January Book Club: This Time I Dance! by Tama Kieves

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Caren on December 16, 2009 at 2:35pm

Hi Lissa,

Thanks for the suggestion. I am going to order right now so I can be ready for the discussion in January. It takes me a while read because of my schedule. So excited for this club and recommedations.

Caren

Permalink Reply by Jaime Lyerly on December 17, 2009 at 9:06am

I need this book. I am going to order it now and spend my wonderful break from college classes reading this. I am very excited about it. I was moved by the Divine Assignment post, and think this will be great. Once school starts again at the end of January, I am not sure how much I will be able to participate. But I will not limit myself by saying I cannot do it now.

Look forward to sharing this experience with other pinkies!

Jaime Lyerly

Permalink Reply by TPillows on December 22, 2009 at 7:30pm

I ordered the book for myself and a few as Xmas gifts for friends. Can't wait to read and discuss!

Permalink Reply by Anges de Lumiere on December 22, 2009 at 11:47pm

This is the second time I have come across this book and it sound fantastic. And I smile at the fact we are both lawyers who left everything behind...

Permalink Reply by Naware Healer, Rev. & RMT on December 30, 2009 at 6:38am

As per your suggestions I ordered this book, I'm "in the process" of reading it (eg. I started then got distracted by several things oy!) But today I think I will dedicate a hole 30 minutes to reading - or at least read a chapter.

I can't wait for the discussion to ensue! I already know a lot of what I want to do with my life...the trouble is just taking those PLEAPs to get from blah to Fantastic!

Permalink Reply by Jaime Lyerly on January 1, 2010 at 2:00pm

i have been reading this book for a week now and it gives me chills. I even started journalling in the book because I felt like I was having a dialog with the author. Cannot wait to see what kind of discussion is generated by this book!

Jaime

Permalink Reply by Joy Mazzola on January 11, 2010 at 11:27am

Hey Pinkies -

So I'm a few pages away from the end of This Time I Dance but couldn't resist starting to talk about it now.

First off, I found myself feeling very fortunate to be on the other side of the line ... having decided that what I was doing for a "living" wasn't me, taking the plunge and following my heart. Tama invites readers to skip to part 2 of the book if that is the case, but I happily devoured every word (I mean, I had to. How beautiful is the woman's writing? I adored the internal rhyming and metaphor and all the ways she makes even her words dance).

There are a gabillion things I could say, but I'll focus on what moved me to (a) action, and then (b) tears.

In Chapter 8, Catch on Fire and the World Will Catch On To You, the first section, "Just Start Dancing and the Band Will Find You," literally moved me ... not to dance, but just to START. You've all heard me talk about my integral coach training, and how I'm nearing the end of school and am beginning to ponder how to bring the work into the world. I've felt a little restless and empty of late because, among other reasons, my work with practice clients has ended and my "real" work hasn't yet begun. This chapter whopped me upside the head and made me realize that for it to begin ... I have to begin it. I don't have to wait to be officially certified, I don't have to wait until I'm "better" at it ... I don't have to wait until I have a website and a business plan. As Tama says, "Waiting until the 'right time' usually means waiting in your sea cave until you have achieved artistic perfection in this lifetime - which you will never do. This can make it tricky to attract clientele."

Duh. Thank you Tama. Of course. After I read this line and the ensuing pages, I immediately got on e-mail and facebook and put out to everyone I know that I was taking on clients on a donation/exchange basis. Just to practice. Just to DO the work of my heart rather than waiting until I could do it in a dignified, polished way. And wouldn't ya know? They're coming. They want me to practice my craft on them. They're willing. They trust me. Because I trust.

Also profoundly validated was my strong feeling not to go balls-out marketing myself right now ... or at all. In the section "Never Mind Marketing - Hit The Mark," Tama says, "Those who survey 'the market,' consider the world that has already materialized - the known, the passing, the passe." I don't feel at all drawn to twitter or any of the current industry standards for making yourself known. Obviously no offense meant to all of you Pinkies who are putting yourselves out there this way. I of course know how effective and fun it is. It's just that, for whatever reason, my spirit is saying no to it at this juncture. I'm feeling moved by some other, yet-to-be-seen kind of magic. We'll see what materializes there. I appreciate the permission the book gave me to hang out here and trust that too.

Now. What moved me to tears. Last night I was reading the section (also in Chapter 8) "You Will Never Know the Way, But Go All the Way." The way Tama talks about how, though "real world" stuff and "reason" may cause us to doubt ourselves, how a time will come when your desire is stronger than the "real world." Your belief in possibility is more powerful than your belief in what is. (I'm of course paraphrasing her poetry.) Sob. Sob sob. Because I realized that I am starting to see this in a big way - and only in the last few days. Less and less do I feel limited by "reality," and stronger and stronger is my belief in its edge ... in Tama's words, "my old life of black and white had swooped into prisms of color and light." What is life, I realized, but a continuous unfolding of the new, the remarkable, the ever-expanding and ever-growing? Why let the old stop us when there is so much of the new to be had? These ideas are still gestating in my own mind but I am SO grateful to Tama, as always, for giving them words.

Anyway, I feel like this is PLENTY for now and is less of a discussion and more of a speech. I can't wait to hear everyone else's thoughts, and how you were impacted.

Dancing my tail off,
Joy xoxoxo