"I'd like to find a partner who dances. Do you?" my profile on Match.com asked. My now-husband Drew emailed that he was willing to take lessons, and that was enough for me. Non-dancer Drew�s courage to put himself out on the dance floor and to show in lesson after lesson his amateur status was truly impressive. We took private dance instruction for a year before our wedding, and as a result, got around the dance floor quite gracefully at our reception.Women are dying to dance. Any man who can ask a woman to dance, then take charge of what happens on the floor and move relatively smoothly to music, has enormous appeal. Fat or skinny, short, tall, or not even close to attractive, even old, old, old, a man who is comfortable on the dance floor has his pick of the ladies.For whatever the reason, dancing intoxicates. Especially women.Few men can really dance, and those guys are on the floor constantly. Some men think they can dance and do get up, ask the ladies, and have fun. But at least half the men sit or stand uncomfortably on the sidelines with all the women who wish to be on the dance floor. We women don't get to dance nearly as much as we'd like to, even the ladies who are good dancers. There aren't enough dancing men to go around. You can almost feel the yearning, the sadness, and the disappointment in those women and between those non-dancing couples. And the non-dancing guys? Pathetic.I personally know three women close to my age who met their now - spouses on the dance floor, and those ladies were great catches! Gentlemen and ladies, there's a message here. Guys: 1. Take lessons and learn how to dance. Leading well takes skill, but if Drew could learn how, so can you.2. Go to dances. 3. Ask women to dance. Lots of women. They'll love it. Even if you aren't so good, they'll appreciate your efforts. Dance lessons themselves are good places to meet women, and most dance studios have regular parties for their students to practice what they have learned.Ladies: 1. Take dancing lessons yourself and learn how to follow. Here I was, 50 years old, thinking I loved to dance, and I had no idea how to do the woman's part! Following takes skill! You have to figure out what your partner has in mind for you to do in a split second, and then actually do it, all while dancing backwards.2. Buy yourself some real ballroom dancing shoes, maybe with high heels. Believe it or not, those shoes are comfortable. They have to be. Not only do they look very sexy, they stay on your feet!3. Hang out at dances, too, if you like to dance. Single guys go to dances. If you are connected to a dance studio, other single women will be at their parties as well as the studio instructors and male students, so you will know people. Dance parties are safe and comfortable for single women.Guys -- nothing enhances as man's romantic marketability more than becoming a decent dancer. Learning to dance is cost efficient and relatively painless. No surgery or blood loss, no sweaty hours at the gym, no personality makeovers needed. Just dance lessons. What's stopping you? Look up the dance studio nearest you and make that call! You'll become a dancing babe magnet!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
CAN PEOPLE REALLY CHANGE?
MOST PEOPLE NEVER REALLY CHANGE
Sad, but true.
Some people never even try.
But those of us who do – and I assume that you are in that group – often experience great frustration and disappointment as we encounter the same limitations over and over again.
Life can start to seem downright repetitive.
CREATING SOMETHING FROM NOTHING
Why is it that in most cases your life keeps looking like some variation of whatever you’ve experienced before?
The answer is: because you are creating something from something. You’re attempting to create a new and different future based on the limitations of your past.
Imagine that you are a potter and you have a piece of clay. You can study your craft and make pots that are smoother, sturdier, or more beautiful than before. But when all is said and done, they’re still just clay pots.
Who says you have to be a potter? And who says you can only make things out of clay?
G-D CREATES SOMETHING FROM NOTHING
There is a fundamental kabbalistic principle of Creation known as ‘yesh m’ayin’ – something from nothing.
This principle explains that G-d is bringing the entire world, including you, into existence from absolute nothingness at every moment.
G-d didn’t create this world once and withdraw back into Heaven, where He supervises from a distance and intervenes when appropriate. Rather, He is actively and intentionally speaking the world into existence from nothing in the present moment, again and again and again. In fact, if G-d would stop creating this world – with all of its myriad details – at any moment, the world and everything in it would disappear as if it had never been.
Based on this, two things are clear:
1.The world has no existence outside of G-d. Everything we experience in life is part of G-d and His intention and purpose for Creation.
