The title is a parody of one of my dance or chorus instructors (actually more than one!) They used to have you do things, over and over, and usually it was "Do it, once more, but with FEELING!" If you've ever had that person, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It makes me laugh now, but at the time, it always minorly annoyed me, because who knew which feeling we were supposed to be experiencing? *shrug* So, here I am now, taking some quotes and trying to share them, but this time (unlike the last brain dumps of quotes); I'm going to touch on the amorphous stuff about why THESE quotes. What some of the things in my head come back with right now. I selected the corsage as the picture because it is a bit like that... a bunch of ideas that originally were disparate, but somehow, I've tied them into one bundle in my skull.
I thought about all of the people in my life, including myself, and all of the things we were faced with and how in the end there was no turning back. We really were where we were. There was no way to turn around. The point is that we all need to stop and take a breath and deal with whatever. That's why there's a line in "Breathe" that says, "Life is like an hourglass glued to the table," and I find that as a metaphor so incredibly true because time doesn't go backwards. Once it falls through, there's no taking it back, but we make the best of it. - Anna Nalick
Anna Nalick also has this to say:
I find that in the end that with most things that I write about or most things that I feel that even if I might be a little bit afraid or even though I might meet with a lot of trepidation, that it always ends up I'd rather do it and totally screw it up then never do it all and look back and wish. That's actually why I called the album, Wreck of the Day. It's because I find that a lot of the songs sing about having something go wrong or having something that I'm worried about or having something that I'm not feeling entirely OK about, but finding a way to "Just Breathe" or just go ahead and jump in with both feet. Wreck of the Day means to me that every day there's something and sometimes it's minor and sometimes it's a big deal. Every day there's something to overcome, but I know that I'm going to make it through whatever today's issue is and it will make me that much smarter so that tomorrow it will be a little easier.
It's funny, because this sequence of quotes leads to another part of a song about "I can't stop thinking about it, over and over again...It's all in my head, but I can't stop..." and that's a lot of what resonates with these quotes. The idea that we are taught as children to set and accomplish goals, objectives. We have this idea that as adults, we have "grand plans"; but we really don't. We muddle along as the stars in our own personal soap operas of which we are the perpetual protagonist; editing things as we go. Trying to make ourselves feel / look / seem / be better. But somehow, we do manage to keep learning. Another year goes by and we notice that things have changed. We have changed. Maybe not the way we plan, but in some way. And then you start to wonder if it's the right change, is it enough change, etc. Suddenly, one is spiralling down a road of evaluating all of these 'changes' but since there IS no empirical measuring stick, there is no real resolution. Just death. But that's not something that allows for change of the "person" in question. *shrug* Deep thoughts? I don't know. Maybe it's the age bracket; maybe it's the upheaval going on. Any which way you look at it, it comes back to me trying to find my way 'forward' one step at a time, and not really being sure of what forward is, or sometimes even why I'm going in any particular direction.
Woman is the goddess, the poetess, the muse. That is why I have a company of beautiful girl dancers. I believe that the same is true of life, that everything a man does he does for his ideal woman. You live only one life, and you believe in something, and I believe in a little thing like that.” — George Balanchine
This one just makes me laugh. As a modern dancer, Balanchine had a lot of indirect impact on my life. To find out that he had this opinion makes it, him, the movements he created make more sense. He had this much passion about this as well as how to express it through motion? What a wonderful thing. For me, dance or any other physical activity has always been a bit like meditation. It takes SO much to execute a move well that there's no space left for introversion, thinking, analyzing, over-analyzing. All I'm left with at the end is the joy of the motion, and the way I feel when I've done it to the best of my ability. Maybe it's me trying to live up to something that touches on muse or the creative force that exists, but it's such a great head space to be in.
"Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better." - King Whitney Jr
This one is somewhat cautionary to me as well as inspiring. I'm dealing with a lot of change at the same time in my life right now. I'm generally not fond of rocking too many boats that I'm trying to stand on at once. But to remember that it's all in how you view it, reminds me to sit back and (as the first quote says) "just breathe". Try and pick at least a karma neutral if not a karma positive route through all the things going on. Try and find a way to use the energy that is created by change in a positive, creative way.
Shouldn't things be different than they are now? Shouldn't I have certain things in place? Even as I write this, I know it isn't really true and yet the feeling is still there. We all have our version of this. We all thought that by now (whatever age that is) life would look a certain way. Our shite would be "together", we'd be stable or with partner or family or house or with record deal or whatever... -Andrea
Last one. This is the one that sums up the loop for me (since all these quotes go in a loop to me right now.) As one of my co-workers likes to say "we need to work on getting our faeces consolidated." But then again, do we? What does getting it together mean? Where does this expectation come from? Is it the right expectation for me? Is it any more right than I would get if I flipped a coin? What drives this, what drives me? Lately, I don't know. I feel like the wheels have come free of the track, and I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. *g* I guess that's what we call life, and like anything else that's related to our day to day existence, I'll have to get back to you on how it turns out.
Posted by dancingblonde
at 6:10 PM PST
