Top 11 reasons why all men should learn to dance

All in all, I’ve taught quite a few dance classes this year. For example, at the beginning of the summer, I visited a local school and introduced a class of Eighth Graders to swing dancing and last month I taught a group of a hundred and fifty teenagers (eesh!) at a youth retreat in Julian.

As a general rule, when I teach dance lessons, the girls are really enthusiastic about learning whereas the guys are usually more reluctant. I’ve noticed that this reaction is not limited to teenagers. I’ve seen the same thing when I’ve taught  “young adults” and I’ve even seen the same reaction among real grown-ups too! For example, towards the beginning of the year I taught Nightclub Foxtrot at a local parish event and, when it was time for the lesson, all the men were suddenly rather absent… Where had all the “leaders” gone?

In this post I would like to outline the top eleven reasons as to why every man should learn to dance. Anyone who knows me well will know that I think all guys, without exception, should know how to dance. In Medieval times, a knight’s training was considered incomplete if he could not dance. It was true then and I think it’s no less true today… 🙂

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Catholic Dating: Analysis Paralysis

This post will be a little longer than usual. Today I will be closing the series by offering some final thoughts on some of the issues I see within the Catholic dating world.

Why is it that there don’t seem to be many Catholic couples dating and, by extension, why is the number of couples receiving the Sacrament of Matrimony plummeting?

As I’ve mentioned before, there are many different, complicated explanations as to why this is so, but today I would like to focus on the subject of analysis paralysis, as well as our attitude towards dating and courtship.

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Last Year’s Resolutions

Tomorrow I’ll post my new resolutions for 2012, but I thought I’d first do a quick review of those from last year.

1. Spend 30 minutes every day in Scripture: A lot of my time in 2011 was spent reading and studying Scripture, but I didn’t manage to achieve the quiet lectio divina style of reading for which I was aiming.

Final Grade: C

2. More dancing: I did quite a bit here. I taught a good handful of times, went out social dancing a few times, attended Swing Diego and did a couple of months of West Coast Swing classes. However, I didn’t manage to settle into a regular pattern of dancing.

Final Grade: D

3. No more rushing: I think I really nailed this one. I had a busy year, but I didn’t overbook or frantically run about from appointment to appointment.

Final Grade: A

4. No chocolate: Did it. It was horrible. I love chocolate.

Final Grade: A

5. Get into the best shape of my life: At the beginning of the year I began keeping a closer eye on my diet. However, I didn’t really get into the way of regular exercise until towards the end of the year. I began running with John in the mornings but finally signed up for Bootcamp. Within two months of joining Bootcamp I lost 4% body fat and 8lbs. I go four or five times a week.

I’m not yet in the greatest shape of my life, but I’m well on my way to getting there. I’ve signed up for the Warrior Dash in March, by which time I hope this resolution will be achieved…

Final Grade: B

6. At least five minutes of guitar practice every day: I haven’t strictly fulfilled this, but I now to play very regularly and I think I’m much improved.

Final Grade: B

7. Keep proper track of finances: Much improved from the beginning of the year. I now have a financial adviser and I have my American finances in reasonable shape now. For a good while I kept a budget and checked my bank balances, but in the latter part of the year I’ve got out of the habit.

Final Grade: C

8. Get back to England for a couple of weeks: I went and it was wonderful 🙂

Final Grade: A

So, my final report card was:

D x1, C x2, B x2, A x3

Not bad! I’ll write about my new resolutions tomorrow 🙂