Dance to the music, let energy flow

If you’ve never seen Risky Business, let me recommend that you watch it. And if you haven’t seen it in a while, it might be worth revising. It’s an iconic movie, in large part because of a dancing scene.

In it, Tom Cruise plays a teenager – alone at home and unobserved – who dances up a storm (dressed in a shirt, socks, and tight-whities) and puts on the greatest air-guitar performance in movie history. The audience is completely and utterly his, in part because almost everyone can relate to the joy and energy of being willing to do something that makes you look ridiculous as long as no one is watching.

Kind of like a karaoke bar minus the audience and the alcohol.

LET GO AND LET THE ENERGY FLOW
One of the biggest reasons we don’t dance in public is because of inhibitions. Inhibitions inhibit. They act as a giant parental superego, telling you what to do and what not to do, and most of the time, that may be a good thing (for society, certainly and maybe even for you). But sometimes the superego gets a little carried away and winds up putting the kibosh on our creative impulses. And when creative juices dry up, energy can wither away.

There’s a saying among comics that to be really great on stage, you have to be willing to make a fool of yourself. Well, guess what? That’s a truth the extends to a lot of areas of life. Dancing, for example. (Full disclosure – the fear of looking like a klutz and the desire to look cool has kept me off the dance floor on many an occasion).

Here’s the thing – you may never be able to fully let go and dance up a storm in public. But you can do it in private. And it will boost your energy like there’s no tomorrow.

How do I know? I’ve done it. It’s my own personal form of air guitar. Dancing – the wildest, most uninhibited, reckless, silly, crazy dancing you can imagine – does a number of things. It’s a highly aerobic workout that’ll get oxygen pumping throughout the body and brain, energizing you almost immediately. But more important, it’s a chain-breaker. Even if no one sees you, the letting lose of inhibitions, the physical expression of what you body is holding on to, the giving in to the demands of the creative spirit to express itself physically is one of the greatest energy unleashers on the planet.

So go ahead. Put on your favorite music – Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, Rick James’s “Super Freak, “Beyonce, the Bee Gees – whatever gets you moving – and pretend to be a rock star. Try it for 5 minutes and throw caution to the wind. Throw your arms around, wiggle your hips, and don’t worry about how you look (no one is watching); just close your eyes and dance.

Trust me on this your energy will go through the roof.

P.S. If you’re thinking to yourself, “he can’t possibly mean me”, then be assured that I especially mean you.