When the weight of life is pressing down, do like Kevin Bacon in “Footloose”, turn up the music and dance. 

“Oh, I don’t dance,” some of you are saying right now. 

Sure, you do.  Everyone has danced.  It looked more like spinning and falling down, as a toddler.  But were you embarrassed?  No.  You giggled, stood up, and did it again. The travesty of growing up is that we allow the fear of embarrassment to mask the joy we once felt moving our bodies to a “dope beat.”  Turn off that critical brain of yours, and remember your inner toddler.  You don’t have to bust-it-out like those on “So you think you can dance” to have a good time.    

I am thankful for a mother who taught me this principle.  Growing up, I spent many afternoons dancing with her and my siblings.  We chuckled at my mom’s “pony” (it’s an old fashioned bouncy dance move) and her version of the “Rodger Rabbit”, but she never let it stop her.  And now my children laugh at me.  And rightly so.  My shimmy and hip-sways aren’t nearly as sexy as I once thought they were, but who cares.  I’m passing on the freeing power of dance.  Now stop taking yourself so seriously—get out there and do the same.  In fact, you’ll have to excuse me, I feel a wiggle coming on.