2.G-d desires the world – and you – with an intense and personal desire. Everything you do has great meaning and significance to Him. That’s why He keeps on creating you.
Remember those old commercials where a little kid said something like: “I must be good because G-d made me, and G-d doesn’t make junk”?
Actually, the truth is much more powerful than that. G-d doesn’t make anything or anyone without a profound purpose. He passionately desires you and just as passionately wants you to desire Him. And He is waiting - with bated breath - for you to embrace the Divine purpose for which you have been created. To make your life, your relationships and your circumstances a “dwelling place” for the Divine.
WHAT’S NOTHINGNESS?
G-d creates from Nothing because Nothingness, ayin, actually means absolute, infinite possibility. No limitations. No restrictions. None at all.
When you don’t need to be any particular something, you’re free to be anything. Kabbalah calls this infinite potential nothingness – not because there’s nothing there, but because there are absolutely no limitations that define or restrict this infinite possibility in any way.
YOU’RE ALREADY CREATING SOMETHING FROM NOTHING
As a human beings created in the image of G-d, you are also empowered to create something from nothing. And you do, all the time.
Unfortunately, most of the time what we create from nothing are the stories about what we can’t do, aren’t capable of, will never have – together with all the reasons why.
These stories are continuously being recreated from nothing in each of our lives. But unlike G-d, who creates consciously, we create this reality unconsciously. It’s a sort of default programming. Yes, I understand that you have reasons for what you believe, but those reasons, while they may help to explain your past, do not have the power to limit your future. Unless you think they do, and act accordingly.
Most of us don’t wake up in the morning in awe of our own potential, in touch with our Divine purpose, filled with the joy of life, ready to create. More often we wake up all-too-conscious of our limitations, our disappointments, our frustrations, our unfulfilled needs, and the burdensome problems we need to solve. No wonder so many of us are worn out before we even get out of bed.
HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON
You might have read a cute little children’s book called “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. In this book, Harold, a baby, draws things with his purple crayon on his bedroom walls. He draws things like castles, mountains, roads and tigers. The interesting part is that then Harold climbs the mountains, runs down the roads, explores the castles and runs away from the tigers. Sometimes he gets so far into the picture that he can’t figure out how to get home again – but then, he just takes his purple crayon and draws the road back.
Harold is always creating something from nothing.
YOU CAN CREATE SOMETHING FROM NOTHING TOO
Your life, your present and future, is actually an ayin – nothing. Yes, as a soul in a specific physical body, there are some limits to what you can create.
But you have no idea what they are.
- - Do you want to experience unconditional love? How would you behave if you were committed to love others unconditionally, especially those people who long for your love? Your parents. Your children. Your spouse. Your friends. What if you noticed, accepted and appreciated the way they love you – even if it doesn’t yet look exactly the way you want it to look?
What might happen today if you behaved that way? What if you stayed committed to that experience over time – what might happen to your most intimate relationships, your family, your community, your world? Don’t shortchange yourself by skipping over this question. Really think about it.
- - Do you want to experience your power to live as a creator rather than a victim in your life? How would you behave if you refused to let your fears and past failures put any limits on what you do right now?
What would you do that you’ve been putting off? What else? What might you actually create or achieve over time if you do those things? And perhaps even more important, what would life be like for you right now if you choose to be a person who isn’t stopped by fear?
Do you want to be more intimately in touch with your Creator and your Divine purpose? How would you behave if you were a person committed to seeing G-d’s intimate, infinite and loving presence in all aspects of your life? What if every action you take was based on the assumption that nothing is wrong – because G-d is intentionally, creating your world right now on behalf of your ultimate purpose and fulfillment?
What might your life be like – today – if you behaved that way? How about your relationships? Your energy? Your happiness? Your peace of mind?
HOW TO CREATE MIRACLES
Like a farmer who tills his field, plants seeds, waters and tends them, sometimes it can take time to see the results of your efforts. But if you are willing to create something from nothing, you don’t have to twiddle your thumbs while you wait for things to grow. The very decision to be a creator in your own life brings with it some powerful, intrinsic rewards; rewards like joy, fulfillment - and miracles.
