Life Works Best in Balance

A lump of clay on a potter’s wheel. As the wheel spins and the potter’s hands wrap around it, gentle pressure thoughtfully applied will form the lump of clay into the desired shape.

Only if it is in perfect balance on the wheel.

An internal combustion engine in a car will run smoothly, almost silently, when the spark plugs ignite the gasoline vapors in a sequence that is perfectly choreographed with the up and down motion of the pistons in their cylinders.

If the timing is off – just a smidge, smooth becomes rough. Noise replaces silence. Parts strain to compensate. Efficiency is compromised.

This condition left uncorrected, will cause the engine to cease functioning. It will fail sooner than intended. It will never perform at maximum capability.

Your body is a bio-mechanical machine. Your consciousness inhabiting it is like a lump of clay.

You and I have gifts, talents, abilities. We also have limitations. That’s the intended, created way of things.

We can choose to accept this, embrace this, live and interact according to this... or choose to apply labels to it.

Positive.

Negative.

And thus create positive and negative views of life.

And thus create a world which is inhabited by people deemed positive and negative.

And thus create positive and negative views and impressions of how you view who you are.

And thus the opportunity for imbalance.

If either perspective gets too much emphasis, the result is imbalance.

An ultra-positive view point powers the desire to boldly charge forward, creating a wake of negativity. All that is seen, all that matters, is the benefit that will be experienced or claimed. What happens to everyone, anything else doesn’t matter. Collateral damage is not a concern.

People, groups, nations. Who the practitioner is makes no difference.

The outcome remains the same.

The ultra-negative view sees only the downside. It fosters stagnation. The stronger, the broader the negative view grows, the more confines, limits, restrictions result.

Negative thought is as debilitating as positive thought is motivating.

Either extreme needs to move toward balance.

Positives need to reflect, evaluate perspectives. They need to learn to see and appreciate the total picture. They need to learn to see and understand their role in it. They need to learn and see their responsibility for the resulting actions and reactions...as well as the outcomes.

The creation of winners and losers is not an acceptable default option. Nor is it a forgone conclusion.

Win/wins are always possible. They’re just not always obvious. And they require thorough, honest understanding of and empathy, compassion for the other side.

Negatives need to discover their positive qualities, embrace their positive qualities. Caution and reflection are tools all too familiar. What needs to be learned is forward movement – movement empowered by the ability to identify and understand one’s positive qualities.

Discover them – through positive reflection...or the help of friends.

Embrace them, for they are the fuel for forward motion, for action.

Nurture them, feed them, strengthen them.

Be aware of them, so you may call upon them at the appropriate times.

The skilled hands of a potter guide and shape the lump of clay. Positive, nurturing thoughts guide and shape awareness.

Awareness creates the desire, need and ability to become the powerful, finely tuned, perfectly balanced machine that facilitates and expresses your uniqueness.

And you will be overflowing with the peace and humility that comes with the resulting fulfillment.