I’m a very multi-dimensional person. For my entire life my interests have spanned across every category one could think of. In middle school, my extracurricular activities included every sport under the sun and the academic bowl team.In high school I felt completely at home on the volleyball court and on the stage and now my perfect day is either sitting in my room deeply wrapped up in a self-help book or a luxurious night on the town complete with good wine, fine food and a fabulous dress. I have always had an appreciation for my varied interest. However, after high school, I began to feel I needed to choose which grown up clique I would belong too. Would I choose to be a fun loving free spirit who danced the night away? Would I be the polo wearing young professional who oozed class? Or would I be the enlightened, earth loving yogi who radiated divine connection? On any given day I felt like some version of one of these personas– feeling completely at home in each of them, but since my Spiritual Evolution, there has consistently been nothing more important to me than finding out what God means to me. This idea led me to sacrifice anything that I believed stood in the way of connecting to the divine– going out, dating, enjoying great food, living life and making mistakes.
My mind and society had convinced me that if I wanted to experience God, I needed to find him in what I did not do.
If I wanted to know God, I needed to sit on my meditation pillow, with my nose in the Bible or some other sacred book as much as possible. But this New Years Eve, I experienced something very different.
To celebrate 2013, some friends and I went dancing at a few places in Tulsa. Now… just so you know, I love dancing more than any other activity in the world. Give me a good beat and a dance floor and I am the happiest girl in the world… I don’t need drinks, I don’t need drugs, just let me dance. So NYE me, my friends and the one-hundred plus strangers around us danced to the music. Somewhere between That Sh*t Cray and a little bit of bar top dancing, the count down began… 5…4…3…2…1… we all counted together. As the crowd cheered, HAPPY NEW YEAR, I felt chills, a connection to the people around me and excitement for the New Year like I had not had before. Most alarmingly, in the middle of a sweaty room I felt something that can only be described as spiritual– a divine connection that I was sure only existed in churches and in meditation right in the middle of a full blown dance party. In that moment something whispered, “This is when you find me… when you’re living YOUR life.”
After that moment I became convinced that although meditation and church are incredible practices, God is not confined to these holy structures, he is everywhere and in everything that brings us joy.
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Patrick
January 4, 2013 at 12:32 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Love it! So inspiring! And always eye opening when we experience God in moments when we least expect it! Great post and a truly wonderful way to bring in 2013! Stay well & keep dancing, Katie!
KatieHofman
January 4, 2013 at 4:12 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Patrick-
Thank you so much for your kind words and for reading! You’re right, it is very refreshing to find God in the unexpected. I hope your 2013 is off to a great start as well!
Rachael
January 7, 2013 at 3:14 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Hi Katie! It is so wonderful to see you living life. I had the same reaction from NYE – although mine didn’t come so gracefully. My new blog post will tell the story, but basically, I couldn’t enjoy myself. At the Highline Ballroom, in NYC, on NYE. I was seven drinks in and completely sober and thought “I can’t be doing this. I can’t keep drinking like this, it is against everything I have been working so hard towards.” And then I shut down and became miserable. Miserable because I was torn between what I “know” to be right to get closer to God and watching my boyfriend and my friends seem much more happier than I was in that moment, and none of them have meditated in their lives! And so, I decided to not read a self-help book for a while, and to read a fun book.
I don’t know why I didn’t read this post sooner – but it was so relieving! I too, have put so much pressure on myself to start living right that I had stopped living.
Thank you. I hope we can connect more soon. xoxo
KatieHofman
January 7, 2013 at 6:45 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Rachael,
I look forward to connecting with you more too 
Thank you so much for sharing. It sounds like you know exactly what I’m talking about! I love your idea of taking a break from self-help books, I have to do that sometime soon. I can’t wait to check out your new post, I will today
Love,
Katie
Michael
January 8, 2013 at 7:46 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Great blog. I agree so many people tell you the only place to experience God is in church. The funniest thing, I play in the church praise band every Sunday, I’m there for the friendship meal on Monday. I hardly ever get the feeling of God sitting in a pew listening to someone preach about something he can’t even pretend to understand. God pops up in when you least expect it. Watching a movie, hanging out with a friend, talking to a stranger.
KatieHofman
January 11, 2013 at 4:34 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Michael I totally agree! I love feeling God when I’m watching movies and hanging out with friends. I believe God is in the midst of all that is creative. Thank you so much for reading and sharing!
Love,
Katie