece. I love the way you use the analogy of dance, sailing, and conversations. There is Instruction and flow and methodology and correction and variation and cooperation —- I can see how our conversations and ability to relate to each other is like a dance. As I read I was thinking of all the virtual concerts and choirs that have come together to share music that soothes. Life has changed, but the basics of humanity have not. We will all be dancing to a new beat, sailing into the wind. How we react to what comes will determine how well our dance flows and how calm our seas are.
Thank you Jane, much appreciated. Life today has changed forever and so this dance for humanity has been calling us all for a long time. What we do now counts. I would love to chat anytime and ripple this message out. The dance steps between men and women to co-parent a new and more human heart focused future is key. I have designed #genderdynamicsmap and my vision is to leave a legacy that we rid our world of prejudice and arguments over differences. Instead the dance is harmony and value of each unique person for who they are.
Thank you for this, Pauline! I appreciate your emphasis on dance and relating to all kinds of flow. I adore dancing. If I hear a song, dancing often calls to me. I believe not people can respond. I wrote about this in my book. Right now, if I had the time, I would get up and dance.💖
Thanks Darlene,
I love your response and so many people feel like dancing…we can ripple this energy out into our world, it would make our world flow so much better! smiles Pauline