I write you from the February depths of Minnesota, my nervous system adjusting to snow. I am here for a 10-day artist residency attempting to complete important, unfinished creative projects. Which so far, has meant eating frozen ravioli from a mini-fridge and typing
"dance party minneapolis" into google search.
That's right okay, I'll admit it...left to my own devices, my days turn into silly putty ~ and yes, I've accomplished absolutely nothing and its been a few days now of being arrested in some childhood stage of development (forgetting how to put on shoes or read clocks) ~ followed by accidentally handing the barista my library card to buy coffee.
“All I ever really want to know is how other people are making it through life—where do they put their body, hour by hour, and how do they cope inside of it.”
- Miranda July
With the hours like liquid, coping involves asking myself an essential question, one we should constantly be asking ourselves:
What do I need right now?
...which I immediately answer by continuing my search...for "dance party minneapolis."
A reckless act indeed, except that I don't drink and am too anxious for eye contact with strangers. So when I say that I "crashed a party" I mean to say that I locked myself in a prophetic state of dance for two solid hours, completely covered in sweat without acknowledging anyone around me. It's true, I moved my body to exhaustion, until finally the last song ended and I quietly shuffled off the dance floor, put on my 9 layers of sweaters and walked home privately smiling in the cold.
With Mars in Capricorn and our beloved Venus in Aries (soon to square Saturn/Pluto), we must keep our inner athlete encouraged, slamming our fist into our hand screaming "let's go", connecting to our basic needs without asking permission. Although, with Mercury retrograde in Pisces (Feb 16-March 9), we could be swimming up stream on a lazy river. The danger here is exhausting all our energy, forcing ambitious plans when we just need to take the river around for a lap. In this way, we have more time to absorb our desires, instead of processing it intellectually ~ resulting in a type of "knowing" that catches details through our senses. So instead of talking, let's drool ~ instead of strategizing our next move, let's close our eyes and dance. Let's live in the small victories of our hour to hour impulses and learn how to cope inside of it.
