#57: Quote - Synchronicity

Synchronicity is a sign that the universe is working with us, or perhaps more accurately, that we are working in harmony with the universe.

~ Wayne Visser, 2007

#56: Poetry - Names

NAMES
By Wayne Visser

Names are tangled pathways to meaning
And secret tunnels to hidden treasure
Names are skeleton keys to sacred symbols
And enigmatic codes to scrambled messages

Names connect together
And affirm uniqueness
Names resonate with power
And quiver with subtlety
Names build bridges
And break down walls

Names are echoing voices of the past
And shimmering visions of the future
Names are the silky touch of the now
And the delicate breath of all eternity

(2005)

#55: Poem - Skylight

SKYLIGHT
By Wayne Visser

Sky of mauve
Clouds alight
Pink and peach
Pure delight!

(2007)

#54: Quote - Certainty

Life comes with no guarantees; nor does love.

~ Wayne Visser, 2007

#53: Prose - Dancing

DANCING
By Wayne Visser

Why does dancing feel so good?
Could it be that we were all born to dance?

Dancing is as natural as breathing and no less vital.
It is not something we have to be taught when we are young.
Yet we learn to stop doing it as we get older.

Dancing is music in motion.
It is what happens when we hear the beat and feel the rhythm.

What is your favourite dance music?
What gets your finger tapping and your head bobbing, your hips shaking and your feet stamping?
When can you no longer resist the urge to get up and dance?

Dance works as a universal language because it is so diverse.
One size never fits all.
But dance comes in infinite shapes and sizes.
There are cultural dances and national dances, traditional dances and modern dances.
You can choose jazz or cabaret, Latin or ballroom.
Do you love ballet, or are you a disco diva?
Maybe you can break-dance or whirl like a dervish?

Each tide of music makes its own waves of dance.
Like the gravitational pull of the moon, we feel the tug of dance on the sea of our emotions.
We move to the music not because we think we should, but because we feel we must.

Dancing is not an instruction of the mind, but an expression of the heart.
We dance because it allows us to let go of something inside, to give vent to our inner wildness.
Dancing lets us be a child again, footloose and carefree.
It gives us permission to connect with that part of ourselves which does not question, which acts rather than thinks, which moves because it feels right, not because there is a good reason to do so.

Dance is the quintessence of harmony – harmony between time and space, music and movement, beat and step.
Dance is an exhibition of beauty, the perfect choreography of resonance – motion is in tune with emotion, sway echoes sound, pattern weaves design.

Dancers are the living expression of Tao, the way of flow – they swirl to the eddies of song, glide to trickle of composition and churn to the whitewater rapids of the beat.

When music plays and we stand still, we are out of kilter.
Sound demands motion.
Music without dance is dissonance, an unnatural stemming of the tide, a dam wall cutting off the river from its source.

Why then do we so often ignore the call to dance?
Have we become deaf to the music?
Perhaps we have forgotten what moves us?
Or are we simply afraid of what others might think?

We have been tricked into believing that there is a right and a wrong way to dance, a better and a worse way.
How tragic.
We should be celebrating our own unique style of dancing, making our footprint on the sands of time, like all those before us since time immemorial.

Just as no one can tell us what kind of music moves us, so no one can judge the way we dance.
Dance in a crowd, dance with a partner, or dance alone – whatever makes you feel good.
And if others think we can not dance, it is only because they do not understand what moves us.

Dancing, when it happens spontaneously, is a match made in heaven.
It is a state of pure being, of oneness with the universe.
When we dance, we hear the echo of the primordial drum beat, we dip our oar into the river of rhythm through the ages, and we throb to the very pulse of life itself.

Do you know what music moves you?
Play it now, even if just in your head, and watch yourself dance through the day.

(2005)

#52: Quote - Theatre

Theatre is where we go to let others expose who we are.

~ Wayne Visser, 2005

#51: Poem - Look Up!

LOOK UP!
By Wayne Visser

When you’re feeling brown
Look up, not down
Don’t fret or frown
Don’t dig a hole
Don’t be a mole
There’s nothing much that’s up
When you are underground
Instead, the thing I’ve found
Is that if I build a mound
I’m already much more such more up
Than ever I was down

And if you’re feeling sad
It’s not so bad
So don’t get mad
Rather think of all the good things
Like chocolate books and magic rings
And flying without feathered wings
Or think of something really fun
Like playing in the sparkly sun
And belly laughing with someone
Or anything makes you glad
Just not what makes you sad

And if you’re feeling low
Don’t stop, just go
Go fast, not slow
Go with the flow
Or plant a seed of happy thoughts
And watch it sprout and grow
Then climb your wavy happy tree
And from the top you’ll see, you’ll see
You’ll almost touch the sky
And when you are so high, you’ll know
That you’re no longer low

So when your sky is cloudy
Be bright, not dowdy
In fact be downright rowdy
Jump and dance and scream and shout
Don’t keep it in, just let it out
And if you’re loud and clear
The sun might even hear
And come out from its hiding place
And show its warm bright shining face
And say to you a sunny “Howdy …
Look up! It’s clear not cloudy”

(2007)