Balance

There is something that sailing, windsurfing and riding a bicycle all have in common.  That something is balance.  To stay erect and enjoy the ride, you can’t exert too much pressure either one way or the other.  You have to learn to just “be”..to almost give up the desire to control the situation, and just relax and work with the forces of nature as they take you on a wonderfully freeing ride.

I’m beginning to feel this is perhaps the secret to life.  You can’t expect to push too hard one way or pull too hard the other and still go for a smooth ride.  Instead, you must learn to relax, balance and remain erect through the forces that life is creating around you.

When life applies a little force, you have the choice of letting it push you over, or of exerting enough strength to stand up to it.  If you are too forceful, however, and push back too hard, you run the risk of falling over in the other direction. The key is balance.

When you are in a relationship with another person, a whole new system of balance is required.  You now must not only learn to balance with the universal forces around you, but also with the forces of the other person as they try to balance with the forces of nature.  It’s like learning to ride a bicycle all over again, but this time you’ve got someone on the handlebars.This can seem more like a struggle than a balancing act at first, for you are both used to dealing with the forces of life alone. The secret is to know that, to be a couple, neither one of you can be doing all the steering–all the balancing. You have to work together, each giving and taking, leaning and bending, balancing and counterbalancing for the common good and support of the couple.

It is definitely more work. Definitely a new challenge. And both of you will probably experience your share of falls and bruises in the process. But slowly you’ll feel yourselves balancing more and more often. You’ll begin to feel a lightness and freedom and exhilaration as your ride through life together smooths out, and you are able to pick up speed and direction on the special journey that you have chosen to take together. The joy and wonder of working so well together, flowing so fluidly together, having such perfect balance, magnifies the pleasure of the ride.

Life is a wonderful dance to be shared with a special partner, but it takes time and practice to move together like Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers. But when you learn, life’s dance floor will clear for you and your music will never stop, as you glide and spin and move with each other beautifully, spiritually, endlessly through all the wonders and adventures that this special world can hold. Balancing, gliding, floating free.