May you dance today!
I’m so excited to announce that the ebook version of my new book, Spirituality Is for Every Body, is ON SALE for $2.99 all week!! YAY!! The ebook version of Spirituality Is for Every Body is available on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), and anywhere ebooks are sold.
This post is about the spiritual practice of Counting Your Blessings.
One of my favorite parts of living with cerebral palsy is ascribing to disability culture. I know some of you may be thinking, “Did I read that right? Disability culture? There are many words that come to mind when I think of disability, but ‘culture’ is definitely not one of them!”
Yes, we have a culture and a part of our culture that I thoroughly enjoy is our dances. We have dances at so many events- everything from summer camp for disabled kids to conferences for academics in the field of Disability Studies. We believe that there is room for everyone on our dance floor. Indeed, each individual’s experience is enriched when everyone dances their dance in whatever way they can. Having grown up immersed in disability culture, I forgot how special this is until I saw one of our dances through the eyes of two of my non-disabled friends.
During my first year of college, I was selected to attend a conference in Washington D.C.(D.C.) for disabled young adults who were leaders in their communities. I was beyond thrilled to go and asked one of my friends from school, Anna, to go with me to assist me with my personal care. I had another friend, Erin, who was staying in D.C. for the summer and we made plans to hang out the last afternoon of the conference.
The conference was one of the most amazing experiences of my life! I met peers who were as dedicated as I was to social change, listened to speeches given by those with disabilities in the President’s administration, toured the White House and explored D.C. with other college students with all types of disabilities.On the last night of the conference, we had a dance.
By the evening of the dance, all of the conference delegates were friends. The women were going to each other’s hotel rooms to borrow this pair of earrings, or those pair of shoes to have the perfect look for the evening’s dance. Erin walked into all of this when she came to visit.
After the second conference attendee came to my room to let me try her hair clip, I told Eunice about the dance and invited her to come to the dance. She said “OK.” After she and Anna helped me finish getting ready, the three of us went to the ballroom.
When we got off the elevator, we could hear the music pumping and we saw tons of young adults dressed to the nine making their way to the ballroom. When we arrived at the ballroom, people were already dancing so I turned to Anna, who was pushing my wheelchair, pointed to where I wanted to go on the dance floor and got my groove on. IT WAS A BLAST!!
There were about 60 of us on that dance floor. Some bopped their heads to the music because they were paralyzed from the shoulders down, others who were d/Deaf danced close to the speakers to feel the vibrations of the music. Those who could walk jammed on their feet and gave a push to anyone in a wheelchair who needed a hand. We danced with each other, by ourselves and in groups. We danced to the beat, off the beat, around the beat and many did not give two cents about the beat. As a community, we chart our own path off the dance floor, so naturally we chart our own path on the dance floor too.
If we saw anyone from our community sitting down, someone went over to get them back out on the dance floor. We wanted everyone included in our celebration because our celebration is only complete when everyone in our community is participating fully!
As I was dancing, I glanced over to see Anna and Erin sitting at a table. I assumed that they were taking a rest from all of the dancing they were doing. They were talking about something, but before I could get them back on the dance floor, my attention was redirected to the conga line that was forming. Yes, we do the conga too!
The next day on the plane ride home, Anna and I talked about the dance. Erin had told her that the dance was “the happiest thing she had ever seen!”
I was struck by her choice of words and said, “I wonder what she meant by that.”
Anna said, “At other dances, it’s only the best dancers who dance and everyone else just watches. But, last night, everyone danced and everyone had fun.”
Although I had been to many dances where I was the only one with a visible disability and I knew exactly what she meant about dances in the non-disabled setting, I realized that I had taken disability culture for granted. I forgot that our dances are awesome and unique because they spring out of our understanding of the value of everyone’s dance in our collective identity. So, disability or no disability, get out there and dance… I’ll see you at the front of the conga line!
Anna and Erin helped me remember one of the blessings I have in my life. By being reminded of one of my blessings, I was able to more deeply feel and appreciate the love, joy and beauty that is my life. Whenever we revel in and appreciate our blessings, we are reveling in and appreciating the Divine. We are aligning ourselves with the beauty and generosity of the Universe. As we align ourselves with beauty and generosity, we subconsciously create situations in which we receive even more beautiful blessings.
Have an awesome two weeks! I’ll see you soon!
Love, blessings and purple,
Allison
Try incorporating this exercise into your week. If you need modifications to the practice, scroll down to the section titled Access Notes.
Journaling About Your Blessings
Begin by closing your eyes. Place your hands on your heart. Take 3 deep, slow breaths. Ask yourself, “What are my blessings? What am I grateful for in my life?”
Open your eyes. Set a timer for 10 minutes and write down whatever comes to mind. Just let the words flow.
The following modifications are intended to create equal access to the spiritual practice above. These modifications are somewhat general to be as useful as possible to as many people as possible. Please feel free to further tweak the exercise as needed so that you can participate as fully as possible while honoring your body’s needs.
For those who have ADHD or those who’s minds become more active when you sit quietly, try the following mindfulness exercises to quiet your mind.
1. If writing/typing in a journal is not possible or challenging, try either saying(verbally or via sign language) what you’re thankful for or making a mental list of what you’re thankful for. I recommend keeping your eyes closed during your journaling process so that you can maintain your focus.
2. If you fear that someone might read your journal, then you can either write/type your desires and then either delete the document or destroy the paper you wrote on OR you can do this exercise mentally or verbally. See ACCESS NOTE #1 for instructions on mental/verbal journaling.
3. If journaling for 10 minutes is too long, then journal for as many minutes as you can.
4. If you cannot place your hands over your heart, each time you inhale, imagine that the breath is entering your body through your heart. Do this for 3 breaths.
5. If you cannot take deep breaths, take 3 breaths as you normally do.
