How do you practice gratitude with your body?
Sometimes I feel like my gratitude is a conscious practice, a skill I am developing. It’s a list I make, or the blessing I say over my meal.
Other times, gratitude feels more like an attitude of my heart. It springs from deep trust and connection to my love for the universe.
When my lists of things to do feel overwhelming, I know I’ve lost connection to this root. Instead I’m striving to do enough, earn enough, or be enough. Making a gratitude list might even feel just like another to-do.
My most trustworthy route back to connection to creation and my gratitude for all things is through moving my body. As I dance, the to-do lists fade away. Instead I am a wave, a spiral, a tree. I am the ebb and flow of creation. I feel how I am part of these regenerative cycles. I dance my trust in life’s ability to renew.
As I dance, I open to gratitude. I feel gratitude for how a failed pitch to teach dance in one venue led to the inspiration to launch what is now a blossoming Romani dance series. I feel gratitude for my buoyant, extroverted daughter whose chatter stretches this introvert to open further to passion and co-creation. I am grateful that needing to earn a living makes me listen more deeply to the world’s needs, not just what I want.
Even when you are challenged, can you greet the world with gratitude?
Here’s my vision for this upcoming Thanksgiving holiday: After enjoying a feast with people you love, push back the table, turn on your favorite music, and dance. Dance your love for the world. With every move, may gratitude shine out of you like radiant light.
p.s. Many thanks to Wisdom Dances donors who helped raise over $1,000 for projects in the coming year. Opa!
