Balance doesn’t come from being perfectly still. Try it. Being still takes so much energy. It’s one of the reasons that kids resist it so much. Our bodies do too, but as adults we override our natural and healthy desire to move with negative consequences. I mean, if I see one more well-meaning article about how to stretch effectively while working at a desk job I might bash a monitor. Argh!!! Balance comes from movement. Not just because we need to move to keep all the joints lubricated, the muscles limber and strong, but because without movement we’re a push over.
Just think, our idea of balance is usually someone standing firm and withstanding all that the world can throw at them. But have you actually done that? Stood firm? Crossed your arms over your chest, planted your feet and just stood there? It’s an effort at first, then uncomfortable, then painful, and meanwhile a toddler with good aim and a bit of a head start can knock you over with a headbutt. So much for balance. LOL Being balanced isn’t about stillness, about meditating yourself into nirvana where nothing gets to you, or retreating from everything so you’re full of no mind or no butt or no something. It’s about moving. It’s about being so fully present and here and involved in the living that the center of yourself expands outward to include your entire reach. Like a dancer who can jump and roll and stretch in both directions and balance on one foot while raising the other straight up in the air, we should be not only here but enthusiastically here. Or, to quote Under the Tuscan Sun, we should live “spherically.”
Balance doesn’t mean always being completely centered, it’s about being able to stretch in all directions, to knuckle down to the full court press of everything happening at once and be able to release the hectic pace once the need is over. To know where neutral is between Drive and Back up and be able to find it as necessary. To know what the extremes are so that you can live in between them and visit them occasionally as necessary or circumstances warrant. Because sometimes the nuclear option is the right one, sometimes walking away is best, and sometimes the right answer is not to answer at all. If you don’t have a familiarity with all of these options then you know where the next portion of your journey is headed. In fact it might be the key to what you’ve been trying to find all along.
