I hope you dance.
Everyone always asks me how i am so...carefree.
How i push the madness away and just be happy.
What is hope?
To want? To desire?
To expect that what's envisioned
may indeed happen?
YES to all of the above.
Is hope that gut feeling that it's worth holding out
and hanging on for just a little longer?
ABSOLUTELY.
Is hope the core of the human condition?
CERTANLY.
Can you have hope without
faith and humility and wonder?
THAT'S TOUGH.
Just the thought that there's something bigger,
something truer, something totally surprising
out there waiting for us is....
priceless.
What would you be without hope
growing deep in your bones,
thriving in every inch of you?
N O T H I N G.
What does it take to hope?
E V E R Y T H I N G.
Hope takes never ceasing
to be amazed...
Wearing
your soul on your sleeve...
Holding your breath, waiting to hear
"I love you too..."
Believing
that tomorrow could be better than today...
that you'll get a second chance...
that you'll make a difference...
that you matter.
YOU GET YOUR FILL TO EAT
BUT ALWAYS KEEP THAT HUNGER
Hunger is the wanting:
to see more
to feel more
to touch more
to crave, desire, search out, find, hold more.
And sometimes hunger hurts more.
But go on, go weast, young man, young woman.
Plow the land,
plan the seeds,
grow the food for the whole wide world.
MAY YOU NEVER TAKE ONE SINGLE BREATH FOR GRANTED
so breath out and breath in
[and soak it all up]
GOD FORBID LOVE EVER
LEAVE YOU EMPTY-HANDED
But if it does,
may it leave you patient and stronger,
willing and wiser, tender and tougher.
I HOPE YOU
STILL FEEL
SMALL
WHEN YOU
STAND BESIDE
THE OCEAN
If you're ever lying on a beach with
80 billion grains of sand beneath you,
700 thousand ocean waves before you,
60 million stars stretched our above you,
and you're still not at all impressed,
I want you to think about this:
The light you reflecting from the stars is over one million years old.
WOW.
But then, just before you start to feel like a mere blip
in the gigantic scheme of things, please rememeber this:
Yoes, you are small, but you're also irreplaceable
and invaluable
and miraculous.
Those stars don't have anything on you.
WHENEVER
ONE
DOOR CLOSES
I HOPE
ONE MORE
OPENS
DOORS
Holes in walls that offer us a way out or a way in.
Just putting your hand on the knob and seeing if it turns can
make you weak in the knees.
What if it's locked?
What if it's unlocked?
What if no one answers?
What if someone does?
What if the hinges creak and the heavy wood swings
open
and you're suddenly standing in the threshold
of a brand new tomorrow?
What if your horizon is nothing but
blue clear skies?
What if it's a raging storm?
What if?
What if?
What if?
PROMISE ME THAT
YOU'LL GIVE FAITH A
FIGHTING CHANCE
A PROMISE IS ALL ABOUT FAITH.
A PROMISE IS ONLY AS STRONG.
as your own faith in your own self.
in your own god.
So when you swear,
in light of your strengths and in spite
of your weaknesses,
to struggle and follow through.
you
are doing a beautiful thing.
AND WHEN YOU GET THE
CHOICE TO SIT
IT OUR OR DANCE
I HOPE YOU
D A N C E
Let the music move you,
Let the moment take your hand,
Let it lead you out into
The middle of the dance floor and
Embrace you.
Dive off the high board,
Ride with the top down,
Thrive like a wildflower
And sing
[who cares what you sound like]
With a voice all your own.
I HOPE YOU NEVER
FEAR THOSE MOUNTAINS
IN THE DISTANCE
LIFE
Mountains and oceans
Seems like there's always another of one or the other....
It's crossing your fingers when the map doesn't make sense, when the compass
doesn't know truly north from truly lost; and it's up to you-you and your gut and
your mettle, and your level of resilience, and your wealth of wisdon-
to persevere, To get to the other side.
To hope.
NEVER SETTLE
FOR THE PATH OF
LEAST RESISTANCE
[that's too easy. what follows is too interesting]
LIVING MIGHT
MEAN TAKING
CHANCES,
BUT THEY'RE
WORTH TAKING
Ask Eve.
Evolve.
Take a chance, take a ticket,
take a fast train to the coast.
No guts, no glory.
It's risky breathing, let alone needing,
trusting, reaching out. Life is the leap of faith,
the bold declaration of
Hope.
LOVING MIGHT
BE A MISTAKE,
BUT IT'S
WORTH MAKING
Love, Love, Love.
