Dancing With The Stars – The Path To Excellence

Much to my surprise, a few seasons ago I started watching Dancing with The Stars on TV. Since then I have witnessed many “Stars” succeed on the Path To Excellence. Initially I watched it out of curiosity; “I wonder how foolish these people are going to look?” To my surprise it was entertaining and I continued to watch every week, and now I watch it quite consistently – which is saying a lot since my TV selections are usually limited to news shows and the History Channel. Looking back over the previous seasons, I have always had a favorite contestant. Usually it is obvious which one or two contestants are not going to last too long, but after that it, it gets interesting. It is often very impressive, and illustrative, to see which contestants improves, and how much, from one week to the next. What I have found is that every season there are one or two contestants who are horrible dancers and who I would have figured would not last to the final weeks – but they prove me wrong. Whether this can be attributed to the Professionals’ coaching ability, the competitive atmosphere or something else I am not sure, but it is truly amazing that some “knucklehead” guy or a woman who does not appear to have a graceful bone in her body, can improve so much and actually be a joy to watch. Additionally, the contestants in the final weeks typically seem to be genuinely “nice” – the ones with bad attitudes having been voted off. Whether it is a professional athlete with the “Bad Guy” reputation or a reality TV star who has never demonstrated any sense of etiquette or class, it is truly impressive to watch them “blossom” into a ballroom dancer with grace and musicality. They do more than learn “the right steps”, they develop a fundamental understanding of the art of ballroom dancing – perhaps the “Zen” of Ballroom. this puts them on the Path To Excellence. Some of the qualities the best contestants embody are courage (to try and dance,) confidence (they can pull it off,) perseverance (to overcome setbacks,) patience (to improve,) and the integrity to win.
The lesson for the rest of us: Many of us are so busy Doing, that we “Miss-The-Boat” when it comes to “attaining enlightenment” in life – the “Zen” of things. Whether it is working at our job, working to be a better parent and provider, or working to improve at a leisure activity – sometimes we need to take a breath, smell the flowers, or just enjoy that which we are doing. Like the best contestants on Dancing With The Stars, we need to find the Path To Excellence in life. We should strive to have the courage to try, the confidence to do it, the perseverance to overcome failure, the patience to persist until we improve, and the integrity to succeed.

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May You Be Healthy, Wealthy, and WISE