The Dance of Life

Stop. Take a deep breath and step back from the dance of life for a moment. I know, I know the music (the excitement and struggles of life) is making it hard for your limbs to stay still and all you want to do is sway to the beats, but I want you to step back for a moment. Go on take a few steps back, let the sweat dry off a little and for the high to drain off a little.
Look at the crowd dancing, some are filled with joy, others are clearly in agony and some are just swaying because of the nudges and stares they get. Think back to when you were dancing, there were moments of joy, frustration, disinterest and maybe even total agony. The common thing among all these moments is that even though we choose our dance moves we are not in full control; our moves depend on the music, the space available and there are times when the person next to us is forcing our hands into a bhangra move, this is luck, also we move without giving it much thought. Luck controls the dance of life more than we want to accept (especially when we achieve something).
The same way we move through life flailing our limbs in desperation as if we are drowning in the miseries of life, but we need to be aware of our moments and the beauty of life. Stepping back from the dance for a moment helps with this awareness, because when we step back and realize that most people are moving instinctively, scared to make a crappy move. We do the same thing; we do our jobs to grab a promotion, go through our chores mechanically, never stopping to question the meaning behind our actions and the lack of awareness also robs us of experiencing life completely. If we start questioning our actions we might add and get rid of many things, and the increased awareness will slow down life making us feel the smallest of movements.
Now that we have more awareness and our questioning our actions as well as the situations we find ourselves in, let’s talk about luck, something we all might have thought about at least at some point in our lives. In my opinion, luck makes up at least seventy percent of the trajectory of our life. Just like you don’t dance off-beat or do a move which requires a lot of space when you are cramped between people, the same way our environment, situations, and the people around us do build a major part of the path of our life. Whenever someone across the room is impressed by our moves we puff up our chests, but whenever someone finds a fault we blame the person forcing us into bhangra, the space or the DJ’s taste of music; the same we let all ‘our’ achievements inflate our egos, but blame the situation or the people around us. Then we hear motivational speakers say that we create our own luck, do we? If someone bumps into you spilling their coffee all over you just before an interview, was it because of you? What is in our hands is how we react and handle the situation.
Some might ask what is the point of trying or working if seventy percent of the results depend on luck. I believe that the thirty percent which is in our hands makes a lot of difference, not just because it still is a significant number and in life, we need to take advantage of even the slightest opportunity, but also because the other seventy percent is influenced by the thirty percent in our control.
Think of a game of dice, if you roll the dice and strategically plan your moves there is a chance of winning, but even if you have the best strategy you might end up losing. On the other hand, if you refuse to roll the dice you for sure will never win, or if you roll the dice but don’t plan your moves there is only a slight chance of you winning. The numbers we get to control our movements on the board, but which piece we move is in our hands.
It is time to get back on the stage, dance away!