“The ingredients of both darkness and light are equally present in all of us, …The madness of this planet is largely a result of the human being’s difficulty in coming to virtuous balance with himself.” Elizabeth Gilbert
Where do you find beauty and balance in your life? Is it difficult to create? How do you do that? What does it add to your life?
I want to thank Bill for suggesting “beauty” as the B topic this week. As I thought about it, the word “balance” came to mind and is especially appropriate in a world that feels terribly unbalanced and certainly not beautiful in many people’s actions.
The Beauty Of Nature Has Balance
Of course when I think of beauty and balance, nature always comes to mind, especially what I experience at Owen Lake, the small lake around which my husband and I often walk in the late afternoon. The geese, their large oval bodies balanced on one thin leg, seem magical . Often, they awake, tiptoe to the water, skip across the lake’s glistening surface, and soar into the blue sky with wings spread on the updraft.
For a moment they are suspended in space before dropping smoothly onto the other side of the lake. There they quack at other ducks and geese and flirt with their floating partner, all balancing on the wings of the disappearing day.
Dance Creates Beautiful Artistic Balance
But then…another picture surfaces. I remember those diamond moments when, as a dancer, I balanced on one leg, arms spread, lifted by the light, breath, and muscles growing out of the earth like a palm. Dropping back to earth, I ran, leapt into the air, legs and arms spread to balance, magically suspended, like the geese, in perfect balance before I returned to earth.
While the beauty of this balance and suspension may take your breath away, especially if Baryshnikov is the dancer, there are other moments of balance in our lives that are beautiful. There is the moment when the person you love, a partner or a child, turns to you and says, “I love you,” and the craziness of life suddenly, peacefully balances.
Finding The Beauty Of Balance As A Challenge
Anger may often take us off balance and cause us to do or say ugly things. In the middle of an argument with a spouse or dear friend, we suddenly realize the issue at hand is about to break our precious connection. In that moment, we see that if we win, we lose, so we find the words that will stop the disruption and hopefully, beautifully, heal the wound.
It is a pleasure to see balance in others. To create it in ourselves may be challenging. We must find the beauty within that can create the balance. Often, we need help to see beyond the negative messages we received in childhood that we are somehow not good enough. We have to find a good therapist, learn new ways of communicating, or heal our negative thinking. When we are at peace with ourselves, and our mind is in balance, we can see the non-physical beauty in others.
How To Balance Our Lives
I am so grateful for the years I learned to meditate and for the teacher who taught me to release my fears. These approaches have often helped me see the best direction to take in life, including letting go or walking away when necessary. Even now when anger or fear arise in my life, I have the tools that I need to find balance.
While balance is a beautiful experience, our outer world is out of balance and often a challenge that we feel we have no way to change. But we need to ask ourselves what can we each do in our way, in our own lives, to create more balance. We all have the option to vote to change the people who don’t make the choices we prefer in the government. If we feel lonely, there are groups that we now may Zoom with to discuss topics that interest us and at least see other human faces. Leaving space between ourselves and others, we can walk across the land as it transforms into a colorful spring that brings us joy. Making quiet time to go within and love oneself and connect with Spirit may bring the balance we need.
If we want the beauty of balance in our lives, we have to seek ways to create it, and that may be a gift not only for ourselves, but for all the other lives we touch.
May you find the light of beauty and balance in your life this week.
© 2021 Georganne Spruce
***Please add to the conversation with a comment. Also, what word would you like me to write about next week that starts with a C ? You can place that in comment too.
Related Blog Posts:
AWAKENING TO SEE THE BEAUTY OF LIFE
AWAKENING TO LIGHT THE DARKNESS
Awakening to the Dance 