Thursday, May 27, 2010

Wind, Sand and Dance




A little spontaneous magic appeared before me on the beach. This sweet couple just dropped their things in the sand and started dancing...their music of choice, surf and wind...their love for each other was unmistakable.

When you stumble upon moments such as these, when you don't see them coming, and they just quietly present themselves to you, how can you not feel that the beauty in this world is absolutely everywhere, and hopelessly uncontainable? Life is SO BEAUTIFUL.

I can't help but think about my brother when I watch this movie. As an artist, he is always seeking new ways to explore the world around him. He is in the midst of a creative project. He has decided to fall into silence for an unknown period of time and learn to communicate with the people around him in different ways....deeper ways...connecting without the distraction of language. It must be challenging. And he is no doubt learning a great deal about himself in the process.

And even though I am not in silence myself, I find myself noticing how much more there is to connecting that goes so much deeper than simply conversing through words. I watched these two dancing and not only did I get a sense of how they felt for each other, just by the way they were moving with each other...but I could also feel myself connecting to them as I shared this fleeting moment with them on the beach. And if it were possible to actually see connection in a tangible way, I believe I would have seen strings joining this couple to everyone that surrounded them on the beach that day.

How many people strolling the beach paused to watch their graceful twirls? How many smiled and felt a wave of love pass through them? Am I the only one that passed this story along? Who else on the beach was moved by this beauty and felt a subtle rush of seeing something extraordinary?

What a wonderful feeling... to be a part of something... a connection among a beach of strangers.
Not one word spoken. And through this experience I gain some understanding about my brother and why he feels the need to find meaning in the silence. There are as many ways to connect as there are drops in that magnificent ocean...language is only one of them.