You have to love.
And if you don't get love right,
You have to move on.
And forgive.
And then you have to remember
That you've forgiven,
Or else you can't move on.
And if you don't move on,
You'll surely end up. . .
Bitter.
DON'T
LET SOME
HELL-BENT
HEART
LEAVE
YOU BITTER.
There are too many people too angry
at a world that isn't
in the least bit angry at them.
WHEN YOU COME CLOSE TO SELLING OUT
RECONSIDER.
YOU
One worth so much
To me, To us, To life as such.
A bowl of cherries.
GIVE THE HEAVENS ABOVE MORE
THAN JUST A PASSING GLANCE.
Heaven
A place somehow high above the clouds, yet deep inside your soul;
A place of complete peace, of total and utter happiness;
A place that is greater than the sum of everything you ever be or could ever imagine to be;
A place we all want to get to, but just not yet...
NO. NOT YET.
AND WHEN YOU GET THE CHOICE TO SIT
IT OUT
OR DANCE...
[as you now well know]
I HOPE
YOU
D A N C E
I HOPE YOU DANCE BECAUSE
Time.
Time is a wheel.
Time is a wheel in constant motion
always
rolling us along.
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder.
WHERE
THEIR
YEARS
HAVE
GONE
Ah, youth...new skin, wide smiles,
clear eyes...the future so bright.
If only we could bottle it, sip it now and
again, and stay forever twenty-one,
forever ten, forever five.
I liked being five.
But I'd also like to think that time and age are like cousins-
they're relative.
Who said you have to by actual miles?
If you didn't know how old you were, how old would you be?
[me, i'm sticking with five.]
I'll even argue that you can bottle youth.
What you store it in is all up to you.
[I suggest your heart.]
If you can figure out a way to keep
the energy and gumption and fire alive,
you'll always stay young.
And where there's youth, there's hope...
where there's hope, there's wonder...
where there's faith, there's chance...
where there's chance, there's love...
where there's love, there's music...
and dancing.
So in my heart of hearts
I HOPE YOU DANCE
I REALLY
HOPE YOU
DANCE
Amen.
W A I T
Promise me one more thing:
If tomorrow you wake up feeling
unoriginal
or
frail hearted
or faithless
or
tired of this world
please
read this all over again.
I love you all.
How i push the madness away and just be happy.
What is hope?
To want? To desire?
To expect that what's envisioned
may indeed happen?
YES to all of the above.
Is hope that gut feeling that it's worth holding out
and hanging on for just a little longer?
ABSOLUTELY.
Is hope the core of the human condition?
CERTANLY.
Can you have hope without
faith and humility and wonder?
THAT'S TOUGH.
Just the thought that there's something bigger,
something truer, something totally surprising
out there waiting for us is....
priceless.
What would you be without hope
growing deep in your bones,
thriving in every inch of you?
N O T H I N G.
What does it take to hope?
E V E R Y T H I N G.
Hope takes never ceasing
to be amazed...
Wearing
your soul on your sleeve...
Holding your breath, waiting to hear
"I love you too..."
Believing
that tomorrow could be better than today...
that you'll get a second chance...
that you'll make a difference...
that you matter.
YOU GET YOUR FILL TO EAT
BUT ALWAYS KEEP THAT HUNGER
Hunger is the wanting:
to see more
to feel more
to touch more
to crave, desire, search out, find, hold more.
And sometimes hunger hurts more.
But go on, go weast, young man, young woman.
Plow the land,
plan the seeds,
grow the food for the whole wide world.
MAY YOU NEVER TAKE ONE SINGLE BREATH FOR GRANTED
so breath out and breath in
[and soak it all up]
GOD FORBID LOVE EVER
LEAVE YOU EMPTY-HANDED
But if it does,
may it leave you patient and stronger,
willing and wiser, tender and tougher.
I HOPE YOU
STILL FEEL
SMALL
WHEN YOU
STAND BESIDE
THE OCEAN
If you're ever lying on a beach with
80 billion grains of sand beneath you,
700 thousand ocean waves before you,
60 million stars stretched our above you,
and you're still not at all impressed,
I want you to think about this:
The light you reflecting from the stars is over one million years old.
WOW.
But then, just before you start to feel like a mere blip
in the gigantic scheme of things, please rememeber this:
Yoes, you are small, but you're also irreplaceable
and invaluable
and miraculous.
Those stars don't have anything on you.
WHENEVER
ONE
DOOR CLOSES
I HOPE
ONE MORE
OPENS
DOORS
Holes in walls that offer us a way out or a way in.
