Cycles

Cycles

The older I get and hopefully wiser I get, I’m learning to respect cycles and rhythms of my life and of life in general.

 I have this thing where I want to be positive and “happy” all the time and at times, I forget that life has cycles.  Friendships have cycles, moods, emotions and feelings have cycles and that everything can’t always stay the same.

 There is a rhythm to life.  It makes me think of West African rhythms. I’ve been taking dance class since I was 14 and I’ve learned to recognize certain rhythms played on the drums.  When I first started, I had to be taught, I had to listen to catch the rhythm and to start to connect the dance steps to the rhythm.

Sometimes, when I go to dance class now, there are certain rhythms that I recognize more easily than others. Some rhythms are fast which means faster syncopated dance steps to accompany them. Some rhythms are much slower and require a different type of finesse.

I’ve learned that different West African rhythms represent different cycles of life and therefore also obviously incorporate different moves and dances.

When I think about life and my life specifically and trying to navigate change, rhythms and cycles, I know that certain experiences require that I adopt a certain rhythm, that I pay attention to whatever cycle I’m in.

Recently, I’ve been learning how to manage professional stress in a different way and to say the least, it hasn’t been the easiest.  I’ve tried to use old tactics and strategies but I’m starting to understand that this experience requires that I adapt to a new rhythm, that I learn how to navigate the change in tempo, the introduction of new moves even if at times, I feel like I have two left feet.

I don’t like it and I want to move on to another rhythm with new and or different moves but what I’ve learned from dancing for 20 years now is that:

“Practice makes perfect.”

When I first heard the rhythms in the dance studio at 14, I didn’t even know when to start dancing, I couldn’t understand the language being spoken to me but I just kept going week after week, month after month and then one day, well two years in, I started to speak back.

My body, heart and mind recognized  the rhythm and it felt like flow.

It felt natural, like magic, like all time disappeared when I was dancing.

I try and remember that, that when learning a new rhythm in my life whether it’s personal or professional, it takes time even if I want to speed through the “ugly” and uncomfortable phase of learning.

 There are rhythms and cycles to everything in life and once we acknowledge that, we can listen and learn how to move and operate so that our lives move and operate with those flows.

Tap in in the comments: What cycles are you currently traversing and navigating and what are you learning?