Hey there.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
So sometimes there are sayings that stop us in our tracks,
That make us think,
That help us to realize things we'd never understood before.
I just came across one of those in the I Ching,
And the saying was,
Balance your basket on the winding path.
It wasn't until recently that I realized balance can never be achieved,
At least for more than a breath,
Because life continually shifts.
Which means that what balances one moment,
Maybe a conversation with a friend,
Might be the very thing that drains us the next,
Because our social battery is at nil.
This though,
Runs counter to all of those ways of thinking that we have,
All of those if-then thoughts.
If I get this job,
Or eat this food,
Or start this habit,
Or stop that one,
If I get this cat,
Or whatever,
Then I will be happy and balanced.
No,
At least not for long,
Because there is no one choice,
Or person,
Or thing,
That will make us balanced and happy forever and ever.
Amen.
Because balance is not a one and done.
Hunky-dory land is as real as Oz.
We can dream about it,
Talk about it,
Even seek it till our dying day.
But it does not exist in the real world.
That's because balance,
It's not a state,
Or a stopping point.
It's a conversation with each moment.
We have to continually check in.
What now?
What next?
I don't know about you,
But for me,
Even that can become exhausting.
Just one more thing to do.
And what if you get it all wrong?
What if you think this is going to be the thing that brings you into balance,
When in fact,
It's the very thing that knocks you more out of balance than ever.
And more than that,
Life often piles on.
We aren't just dealing with one challenge,
Maybe at work,
Because suddenly a loved one needs care,
Or the car won't start,
Or the dog ate a box of chocolate.
And how much poop can one body make?
Not to mention that our lives often move through the years like a wild river.
Now flooded,
Now bone dry,
And never,
Ever in a straight line.
I do not know a single human being who has lived a freeway life.
There might be stretches of rocketing in the direction you want to go,
But in general,
We are all steering our bodies along what feels like a perilous path.
Trekking on paths steep and unsettled.
One wrong step,
And who knows what might happen.
And we navigate all of these demands while carrying all manner of things.
Expectations,
Dreams,
Needs,
Demands,
Histories,
Traumas,
Desires,
And chapstick.
And we can't just put them all down,
At least not for long.
We need to carry at least some things along these scree-riddled paths that we walk every day to survive.
And that's why I was so struck by that saying from the I Ching,
Balance your basket on the winding path.
Because it brings intention and choice into our walking of the way.
Too much of one thing?
What about a gentle shift to make the going easier?
Not enough of another?
What kind and intentional addition might even things out?
Maybe a bath or a candle.
Maybe getting lost in a book or the woods.
This is strange wisdom,
But for me that's the best kind.
So on your life path,
May you be a beast,
A creature of the earth,
Grounded and strong.
May you drink from the clearest and happiest of streams,
One that lives where your feet are.
And then may you hold a conversation with the present and choose what you will carry with care.
What will you hold on to?
What can you finally leave behind?
In the midst of life's twists and turns,
Edges and burdens,
What is your next best step?
