June’s Art Journaling Monthly workshop was all about finding balance.  Balance is one of those elusive concepts sometimes at the best of times let alone challenging times like these last several months of physical distancing and the rising consciousness of systemic racism.

How can you have balance when you are witnessing in the news the atrocities that though you may want to turn away from, your humanity knows you cannot?  Balance is not about same amounts of different parts of our life’s- though we often look at balance from a balanced scale perspective- with “balanced” amounts. 

Often one thinks of balance as an measured equation, where all parts are divided up equally as if fairly.  If we look at the metaphor of a scale, where on one side we might weigh one substance against an entirely different substance on the other side, we see that it is not about all things in the same amount, it is about the right amount of each substance depending on their individual properties to balance the other side out.  If we then take into consideration the environment, subtle changes in temperature or humidity, any wind that might shift things, the patience and preciseness  of the person setting the scale (is it set up right? Do they have a shaky hand?) then we see that these factors also influence to some degree how things balance out or at least how long they may take to find balance.

Now if we transfer this metaphor of balancing scales to human quality of life, we see that there cannot be one simple equation to strike balance for everyone.  Our experiences past and present as well as anticipated future, can influence the ways in which we find balance as well as the amount of balance we may allow in. Pile on top of that “environmental” or outside factors such as   COVID-19, systemic racism, and white privilege, and we see that finding balance can be quite complicated.  

Further, if we continue with this metaphor we see that it is the weight of each side of the scale that brings it into balance.  There may be more of one thing or substance on one side and less visually at least on another but it is the weightof each which brings both into balance.

For our life balance it is similar, we need to determine the weight that we give aspects of our lives at different points in time which either throws us out of balance or into balance 

So we look at the emotional weight, our needs in the moment and from there can begin to figure it out.  

For each of us it will be different.

Each point in time it may change or shift.

Balance is in a sense about adjusting and adapting to the best of our abilities within the current or present moment.  Sometimes it is about acceptance (not compliance) and other times it about taking action to assure the balance that you need.

When I was planning for June’s Art Journaling Monthly workshop the idea of balance was prominent as I looked to the many circumstances that I and my family had been attempting to balance in the last several months, at times feeling off balanced, irritable, tired, and sad. 

My 20 year-old son then showed me some pictures of rock balancing he had done after a hard day’s work at the bike shop and I was taken back many years to when we used to bring him and his younger brother to the beach to watch an artist balance rocks in ways that did not seem possible without some sort of strong glue.  There was no glue, rather the gentle determination, focus, and patience of an artist creating new possibilities through rock balancing.  The same creative potential exists in all of us to balance in any moment our response to circumstances. And like the balancing of rocks, we can influence our outer world through our inner connection to these  creative strengths.