Changing Lives through Dancing
by David Woodbury – Arthur Murray Santa Monica
The three major causes of illness are:
Fear
Anger
Depression (Sadness)
Why do I write about such a sad, dark subject? Well, for most people, the past three years have been very challenging. At home, work, school, worship, health, career, family and friendships. All our lives were touched in some way by the pandemic.
I address fear, anger and depression like this. Dancing will be a great release valve in your life. Your fear will disappear on the first lesson as you feel yourself naturally moving taking your very first dance steps.
Anger, my philosophy is this…Anger is like you drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. If you have anger against someone, they probably don’t even know it, and spreading that anger to others is just destructive. Let it go. Try this, take up Tango lessons. It will get all that anger out of you and make you a great dancer in the process.
Depression. How can you approach that? We’ll I’ll give you the King James Version. The moment you begin ballroom dancing, you don’t have any energy for depression. Dancing puts you directly in the moment and you cannot worry about yesterday or tomorrow, and the dancing will demand all your present positive thoughts and energies.
Dancing combines movement and music. Partnership and connection. It makes your mind come alive and it’s just like singing a song. You learn the notes, memorize the phrases, and put it all together and sing.
You can only be happy when your dancing. Enjoy the moment. Turn off you phone notifications. In fact, mute your phone and leave it on the bench as you’re dancing. All that noise and stuff will not go anywhere, and it will still be waiting for you. After your time on the dance floor, you’ll be happier and stronger as your messages and emails.
Don’t be afraid of the darkness of life. Flip on the switch and turn on a light. The darkness will flee. The beautiful morning sun will rise. I release my anger daily. Each day I pray for more courage to overcome my fears. And I believe in the magic of dance to put a pep in my step and a smile on my face. Try a bit of dancing, you’ll be like a new person and you’ll have a little fun and be glad that you ‘tripped the light fantastic’!
Thanks for reading. Keep on Dancing. Don’t give up. It will get better.
Love to you all,
David Woodbury – Franchisee of Arthur Murray Santa Monica, CA