| <![CDATA[Driven by cultural imperatives and inner promptings, we drive ourselves into a frenzy of action day after day.]]> The urgency of what needs to be done and the limited time we have to do it excites us to become excessive in our activity. Eventually, this force, which is kinetic, runs out, and we become tired, drained, and irritable. What used to be states of high-productivity now slip into carelessness and error. And like a machine that has been pushed to an extreme, parts start to collapse. Our health may collapse, or our relationships, or our finances. We experience stress and anxiety. Yet given our obsession with finishing and completing and our myths about never quitting, we may continue to ruin ourselves. All this distressing collapse can be easily resolved by simply learning to develop the other polarity.And what is the other polarity? It is deep relaxation and introspection. Deep relaxation is not spending more time watching television and introspection is not more time web-surfing. Deep relaxation is stretching, walking in nature, spending time with loved ones, and doing soulful tasks. It is a goal-less activity. It's purpose is to experience being over doing. It is a time for meditation on the meaning and direction of your life. Introspection is writing in your journal, watching the moon rise above the clouds, and contemplating the lessons of life that you've been going through. It's finding books and strategies about wholeness. When you allow a season for letting go, then the season of productivity, when it arrives again will be bountiful. We are not machines, nor robots, but subjective beings capable of deep experiences, and while catering to external circumstances may help us to survive, listening to our feelings and subtle perceptions may help us to thrive. Of course, the other end of the polarity is equally as debilitating, where you only spend time inwardly and avoid encountering the world outside yourself. Then you start to thrive internally, but your survival is always uncomfortable. You start to attract a crisis to shift you out of your depression. The first step to living a balanced life is acknowledging its value. Your security and power comes from being balanced. And the second step is to find on what end of the polarity you're on and how you can gently swing to incorporate more of the other end as well. When action and inaction are balanced every part of your life will begin to work with ease. |
