The Dance of the Aurora: Finding Freedom in the Melody

The Dance of the Aurora

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Release the hand

That is holding you back.

Let go of the thought

That is keeping you bound.

Whose hand is it?

Whose thought is it?

I am simply myself,

Just as I am.

And you are simply yourself,

Just as you are.

Let us open our arms wide

And release it all—

Everything that holds us captive

In this very moment.

Let us simply surrender

To the music flowing in our ears,

To every single cadence

That resonates within our chest.

The joyful thumping of the heart,

The overwhelming, warm breath,

The heat spreading to the fingertips,

And the root-like firmness beneath our feet.

The ecstasy that suddenly envelops the body

Whispers that everything in this world is my family—

Together with the radiant Mother Sun, the azure Father Sky,

The trees, the birds, and our siblings, the clouds.

From a tiny blade of grass by the wayside

To the silent twinkling of stars in the night sky,

I am there, and you are there.

I reach out my hand to hold onto

Our trembling, tentative steps.

One step,

One step at a time.

In that way, just one step at a time,

Letting go, dancing, and holding onto one another,

We move forward together.

Cheeks flushed pink like roses,

Eyes curved gently like crescent moons.

At that lovely smile,

My small heart puts on the wings of joy

And dances the most ecstatic dance in the world.

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I routinely seek out new music to listen to. While there is a distinct comfort in hearing familiar tracks, the joy of discovering a beautiful, previously unknown piece of music is truly exceptional. If I listen with patience, on lucky days, I encounter a melody that captures my heart instantly, much like a first love.

That is how I discovered Flowering Wood by the pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii. This writing was born from the inspiration of that very piece. While writing, I became curious about the pianist who could evoke such breathtaking music, and I learned that he was born completely blind. His life journey—which included winning the joint gold medal at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—was even adapted into a moving documentary film.

It occurred to me that while we often measure happiness relationally by comparing ourselves to others, happiness might actually be entirely absolute. In the face of someone else’s misfortune, one person might feel a sense of relief and gratitude for their own life, while another might feel a profound sense of empathy and compassion. Similarly, we might feel envy at another's good fortune, or we could genuinely celebrate it as if it were our own. Listening to Nobuyuki Tsujii, I could feel a glimpse of the brilliant will of his soul flowing beneath the notes, his burning love for music, and his endless passion. More than any grand philosophy or teaching, each note that reached the depths of my soul was a gift of pure gratitude and profound emotion.

Through this piece, I learned a vital lesson: when we recognize that all emotions are merely waves rising and falling within us, we realize that true happiness comes from our freedom from those very emotions. It comes from a certain fluidity—the ability to flow along without being broken by the current. Music awakens the slumbering freedom and flexibility within us, mirroring our deep longing for both. It gently pulls us to our feet and invites us to dance.

To dance not for someone else's approval or for a specific purpose, but to simply feel and express the myriad of inner emotions—joy and pain, sadness and anguish, loneliness and anxiety, happiness and gratitude—through the body, unites our physical and mental selves as one.

In that moment of complete alignment, a great ecstasy illuminates the night sky like an aurora. Within the warm, mystical choreography of that aurora, I feel all my lonely, unrecognized moments—the ones no one, not even myself, took the time to acknowledge—gently melt away like snow. I finally forgive myself, ask for my own forgiveness, and achieve a long-overdue inner reconciliation. When I can caress myself with compassionate love, I can then extend that same compassionate heart toward the world and all living things within it. In my still awkward and imperfect self, I see both the image of a baby taking its first fragile steps, and the image of a parent gazing down at that baby with infinite patience and unconditional love.

One step at a time, how wonderful would it be if we could hold onto each other’s fragile steps and live in gentle reliance on one another? Imagining our small hearts putting on the wings of joy and dancing the most ecstatic dance in the world makes this very moment an incomparably happy one.

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https://youtu.be/7F-ZefJhXFM?si=myP46W50IrIwW4RP

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We believe every patient deserves to feel free — free from fear, free from judgment, free to smile. At Double Care Dental in Dacula, GA, that belief shapes everything we do. Come meet us or reach us at smiles@doublecaredental.com.

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