The Dancing Spirit

by Thomas F. Crum

There is an old adage, “When a pickpocket meets a saint, he sees only his pockets.” When we get overly concerned in life with defending ourselves from imagined or real attacks by blocking and striking back, we tend to misperceive loving intentions and react in this same tense, fearful mode. Notice that when a friend goes to put his arm around you, the direction of his movement is very similar to a hook punch. If you are training all your life to fight the world around you, what happens when the hugs come? Do you verbally or emotionally take people’s heads off and have to apologize later? As we give up the fighting mind and develop the dancing spirit, our timing and our actions become in tune with each situation.

6S

Thomas F. Crum's six sentences are taken from “The Magic of Conflict: Turning a Life of Work into a Work of Art.”