The wish...

Wishes live throughout the whole year nestled deep within each person. However, they get more attention precisely at Christmas. Already at young age we write wish lists, desire this or that and connect the fulfilling of these wishes with a feeling of joy and the opposite with the feeling of disappointment.  

We wish in order to live…

Wishes are born deep inside of us and mostly get their meaning spontaneously, without us thinking thoroughly about it. After that they become understandable to our mind. But what happens exactly when a wish comes to our mind? Are we happier, more satisfied and more motivated in these cases?

When does a wish become the wish which helps us enjoy life more? How do I recognize this wish among many other “superficial” wishes which enrich our lives only for a short time?

One of my favorite sayings is: “Be careful what you wish for, ‘cause you just might get it“ J

The wishes which really do matter come into being mostly when we don’t have enough time to wish for something consciously. They are shaped by many emotions, events or meetings which make you move deeper from the surface. It is in these moments that we encounter a wish which defines our behavior without us being aware of it. When you don’t believe in life and the world around you, you create a fertile ground for a wish to make progress and grow. The consequences of this wish are not present at that moment, which is the reason why its fulfillment comes as such a surprise later on. 

The life that I lead at the moment came out as a result of the wish, which occurred because of many events which weren’t always pleasant.
I was always surprised of course because the consequences of these deep motifs weren’t always carefully thought through. J

Nevertheless, I think that this wish which defines your life comes into being only when you believe in yourself and your life, when you give your best in everything you do, when you live the life of love and when you pay more attention to taking care of yourself and the people around you in everything you do. 

Every moment which you live consciously opens a way to these wishes...
Precisely dance can entice such moments more often and provide a connection to yourself and the people around you. Dance, which exhilarates you with help of music and moves you with help of emotions…

For this Christmas I would like that all those wishes for peace, love, security and trust come from the mere satisfaction of people, who appreciate what they have and don’t get tired of thinking of themselves and others, making thus the world a better place.

Christmas is the time which gives you the best opportunity to be satisfied and thankful for the amazing “Whole” which moves everything. Dado and I wish you therefore a very special Christmas and peaceful moments, which will give you courage, strength and attentiveness to be able to enjoy the dance of life even more…

(Translated by Martina Pranjić - Thank you) 

The strength of the others

Most of you (or maybe all of you) would probably agree with me, if I said that all people have their strengths and weaknesses. All respective characteristics are distinct and create the whole picture comprised of personality, capability and capacity.

Why is it then that in dancing it’s particularly difficult to notice and recognize the strengths of the others? Does it lie in the fact that our own weakness is mirrored in the other’s strength? Or is it the mere fact that many people think that they can see their own strength in the other’s weakness?

Since this year it has been 15 years that I’ve been teaching couple dance. When I think of this number, I can’t imagine that it has been that long since I stood in my first class. It seems as if it was yesterday. But during this time I’ve had a great opportunity to observe myself, my dance partners and many dance couples that I’ve met. What struck me the most in these experiences is the people’s lack of ability to analyze situations and their own weaknesses and strengths. Misguided or maybe simply not experienced enough, one always goes back to the question “Whose fault is it?” which pops out almost always when a dance move doesn’t work out the way it should. 

However, instead of analyzing and finding the solution to the problem, we often spend too much time on trying to discover whose fault was it. Emotions run high and add up to blocking the way towards a peaceful way out. Instead of using the opportunity to learn and get new insights from someone, we’re often more concentrated on analyzing this other person, more than analyzing ourselves.

During my business studies I had the opportunity to learn a lot of things which I find useful both in dance and in life, primarily from an 80-year-old teacher who mesmerized me every single second of the two-day-seminar I participated in. Respect and acknowledgment towards the people around you as well as the awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses are the most important factors on the way towards satisfaction and success.

Only when I respect the other’s abilities to the fullest am I able to appreciate and take notice of their strengths. I could do that much better though, if I would turn to myself for starters and analyze my own strengths and weaknesses. Knowing and accepting your own strengths and weaknesses is therefore inevitably the starting point of any kind of learning, success, serenity,…

I believe thus that it is a great virtue, both in life and in dance, to learn from the others’ strength. 

(Translated by Martina Pranjić - Thank you)

Is attack the best form of defense?

Do we actually achieve more if we attack in defense? We always go back to this question, whether we talk about the current debate on the curfew in Univiertel or about everyday problems, which reveal our own weaknesses.       

Attacking and blaming someone is very often how we react in attempt to prove our point right and fair. We search the ones to blame and they are always informed of how wrong their opinion actually was.

But does this lead us towards our goal? What is the goal at all? Is it more important to find the one to blame or is the ultimate goal to get out of the situation unharmed?

In the past couple of years I’ve learned that asking „Why?“ can resolve many conflicts and lead to many conversations. However, we often don’t wonder „why“, we simply don’t accept the other’s opinion from the start.

Being an organizer within my dance school has confronted me with an unpleasant task of replying to various emails written by people who criticize different aspects of our work. This is surely not an enjoyable and a simple duty, that’s quite understandable, but I got the opportunity to learn a lot about life.

