the swing
balance is a funny thing, and it’s something i frequently concern myself with.
i try to prioritize living my life in the most balanced way possible; not tipping my inner-scale, giving myself over too far to one thing or the other. one big example in my life is trying to balance work vs. rest. (and then there’s the even further challenge of how i actually define those two things! but you can hear more of that in my podcast with hani)
what i’ve discovered about balance, which is kind of blowing my mind, is that balance isn’t stagnant.
i’ll say it again: balance isn’t stagnant.
maybe this isn’t news for you, but it certainly has come as a bit of a surprise to me.
my tendency was to look at balance as perfection; a point of absolute stillness right in the middle of two opposite points.
that was a fault of mine, and to no surprise, because i’ve also realized that (although i hate to admit it) my first instinct is to look at things in black and white; “this is bad and therefore that is good”.
hello skye! n o t h i n g is pure… not pure evil or pure good. e v e r y t h i n g is nuanced. i’ve come to learn a lot about that over the past year, yet my mind still likes to slip into a black and white lens every now and then… even subconsciously!
i don’t even want to say that the world is a greyscale… because the world is, in fact, colourful! every physical and mental and spiritual thing is multi-faceted, complex, and that’s what makes it so beautiful.
including balance…
including humans…
especially humans.
absolute stillness is absolutely impossible for us. why would it make sense to dress ourselves with that expectation? how absolutely unfair!
i think back to a specific ballet class years ago, with my wonderful Miss Alice. she made a point to teach us that when we’re holding any kind of balance, there is constant motion happening, and the better you get, the smaller the movements. she called them “micro adjustments”. the point is, when holding a balance, there is never a time where you are not in motion.
maybe you’ve never felt this way, and i really applaud you if that’s the case! but if this resonates with you too, please give yourself some grace!!
in order to seek a better state of balance, we must first recognize the imbalance… we must point out the place where we have tipped the scale to one end, and then, for a little while, i think we have to live on the other side of the scale. see what it’s like, explore the good parts of that side that we’ve neglected, recognize the bits of the other side that were harmful, and get a broader perspective of the entire scale. see the kaleidoscope of colours before you! that is health! that is expansion!
then, we must do what i think is the hardest work. we must start the swing. we must be active in the pursuit of discovering that yummy mid-area where we can experience the joy of both sides. and this is hard work because it’s incredibly active; passivity within the swing may cause getting stuck on one side again, forgetting about the other side and everything it has to offer. and sure, that’s comfy for a while, but we rob ourselves of so much life when we do that.
it’s also hard work because although we experience the joy of both sides, we also can be inflicted with the hurt of both sides. which is another reason why we must be active… we need to check-in with ourselves and recognize when we are feeding ourselves with the “wrong” parts.
and here’s the thing: the swing doesn’t stop. we keep swinging, and the better we get, the smaller the swing. there is never a time where we will achieve full stillness in that perfect little peaceful mid-point, but hey! that sounds kind of boring, to be honest. even in the rare case that we were to find that internally, external factors would gladly keep us humble and push us back into motion.
so, yes. balance is hard work. i actually think it’s probably easier to live in an imbalanced state. but that brings along with it complacency, and neglects our ability to grow.
i think my question now is: is living in balance or imbalance even a choice? is it even possible to live on one side of the scale forever? afterall, growth is inevitable.
i guess my answer to that right now would be that our search for balance may happen whether or not we choose to acknowledge it. however, if we do acknowledge it, we may have an easier time getting through it, avoiding the manifestation of imbalance that can arrive in our physical, mental and spiritual health.
if you want, let me know what you think! i’m curious to hear your take on it all.
