Free Play

The following quotes are from a book by Stephen Nachmanovitch (don't ask me how to say his name) called Free Play:

"For art to appear, we have to disappear"

"We have all observed the intense absorption of children in play, that wide-eyed concentration in which both the child and the world vanish, and there is only the play. Grown-ups involved in work they love also can experience such moments. It is possible to become what you are doing; these times come when pouf! - out you go, and there is only the work.... your sense of time stops. You feel alert and alive; effort becomes effortless. You lose yourself in your own voice, in the handling of your tools, in your feeling for the rules... you forget time and place and who you are. "

"Dancing is not getting up painlessly like a speck of dust blown around in the wind.
Dancing is when you rise above both worlds, tearing your heart to pieces, and giving up your soul.
Dance where you can break yourself to pieces and totally abandon your wordly passions.
Real men dance and whirl on the battlefield; they dance in their own blood.
When they give themselves up, they clap their hands;
When they leave behind the imperfections of the self, they dance.
Their minstrels play music from within; and whole oceans of passion foam on the crest of the waves."

"Not art for art's sake, but art for life's sake."

"The secret is to drop it - whatever it may be. This is not deprivation but enrichment. It is dropping off hope and fear and letting our much vaster, simpler, true self show through, letting ourselves be ambushed by the great Tao that moves forever throughout this world."

There are probably lots more quotes in that book that I love. I haven't read all of it. But I think everybody should read it, it has some amazing insights into life, not just the arts.
This is how I want to feel when I dance. How I used to feel when I danced. And Sarah, your comment has provoked a lot of thought. Its good thought. I think your right, I do just need a knew challenge. Now how do I make a challenge for myself. Maybe moving to California will be that challenge. But how do I challenge myself in the meantime? How do I get up every day and be happy to go to school and work really hard/go deeper every day into somthing that I love to do? What can I do to put depth into my life? Or maybe this new Challenge should be something else. Like trying something new. I dont know. I guess I will find out...