The Embrace

Life is not personal and it is ----

​What if it wasn’t an accusation but an awareness I could hear?
 
I love to dance and Argentine Tango is my favorite form. It’s all about connection and presence of one step at a time. I take lessons and practice several times a week.

One key element to dance is the embrace. The embrace is how you hold your dance partner. It is the connection and the space created with the embrace is the co-created dance space that is part of what makes dancing so satisfying. You can imagine my surprise when I found out that, to my instructor, my embrace was “nothing”.

​Tango is a metaphor for my life. If life is not flowing, it shows up in my dance. If I’m feeling good, confident and strong that also shows up in my dance. Tango, for me, allows me to see, hear, feel and have awareness around my life. So what is this saying to me? Now, I could take it as a criticism or even an accusation. That would be a story my ego would like to tell me. That is not what is going on here. What is happening is I am gaining information and awareness so I could make a different choice. One of my dance partners is saying to me that my embrace, my connection is not present enough for him to feel it. Awareness is the first step to change. If you’re not aware, you cannot make a different choice.
 
What IF the perceive criticism, accusation or complaint is really the best way I could receive awareness about something I would like to make a different choice around?
What IF my embrace was showing me how I am holding back instead of engaging?
 
Do you have an activity that acts like a metaphor in your life that you can use as an awareness tool you have yet to recognize?

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