Lessons From White Christmas

Ryan Casto, LPCC

Associate Director, New Creation Counseling Center

5 December 2017

When I joined the staff of New Creation I discovered that then-director John Jung and I shared a love for the movie White Christmas, the 1954 gem of a film starring the magnificent Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. John has a love for older music in general, and I as a very young but mature person have an appreciation for the singing, dancing, and musical arrangement of the era that produced this movie. We both agree that today’s entertainment does not touch the mastery and charm of the performances of those times. Here is a picture of John and I from last year’s Christmas party singing songs from White Christmas.

I can’t say enough about this film. The story, the songs, the comedy, oh the comedy! Watch the scene where Wallace (Crosby) and Davis (Kaye) discuss Wallace needing to meet a girl, settle down, and give Davis 45 minutes of time to himself. The quickness and timing of the back-and-forth is just marvelous. Danny Kaye in general is an incredible joy to watch; a great voice, graceful on his feet, a comedic mug to challenge Jim Carrey, and sharp and stylish as the day is long. And Bing – well, I don’t have to tell you about Bing. 

There are great lessons and wisdom to be gleaned from White Christmas. Not because White Christmas is this incredibly deep film. No, I simply think that through art and it's portrayal of the human experience we can discern from that portrayal wisdom, beauty, and truth. It is a reflection of how the truth of God can be revealed through created things. The Bible says that God’s eternal power and divine nature are expressed and understood through the things he has made, and that the heavens declare his glory. Similarly through film, music, art, even every-day objects, truth can be spoken to us. 

QED – White Christmas can teach you some things, all while being ridiculously entertaining. And so, during this holiday season I will be discussing some truths about life that you can learn from White Christmas, starting with my favorite scene featuring the untouchable Danny Kaye, complete with gray suit and matching shoes. In Vista Vision!

We live a life of preoccupation. In our minds we are usually not focused on the present moment that is right in front of us. Instead of living in the moment we attend to a variety of other things. The past or the future. We may be trying to solve a problem in our minds by worrying, or ruminating on the negative things we perceive about ourselves, our life situations, or other people. In fact, I would venture to say that the majority of our mental health issues stem from paying attention to something other than what is right in front of us at this very second. For example, with depression, we are preoccupied by ideas of loss, of worthlessness and hopelessness. Anxiety stems from an inordinate amount of focus on the idea that a significant threat exists. Anger problems result from being preoccupied with the idea that something is attacking us. We let these preoccupations dominate in our mind, and our feelings flow from our dominant thoughts. 

Now think about any given moment. Usually there is not something dangerous or depressing going on. Most of the time in life you are not being attacked. However we spend a lot of time distressed. If we paid more attention to what was in the here-and-now, more of our emotions would come from the here-and-now, instead of the distressing things that occupy our minds. We would be less anxious and depressed, since instead of focusing on anxious or depressing things in our mind, we would be focusing on what was in the moment, which is for the most part not scary or sad.   

Which gets me to my point – the best things happen while you’re dancing. As the song goes:

The best things happen while you're dancing
Things that you would not do at home
Come naturally on the floor
For dancing soon becomes romancing
When you hold a girl in your arms
That you've never held before
Even guys with two left feet
Come out alright if the girl is sweet
If by chance their cheeks should meet while dancing
Proving that the best things happen while you dance

If you’ve seen the movie, you know the scene: Danny Kaye is trying to set up Bing with Rosemary Clooney. They’re sitting at dinner with Rosemary and her sister Vera Ellen. Danny Kaye is awkward, coming on too strong, making bad jokes. He is preoccupied with his scheme to find his friend and partner a girl. To give Bing some alone time with Rosemary, he (again awkwardly) asks Vera Ellen to dance. And then, as they dance, something happens. He becomes…focused on the here-and-now, with eyes only for his dance partner.  Smitten with Vera Ellen, he forgets his scheming. His awkwardness gone, he is now the Danny Kaye you know and love – suave, smooth, effortlessly executing flamenco dance moves on top of an upside-down boat. 

This is what mindfulness is all about. When you are grounded in the present moment, when you attend to what is right in front of you (instead of being in your head), several things happen. You are less anxious. You are more calm and at peace. Your feelings flow from what is in front of you. You are not self-conscious because you are not focused on internal distractions, or even your performance in the moment. You are simply focused on the moment itself.  You naturally perform better, instead of self-censoring and second-guessing. You have more fun. The normal awkwardness of a guy "with two left feet" goes away when you're not overthinking it. Believe it or not, we are actually good at a lot of things; the problem is we don't let that ability flow out of us because we're too self-conscious. We need to be less self-aware and more aware of the here-and-now. 

The phrase in the zone is one way to describe what happens when you are at one with the moment. We get in the moment when we're doing something we love or when we're doing something new and we have to concentrate really hard. So whether you're a dancer or not, things can come naturally on the dance floor because you're likely to be more engaged in the moment...

Proving that the best things happen while you dance. 

Danny Kaye being cooler than you are.