I recently watched a video on the Internet that gave me pause to ponder for a long while. The whole video was of a fellow who decided to ‘dance' all over the world. I mean, genuinely, dance in places all over the world.

We see him in Australia , doing a little jig of a dance for maybe 10 seconds. We see him doing the same thing in Arizona , in Chile , under water in some far flung area [as much ‘dancing as one can do while in scuba gear], in Laos , in Africa, Japan , France , Peru , and so many other locations. In one frame, he was ‘dancing' on a rock held between two huge pieces of land. The rock was suspended high above land!  In another frame, it was raining like crazy.  In some locations, he is in the dark while in others the sun is shining brightly.

We see him all alone, with animals, and with many other people – some who seem aware of him and others who are not.

This is the jest of the entire project – with a running time of less than four minutes.

Not a word was spoken, and I do not believe it was created to bring a ‘moral' or ‘meaning.' However, it gave me pause to think about several important aspects of our lives, as I watched this fun, and different, video presentation. Thinking through them gave me more joy as I began my day. Here are a few highlights that came to me:

• Dancing through life is a great way to go! Children love to skip, to hop, to jump, and to wiggle as they go along. Somehow, we seem to lose the wiggles and the skipping as we grow older. Some days the feet feel like they are heavy as lead, and our burdens weigh us to such an extent that we feel as though we can barely move our feet. Oh, to regain some of the joy of small children – who freely dance along!

• Dancing through life gives us more personal freedom.  When we approach the teen years, we begin worrying more about what people think, how we may appear to others, how we fit in. For some, that feeling of inadequacy continues to be a burden for all their lives.  If we could choose to dance, so to speak; to outwardly show our joy, our uniqueness, our personality, maybe we could breathe more deeply and more fully enjoy every single day. Maybe we would attract like-minded people – those who can enjoy our silliness, or our desire to be more open and fun, or even our abilities that may not appear as important to others. It matters not one bit that everyone understand us. It matters that we are enjoying ourselves, recognizing our divine connection, as we learn to more freely express that joy within us that was placed there by a loving Father in Heaven.

• Even when we are caught between a rock and a hard place, we would be better off if we ‘dance'. On those days when we are not on solid ground, and we feel hedged in, the Savior's admonition to “be of good cheer” may apply more than ever. And on we will go with our life's journey…..

• Dance in unfamiliar territory. Trying to dance under water is something interesting to think about. When we feel that we are drowning in sorrow or trouble or heartache or any of the difficult mortal ‘stuff', to work at finding ways of ‘dancing' may give us the strength needed until we are back on higher ground.

• Dance when the sun is shining on us and when we are in darker times. Just like we will fare better if we try to keep that dancing spirit during times we feel like we are drowning in life's deep pot holes, we can work to keep the spirit of cheerfulness and joy during sunny times and during times of dark storm. The light will come again, as surely as the sun follows the night.

• Dance no matter where we are! Regardless of location, or state of mind, the desire to ‘dance' can lighten our own hearts as well as those who see our example.

Watching this fellow dance his way around the world caused me to think of his way of expressing happiness. As we find our own way to ‘dance' through the mortal journey- a personal way that lightens the load, increases hope, and spreads more good cheer – what a more pleasant and blessed journey will unfold before us. If the road itself should be hard and difficult to traverse, the traveler [you and me] can reap the benefits of finding a way to celebrate the journey.