Dance Like No One Is Watching, Live Like Everyone Is
Be self-conscious for a better world.
“You need to know it’s your actions that will make you a good person, not desire.” ― Matthew Quick, The Silver Linings Playbook
Self-regulation is something I work on endlessly with the daycare kids.
It’s a crucial stage of development and one of the hardest things to master, especially in a world where instant gratification is associated with good parenting.
I’ve noticed one of the things that help teach the children to regulate themselves is to let them know I’m watching.
A two-year-old knows when he’s breaking the rules and will stop if they think they’ll get caught. They won’t even try to do something they know is wrong if they think I’m paying attention.
Since the only thing we can control is ourselves, I’m suggesting that while dancing like nobody is watching is liberating and freeing, we should probably all start living like someone is.
Live like someone is watching and judging. Instead of screaming, “no judgment!” scream, “Judge me! Please!”
Sure, dancing like no one is watching is great in theory, but that’s not what we need right now. You shouldn’t get to dance like nobody is watching until everyone gets to dance.
Right now, you need to dance like everyone is watching. Like your movements are setting an example. Like everything, you do counts, like every single action has significance.
We all need to stop doing anything like nobody is watching and start doing everything like someone is. Because the truth is, everyone is watching all of the time, and that’s how it should be.
When someone watches, we self-regulate. We’re more motivated to be our best selves.
When someone is looking, we stifle the worst of ourselves because whatever shame we have, no matter how little or how dim, shines through to our consciousness.
We know wrong from right, even if we refuse to acknowledge it.
Acting as if someone is watching causes us to behave better even if we do it reluctantly.
Actions are the physical expression of thoughts, by controlling our actions, we reverse engineer them to affect our thoughts. We can start to think better thoughts, by acting better.
We can create epiphanies that change our thinking. One random act of kindness stemming from self-consciousness still creates the good feelings that come from being gracious.
By living like someone’s watching, we can kickstart positive change within and without, and if you do something enough, it becomes a habit. We need to want to habitually get caught in the act.
So by all means, dance like nobody is watching if you want, really get into it if it makes you feel good, but live your life like everyone is watching, everybody is filming, everybody is exposing everything you do.
Because in the end, the truth is, whether or not anybody is watching, your actions still matter.
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” ― William James
Thanks so much for reading!
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