Dancing in the Rain

Just a few years ago we took a trip deep into Mexico. One of the stops was in the jungle mountain town of Xilitia where the eccentric architectural work of Edward James is located. The place is amazing. The main part of Xilitia is across a lush green valley from the Edward James exhibit. After touring the exhibit we traveled across the valley into the colonial downtown area. It was Sunday. The market was thriving with hundreds of shoppers and there was a festival taking place. Part of the festival, features a big dance floor in the heart of the town. The live music was wonderful and even though I had never danced the Mexican dance, Huapango, I was enchanted with the enormous amount of energy and pure enjoyment emanating from the hundreds of dancers, so I jumped in! After a few songs and getting my heart rate up to 1,000 beats per minute, I got the basics down, so I danced and danced and danced. Suddenly one of the regular and fierce afternoon rain showers blew in and to my astonishment, nobody stopped. Not the musicians or the dancers or me. It was wonderful and liberating. Dancing in the rain that Sunday afternoon reminded me that far too often we get stuck in doing what we have always done and fear letting go. You cannot dance in the rain while holding onto your image or giving any concern to what others think of you. There will be days that are overwhelming and you feel that you are not getting anywhere because what you are doing does not appear to be working, the clouds of doubt will gather. On those days I strongly encourage you to take a step back, let go, listen to the music in your soul and "dance in the rain"!