MY FOUR-MINUTE DANCING CAREER

A few years ago, I decided to pursue my dream of being a dancer. I was 37 years old and being a dancer was on my list of things to do before I die, so I thought I'd better get cracking before osteoporosis or some other age-related malady took hold of my body.

My goal was not to become a Vegas showgirl or to star in next Flash Dance, but to learn how to dance and perform on stage … just once.

I attended dance classes every week without fail for 10 months and hipped and hopped until I almost dropped.

Soon June rolled around and my group was scheduled to perform in two year-end recitals.

I tossed around idea of quitting to avoid making a fool of myself on stage, but I had put myself into this situation for a reason.

I sought out support of friends who I knew would encourage me and not let me back out.

They told me all of things I needed to hear ... I was good, I had moves, I could have been a professional! (Thank goodness for friends with a lot of hot air and big hearts!)

Thanks to encouragement of my friends and 13-year old niece who wanted to see "Auntie shake her groove thing," I went ahead with commitment to perform on stage.

Because I knew I was going to be on display for so many eyes, I turned up volume on my practicing. I performed my routine over and over again on my back lawn, in my basement, in my garage, at work in my office.

I couldn't remember more than two or three combos to save my life and wanted to back out.

It was then big guns had to be drawn. My husband stepped in.

1.Emotional Intelligence will become a household word. Parents will actively teach their children emotional intelligence along with their manners, chores and life skills. Children will learn to accept and welcome their emotions, talk about them, label them correctly, manage them, and choose appropriate responses. 2.Parents will demand inclusion of an EQ program in day care, public and private schools, and universities. They will demand EQ credentials for nannies, childcare providers, youth workers, spiritual leaders, and teachers. 3.We will move beyond diversity to multiculturalism; working and living with people from different backgrounds and cultures. We will therefore have to rely more on universal "language" of emotions to reach commonality and understand what’s going on. We will have to rely more on nonverbal communication. 70-90% of communication even between two people who share a mother language, is nonverbal. 4.One person will ask another person "How are you today?" and instead of not listening to predictable and meaningless response of "fine," they will listen carefully as other person tells them how they are feeling emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. The person asked question will know how he or she feels in all these areas and be able to articulate it, and listener will understand information and know how to use it. It will smooth inner world for each of them, and therefore smooth working in outer world. 5.As globalization and rapid exchange of masses of information continues to increase, we reach critical mass, and have to rely on our intuition and nonverbal communication skills.

6.From this massive cultural blending and exchange (culture is learned; not carved in stone) we will extract health-promoting practices and adopt them. We will wipe out what Mother Theresa termed worst disease on earth – “the isolation in West.” People in West will no longer be ashamed to “admit” they “need people”. (And we do not need people to be in same room with us, we need emotional connection with people and healthy interdependence.) We’ll be looking at why wellness statistics in some other countries surpass ours in US and adopting some new customs! 7.The “family” will expand. Proverbs around world tell us that feet go more easily where heart is. Predictions for future are that nearly half of working adults will be both single AND over 40. Businesses will recognize need for a more emotionally intelligent workplace, as un-paired adults working longer hours dominate work scene, who will need more emotional and social connection at office. Corporations will understand benefits of establishing an emotionally intelligent culture in their office.

8.Science and Spirituality Blend. Alliances such as work Dalai Lama has done with brain researchers at University of Wisconsin will be commonplace. Technology will improve and there will be more and better ways to measure and quantify data about emotions and brain. 9.The Left and Right will Also Meet. People will actively work to develop both their left and their right brains, and connection between two. There will be programs for children and adults available in schools, at work, through agencies, coaches, and faith organizations that teach how to do this.