Balance, is askewed in my life lately. As so often happens with many of us, I have allowed work of one kind or another to dominate. It is probably because I like the work I choose whether it is teaching, painting, sewing, gardenening, cooking or writing. Nevertheless, I am reminded that when I view these activities as work within their structured and goal-oriented nature, I relegate them to my workaholic tendencies and create an imbalance that I want the rectify.
In the painting, House of Cards, by Charles Hunt, a group of children are balancing cards into a tower. This is an activity in futility to those of us who are goal oriented because no sooner will the cards stack up than they will come tumbling down. But that is the point. The children take time to discover the care they must use to place each card which ensures the tower's position and contiuned growth. In the end they will joyfully knock down that which they so painstakingly built. It is a lesson in balance in more ways than one.
Without balance, we become boring and not only tire ourselves, but those around us. What can keep us from this wretched prognosis? Perhaps we can stave off the duldrums wih exploration for exploration's sake. This idea gives credence to "art of art's sake" and any other creative practice indulged in for its pure essence, whether it be travel, poetry, music or simply seeing.
Playing a trivial game with our family or dearest friends becomes more significant in the interior beauty of our lives than any successful business merger or ambitious accomplishment. A sunrise, the silent and yet monumental moment of new promise when viewed without expectation for the day's events, enlivens all who participate in its arrival.
Balancing the cards of my house for the pleasure of the doing is a child-like enjoyment I intend to pursue.
