“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein.

I heard yesterday that there is a type of English known as ‘Miami English’.  Unlike Spanglish, which freely mixes the two languages, switching mid-sentence from one to the other and then back, Miami English is predominantly English, with sprinkles of Spanish, like ‘pero’ (but, for those non-Miami English speakers!), or (to your kids) ‘ven aqui!’ (come here!).  Which is why I feel quite comfortable giving today’s message a Spanish title, having lived in Miami for 38 years before moving to Hollywood, an even more diverse city!

I was fortunate to have spent five years in high school learning Spanish, which helped somewhat when I was in the hospital caring for patients from a variety of Spanish speaking countries.  I soon learned though, that spoken Spanish differs from classroom Spanish almost as much as Jamaican patois differs from English! And that Cubans can swallow the letter ‘s’ from almost any word!  But with time, and especially if the topic was illness or pain, I could communicate adequately with my patients.  In the classroom setting, I would, however, discourage nursing students from speaking in Spanish (English, please), as I knew it was important that they be very comfortable expressing themselves to other healthcare professionals in English.  For some this was a huge challenge, as they may have only recently migrated to this country.  One student told me he taught himself to be fluent in English by watching American cartoons, and singing American songs.  Through the lyrics he became more comfortable with slang and sentence construction.  I loved the concept of music teaching language, since music is its own language. But can you imagine having to study nursing in a language other than your own?  One successful student studied with his Spanish-English dictionary on top of his textbooks, going back and forth until he understood.

I recently watched the funeral service for a longtime friend of my family.  His main career had been in insurance and finance.  And yet his family remembered him mostly as a teacher.  Because no matter what else he was doing, he was always teaching.  His kids were awoken early to do ‘drills’, whether math, or spelling, or learning to recite poetry.  He insisted they (and any random friends who happened to be visiting the home) learn to type, a skill, he told them, that would benefit them greatly in life.  And this was before laptops or even desktops were common.  His other hobby was photography (although he was far more than an amateur).  He even had a dark room in their home, so they learned photography the old school way!

The feeling that has stayed with me happened when we visited the family soon after his death.  When giving his wife a hug I got the feeling that she was comforting me, rather than vice versa.  A week later I attended the viewing of another family friend, a man who had died suddenly in his sleep.  At the church his wife greeted me (although we had never met), and once more in the hug that we shared I felt her strength, her gift of comfort.

How is it that some people can retain their strength, their resilience, even when they are being tested the most?  Many years ago, a friend was dying of cancer.  Another friend confided that she wanted to call him or visit him, but she was so scared for him that she didn’t think she could do it.  Call him, I advised her, he will make you feel better.  It was true, even though he was dying he was accepting, cheerful, and telling as many jokes as ever.  I theorized that, since he was a man who had done his fair share of drinking and smoking in his life, he had long been prepared to pay the health consequences for his actions.  Did I mention he was a nurse? We are the worst when it comes to following health advice!

Where do you find joy when life seems to throw nothing but stones your way?  We have only to turn on the TV (or scroll through our phones) to see images of horror: acts of violence in Gaza; drone attacks in Eastern Europe; smoke bombs; cars driven into crowds; masked uniformed men snatching women and children out of cars in the US.  And yet we must continue to hold onto hope, to joy, to laughter at such times.  For that is how we win against acts of terrorism, against bigotry and brutality.

I get my exercise, and my joy, through dance.  It was during a Zumba class, in which the music featured is predominantly of a Latin flavor with a strong reggae/dancehall influence, I realized that dance may be the key to a more unified society.  The class I attend is not completely diversified (only approximately 5% male!), but the other demographics are well represented.  After you sweat together, feel the burn together, mess up a dance move together, and finally get it right together, how can you possibly have space for hate or despair? 

The song that includes the line of my title (everyone dancing) also has the line ‘Todo el mundo vibrando’ (everyone vibrating).  Although I am not sure that the author of the song was talking about spiritual energy and vibrations, it takes us to an even deeper concept, that of raising your vibrations for spiritual healing and growth.  Many years ago the singer songwriter Sting wrote the line ‘we are spirits in a material world’.  And perhaps our true work is to resist being dragged into the daily chaos of our messy world by working on our spirituality, on our vibrations.

There are simple ways to put this into practice: we can improve our physical health by choosing healthy foods, exercising, avoiding alcohol.  Emotionally, we can work on balancing our emotional responses, resisting anger, hate and jealousy.  Mentally, we can learn to control our mind though meditation, beginning with a cleansing breath.  Spiritually, we can work on developing unconditional love for ourselves and others. Finding ways of being of service to others can be that unconditional love in action. 

It helps to remember that we are all works in progress, and that, just like those suddenly converted sinners, we can backslide from time to time.  But, especially when the storms are gathering overhead, if we can find and retain our joy (perhaps by dancing in the rain!) we win!

This Friday morning, I hope that whatever you may be going through, you can find opportunities for joy, laughter and dance.  Have a wonderful weekend, Family!

One Love!

Namaste.