Rekindle the Spark

Things that I recognized during Christmas...It's sort of weird how things never always end up like we imagined.  Here I am, 30 years old, single, just graduating with my Bachelors in Dance from BYU...and finally, my whole immediate family has relocated to Utah.  So no more going home to California where I grew up for the first 18 years of my life.  Baby it's cold outside, and I'm dreaming of a white Christmas have now become realities.   My older sister has 5 children all of whom are just the cutest kids ever.  I currently work with people with disabilities and absolutely love it, I have been doing this work for the the last 5 years of my life, and I don't believe there is any other work I would rather be doing right now.  I mean, I am so grateful to be where I am today, but I am not sure I would have ever guessed that I would get here the way that I did.   Anyways, here is what I realized over Christmas break that made me smile and feel very blessed i...

I don't know why I cycle back to this problem all the time.  I go a long time without praying, even though I have such a genuine understanding that prayer really works, and is a comforting experience of communication with my Heavenly Father.  I have no problem praying for group settings, the problem is just praying by myself.  It's the private prayer that I have trouble saying.  I don't want to say lazy, but I guess in a prideful manner, I don't find myself wanting to both The Lord with my problems.  However, the longer I go without prayer, the more pain I carry, and the more alone I feel.  It is not that prayer alone solves my problems.  Prayer gives me peace that my problems are not  eternal.  That I may feel alone, or scared, or disappointment, but that I have no need to fear.  That my Heavenly Father has eternal duties for me, and my duties here are in earth are minimal, short lived, and narrow viewed.  I like to think I have ma...

How do you make a modern dancer breathe? That is a very good question. In my modern dance class we are working on a few different concepts, one concept being breath. Breathing is essential to any dancer, athlete, or person for that matter. Ask any runner, or weight lifter. They all know there's a skill to breathing. Our bodies have this quick impulse of tightening up when we don't breathe, hoping that holding our breath will give us more strength. When holding your breath really just does the opposite, it limits your full range or motion. Without breathing in a dance sequence, the body will naturally tire faster. Have you ever just sat quietly and heard yourself breathe? Breath is what gives life to the body. The chest rises, the chest falls. It is the first thing we do in this life when we come out of our mother's womb, and the last thing we do on this earth before we die. I feel like after many years of dancing at BYU I understand this concept a lot better th...

When I first got a blog, I titled it "...And So She Would Dance..." because my life was all about dancing at the time. Then I found myself out of school, selling security, working all sorts of jobs that weren't very much directly related to the arts or dancing, and felt like some of my identity was gone or lost from me. So I changed the title of my blog again to, "...Dare to Dream Big..." Now I sit here and think, I'm ready for another change. But to what should I change to? I feel like I've been recently going through an enlightenment period, after being in the dark for so long. Back in school again hoping to finish, I'm already living proof that I can live the dream. I think the next phase in my life is going to be "The Creative Movement." This is how I have evolved as a person and how I've changed my view of the "Dancer Me." I don't dance just because it is fulfilling for me, or because it is gratifying to mo...

Beautifully Broken By Gioconda Velez I love what needs mending, I love the broken, I love the weak, I love the torn, I love the ugly, I love the hurt, I love what looks like to the world as worthless. I love the reckless, I love the lost, I love the needy, I love the poor, I love the innocent, The underdeveloped, I love what most people are afraid to love, and more. I love the sick, I love the deaf, The unintelligent, And the blind, I love the fallen, I love the scared, I love the trialed, And the dead. I love the sorrowed, The unpopular, The insignificant, And the bruised, I love the child that lacks the confidence, I love the one who is confused. I love the quiet, I love the damaged, I look past the cover of a book, I love the challenge, I love the dirty, I love the one who's overlooked. I love the fragile, I love the rough, I love the pain, And the forgotten, I love the blisters, I love the heavy, I love anything that's gone rotten. I love that which pierces the heart, I l...

I recently read a post that changed how I've decided to look at myself. Read it, if you would like some serious perspective. http://thankyourbody.com/beautiful-through-words/ But anyways, the idea is...we spend so much time endlessly trying to make ourselves beautiful by nature. Beautiful hair, beautiful make up, beautiful clothes. But if words really have the strongest impact on my beauty, why wouldn't I try to make this change to improve my personal image. I have nothing to lose. Right? I can only gain. I'm quite a piece of work. I'll tell you what, I am beautiful. 1. I have a pretty legit smile. I sincerely look happy when I smile, and I have the ability to make other people happy by radiating positive energy with this $30,000.00 smile! Jaw surgery...you made it all possible. Thank you good California Health Insurance, for helping me express myself clearly. 2. I have beautiful hair. Yes. Some people would die to have as mush hair as I have, and it's ...

It's amazing having moments of spiritual impact. I've found myself so busy with work lately, I rarely make quality time to spend with my friends or family. And when I have time, I find I spend more time with my friends rather than family. I guess it's easy to get, wrapped up with your friends when you're a single college student. But families are really quite special. Since my father's stroke in March 2011, I've moved in at the end of July with my Mom and Dad, in a house in Pleasant Grove, UT. I also went to go pick my younger sister, Tiffany, up from BYU Idaho after completing her fist year of school in July. Then in the first week of August, my brother, Mauricio, returned home from his mission in McAllen, Texas. My older sister Ligia, who is married to Alex, with 3 kids of their own, Orion (4), Chrysa (3), and Hinckley (1), all live down the street from us. Literally 5 blocks from where we live. So here we are again, pretty much one big happy Velez/ H...