Balance — The Sound Life

I have seen gymnasts perform impossible feats on a four-inch-wide, padded beam. Is there any better example of balance? Sometimes, it feels like walking through life is an exercise in staying upright. But it doesn’t have to feel that way.

A balanced scale is static, each side with an equal measure of weight. The gymnast is almost always in motion. Every tensed muscle is counterbalanced by a relaxed force on the other side. The agonist tensing, the antagonist relaxing. And so it goes, the triceps relax so the biceps can contract. The body in motion is balanced and never static.

The same approach is necessary to accomplish what one must in a day. We must let go of some things to focus on what is important at the moment. Everything is not critical; it only feels that way. Balance, then, is not finding stillness. It is not the art of standing upright. It is learning the ebb and flow of life in motion, giving energy to one thing while releasing your grip on another. It’s okay to do that; the other thing will still be there when you are ready to focus on it.