Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Dance/Love/Sing/Live

There is a saying...

Dance like nobody's watching;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Sing like nobody's listening;
Live like it's heaven on earth.

It's all over posters and pictures and journal covers... But the interesting thing is that people aren't quite sure who coined the phrase. Some attribute it to Mark Twain, although it is very un-Twainish. Others attribute it to William Purkey, but even his original words have been tweaked a bit into this version. It's interesting how things can get out there on the internet and then metamorphose into something else... and then it spreads out into the world and we all see it and even quote it... but have not idea where it started...

Some people treat the quote as kind of "ick"... saying it looks like something created for a church bulletin or Reader's Digest. But... I'm thinking wisdom can come to us in many guises and we can ignore the wisdom if we don't like the messenger...

So, what would it be like to dance as if nobody was watching, to love as if you've never been hurt, to sing as if nobody's listening... to live as if it is heaven on earth.... In my mind, that would require us to live with complete and utter wholeheartedness... to let go of the past and of all of our fears and to leap out into the unknown with passion and hope and excitement and adventure...

Or we could...

Not dance, cause everybody's watching,
Not love, because we've been hurt too many times,
Not sing, because everyone's listening,
Not live, because life's going to heck in a hand basket...

our choice...

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