Just putting your hand on the knob and seeing if it turns can
make you weak in the knees.
What if it's locked?
What if it's unlocked?
What if no one answers?
What if someone does?
What if the hinges creak and the heavy wood swings
open
and you're suddenly standing in the threshold
of a brand new tomorrow?
What if your horizon is nothing but
blue clear skies?
What if it's a raging storm?
What if?
What if?
What if?
PROMISE ME THAT
YOU'LL GIVE FAITH A
FIGHTING CHANCE
A PROMISE IS ALL ABOUT FAITH.
A PROMISE IS ONLY AS STRONG.
as your own faith in your own self.
in your own god.
So when you swear,
in light of your strengths and in spite
of your weaknesses,
to struggle and follow through.
you
are doing a beautiful thing.
AND WHEN YOU GET THE
CHOICE TO SIT
IT OUR OR DANCE
I HOPE YOU
D A N C E
Let the music move you,
Let the moment take your hand,
Let it lead you out into
The middle of the dance floor and
Embrace you.
Dive off the high board,
Ride with the top down,
Thrive like a wildflower
And sing
[who cares what you sound like]
With a voice all your own.
I HOPE YOU NEVER
FEAR THOSE MOUNTAINS
IN THE DISTANCE
LIFE
Mountains and oceans
Seems like there's always another of one or the other....
It's crossing your fingers when the map doesn't make sense, when the compass
doesn't know truly north from truly lost; and it's up to you-you and your gut and
your mettle, and your level of resilience, and your wealth of wisdon-
to persevere, To get to the other side.
To hope.
NEVER SETTLE
FOR THE PATH OF
LEAST RESISTANCE
[that's too easy. what follows is too interesting]
LIVING MIGHT
MEAN TAKING
CHANCES,
BUT THEY'RE
WORTH TAKING
Ask Eve.
Evolve.
Take a chance, take a ticket,
take a fast train to the coast.
No guts, no glory.
It's risky breathing, let alone needing,
trusting, reaching out. Life is the leap of faith,
the bold declaration of
Hope.
LOVING MIGHT
BE A MISTAKE,
BUT IT'S
WORTH MAKING
Love, Love, Love.
You have to love.
And if you don't get love right,
You have to move on.
And forgive.
And then you have to remember
That you've forgiven,
Or else you can't move on.
And if you don't move on,
You'll surely end up. . .
Bitter.
DON'T
LET SOME
HELL-BENT
HEART
LEAVE
YOU BITTER.
There are too many people too angry
at a world that isn't
in the least bit angry at them.
WHEN YOU COME CLOSE TO SELLING OUT
RECONSIDER.
YOU
One worth so much
To me, To us, To life as such.
A bowl of cherries.
GIVE THE HEAVENS ABOVE MORE
THAN JUST A PASSING GLANCE.
Heaven
A place somehow high above the clouds, yet deep inside your soul;
A place of complete peace, of total and utter happiness;
A place that is greater than the sum of everything you ever be or could ever imagine to be;
A place we all want to get to, but just not yet...
NO. NOT YET.
AND WHEN YOU GET THE CHOICE TO SIT
IT OUT
OR DANCE...
[as you now well know]
I HOPE
YOU
D A N C E
I HOPE YOU DANCE BECAUSE
Time.
Time is a wheel.
Time is a wheel in constant motion
always
rolling us along.
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder.
WHERE
THEIR
YEARS
HAVE
GONE
Ah, youth...new skin, wide smiles,
clear eyes...the future so bright.
If only we could bottle it, sip it now and
again, and stay forever twenty-one,
forever ten, forever five.
I liked being five.
But I'd also like to think that time and age are like cousins-
they're relative.
Who said you have to by actual miles?
If you didn't know how old you were, how old would you be?
[me, i'm sticking with five.]
I'll even argue that you can bottle youth.
What you store it in is all up to you.
[I suggest your heart.]
If you can figure out a way to keep
the energy and gumption and fire alive,
you'll always stay young.
And where there's youth, there's hope...
where there's hope, there's wonder...
where there's faith, there's chance...
where there's chance, there's love...
where there's love, there's music...
and dancing.
So in my heart of hearts
I HOPE YOU DANCE
I REALLY
HOPE YOU
DANCE
Amen.
W A I T
Promise me one more thing:
If tomorrow you wake up feeling
unoriginal
or
frail hearted
or faithless
or
tired of this world
please
read this all over again.
I love you all.