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An ode to the delights of movement, and a rant against the grammar of body language.
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whenever there is a raised curb, retaining wall, plant box etc.. I always jump up on it and balance-walk across it. I always will. I'm 35 years old now and I'll do it when I'm 53 etc. Jump up, throw my arms out to the side like I'm on a tight rope and walk toe-to-heel like I'm taking an elevated sobriety test.... and I always pass :)
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thenewgreen · 4619 days ago · link ·
I really enjoyed this quote from your teacher:
"It doesn’t matter whether you’re dancing, walking down the street, partying with friends, or slaving your way through a dead-end job. Every bit of how you’ll feel, and how you’ll be received, comes down to whether or not you choose to be present in what you’re doing. To celebrate and embrace the moment, the experience, and not to sleep-walk through any part of it. To be, in this way, totally alive". This is fantastic advice. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to remain present at all times, even when you know it is pure joy.
This is what I think Heminway was referring to in "a Farewell to Arms" when he writes: "He had always known what I did not know and what, when I learned it, I was always able to forget".
I wish it weren't so easy to "forget". I really enjoyed this post cW, you're a great writer. Keep 'em coming!
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So _that's_ what he means! I love it. It's a really good guess anyway. That quote has always been a great example to me of the "second language of poetry," as Donald Hall calls it, where you feel intuitively the truth of what is being said, but can't for the life of you pin specific and concrete meaning to it.
As Eckhart Tolle observes, the physical body is the gateway to "the now." I find it significant that dance, more than most things, drives the mind back into the body. Thanks a ton for your thoughts. More soon, I hope. (Oh, and if you're interested, check out Halls essay in "Claims for Poetry," p. 142, #6, at http://tinyurl.com/3uc7bd7)
This is one of the most refreshing reads I've had in a while. I think sometimes notions of maturity might bring us to an early demise, just because we stop moving in a youthful way. Moving in a serious manner to show we are of a serious mind. I'm in my 30s now. I still balance on parking blocks, I still hop up on a planter rather than change my course. I can!
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Great news! What the world needs now is more real play, more joy, and less consumption masked as fun. And yeah, I think our concepts of maturity or, as I like to call it, the myth of growing up, are as harmful to true vitality as anything ever was. Now, I'm experiencing a sudden urge to rewatch office space ...