Despite the fact that I find any kind of feedback very useful, it’s quite interesting that no one ever asks about the reasons. Specific occasions and conditions are criticized, threats are made and wishes are expressed. Very few are interested in “the whys”. I am a person who always wonders why something happens. I am interested in why somebody thinks, feels or lives the way he does. Since I started questioning the reasons consciously I am able to understand people and things better. It’s much easier to reach a compromise, to respect other opinions and to ask questions about myself too.

Of course that it’s much easier to blame somebody else for my faults. However, nothing good can come from that. Questioning your own conditions and emotions often reveals more and gives better solutions than simply attacking in defense.

In this sense I wish us all more curiosity and more interest in other people and their opinions in order to share a more peaceful, comfortable and cheerful life with each other.

I wish you all a wonderful Sunday…

(Translated by Martina Pranjić - Thank you)

Overestimating yourself... Body vs. spirit

I can’t remember when was the last time I was so sick. I think that the 

last time I had fever was more than 10 years ago. But somehow it managed to bring me down. I was quite surprised on the one hand because I was feeling really good and powerful, but on the other hand I think that I had seen it coming… I had overestimated myself… 

It doesn’t mean anything if the spirit lives without limitations, regardless of the body which exists in this (real) dimension. A spirit without limitations helps only when there is a complete harmony between body and soul and when they mirror each other.

After the last couple of months I concluded that I needed a change. So we decided to visit Trieste for two days, shortly after the ball of Graz University of Technology. When we set off I had already known that I failed to take notice of something. Despite an amazing time in Trieste, I got back home sick. I was feeling good mentally and we managed to take a time off and switch a bit, but my body was tired and it didn’t get its well deserved rest. The inevitable viruses finished me off and I was pulled out of everyday life. That was my body’s cry for help, which has kept me chained to my bed for almost a week…

Rueful and ineffective, I’ve had plenty of time to think and this is how these thoughts have came to my mind…

I think that many creative people, artists or mentally active people have a similar problem – in the outburst of their creativity and their thoughts they often forget about their body. They think that their bodies have the same abilities as their spirits. This can be possible in many aspects, but still… our spirit in its very nature lives in a whole other dimension than our body. 

If we want our body to match our spirit, it can be done by extensive training and thoughtfulness. It’s hard to presume to which extent this is possible. Yogis, Buddhist monks, fakirs and many others show up to where our limits can be pushed...

On the other hand there are people who are super fit and take good care of their bodies, but forget about their psyche and spirit. If you take for example Burnout exercises and other similar forms of keeping your body fit, you can notice how little attention is given to spirit and soul. Your body is healthy and your mind is sick… One affects the other inevitably. Mostly it’s just a question of time until a sick psyche would affect the body or vice versa.

Neither in the first nor in the second example is it possible to perform activities at a satisfactory level for a longer period of time. A satisfactory level of performance is preconditioned by a „healthy” relation between body and spirit, which also enables us to be „happy“ and „satisfied“ over a longer period of time and not to diminish our essence or shorten our lives intentionally and consciously.

If either body or spirit is imbalanced, this will reflect on our lives. This is the reason why we should pay attention to both of these parts equally. This precise characteristic can be noticed in dance as well – striving to experience dancing throughout the harmony of body and spirit. Don’t get me wrong – it’s always possible to dance, regardless of the condition in which our body or our spirit is. But discovering the freedom of mind combined with overcoming the obstacles of your body and discovering your very own personal abilities makes it much easier to express music throughout dance.

Dance is an exercise for your body and a relief for your soul...
If everything functions in harmony, then one can freely say that he’s close to perfection.

Taking this into concern I couldn’t help but wonder would it ever be possible for people to dissolve. Will „dematerialization“ or teleportation be possible, will the spirit ever „surpass“ the body… I came to a conclusion that this will never be possible. I mean it could be possible in a spiritual way – but in that case our body would be abandoned by our spirit.

Naturally, it’s possible to live in all kinds of ways. A lively spirit can live in an ill body, and an ill spirit can live in a sane body. But isn’t the harmony of these two within the limits of your personal possibilities the congenial individual connection which we should strive for? Doesn’t that mean that if you forget one, you would not be able to provide optimal support to the other?

That is why I think that overestimating or underestimating yourself, either physically or mentally, is the worst people’s enemy. By overestimating yourself, you appreciate the important stuff too little and vice versa. And when you believe that you’re the strongest, you’re actually the weakest because it is in these moments that you tend to overestimate yourself and be vain, which makes you vulnerable and imprudent.

Perfection, or better to say the moment which looks perfect, is therefore „healthy” only for a short period of time. Losing balance is necessary to stay “modest” because like in a circuit only by being modest and down to earth is it possible to come close to perfection.

To live in harmony means neither to over- nor to underestimate yourself, but rather to live with your strengths modestly. I am happy and thankful to have learnt this because of a flu.

(Translated by Martina Pranjić - Thank you)