Saturday, January 23, 2010

Lessons from my Dance Bag

     "Wow, what a mess," I thought as I dug around in my dance bag looking for what I needed. I don't know why I was thinking that, because this wasn't any different from the other times I've had to go clawing through it. My bag's got the usual stuff that dancers have to have in it, obviously shoes, all kind of shoes, very worn shoes, along with Tylenol, bobby pins, needle and thread, band-aids, ribbons, elastic, fray check, screwdriver, wrench, sweat towel, CD's, extra skirts, extra tights, extra shoes ( in case of a blow out), extra stuff, water, power bars, along with some giblet stuff on the bottom.
 
     In my bag are all the things that I might need as I do the dance thing. Now, let me say, I am a minimalist. I know it doesn't sound like it considering everything I carry around, but I am. That's why my bag looks like it does, messy and mangled. Minimalist don't like a bunch of clutter, just the necessities. I've always said that if I was stranded on a desert island all I would need would be my Bible, a knife, and some mascara and I could make it fine. But.......I have all this stuff in my bag. Did I mention that it weighs about a ton or that I can only carry it on my left shoulder? My right shoulder has never allowed me to put any strappy thing over it, it slides right off. I think that my right shoulder isn't as broad as my left.....anyway, because of the left shoulder favoritism I have a 5 degree curve on my spine that pulls to the left from all of those years that I have toted a bag around. I'm also a loyalist, I will hang tough with you and I will also hang onto a thing that I have until it is absolutely undesirable to everyone else. Just like a dance bag, I'll keep one until it just begs to be repaired or retired. 

     So, as I 'm looking at my bag and saying, "wow, what a mess",  I'm thinking that this bag is an expression of me, the contents reveal who I am and what I do. So then I think about how it's the same with my body that totes around my spirit and my soul (my will, my intellect, my emotions) and THAT REALLY can make me say, "wow, what a mess"! What do my contents say about who I really am and what I really do? I hate fake! I require genuineness from others as well as from myself. I'm like a cowboy from the old west, I shoot straight from the hip and lay all my cards out on the table. I guess that's why I can let others see the contents of my imperfect bag while my minimalist self is screaming..."I really don't live like this"!! I live by the philosophy of 'organize now or agonize later'. But yet, my contents are all jumbled.

     As part of my desire to become a better me this year, I want to clean out my bag. Throw away what's unnecessary, mend what's torn and, keep what's useful for my benefit. Unnecessary stuff would be things like, letting go of good ideas and doing God ideas instead, comparing myself among others, and letting perfectly good gifts and talents go to waste. Mending what's torn would require me to fix some breaches (not britches), patch some holey relationships, and repair some broken dreams. Lastly, things that are useful and beneficial would be to remember that, IT IS NOT ABOUT ME, none of it, name it and it isn't about me. With a world filled to capacity with others, I would say because of Him, it is about others. My dance bag is filled with necessary things so I can impact others with its contents and so am I.

 

1 comment:

  1. Wow Mrs. Jeanna! That is so cool how you can relate your dance bag to your life! It makes me stop and think what "earthly" things I can use to apply to me life! Thanks for sharing this!
    Love you!

    ReplyDelete

 
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