What goes up much come down....Must you always be brought down after a high? Is that how it works? Is it all about balance? Do you tend to move towards a middle level because gravity doesn't let you stay high or low?
I met a British guy who had been sailing around the world for the last 3 years and experienced many things. His stories and what he had learned fascinated me. He told me that with traveling he had some of the highest highs and lowest lows...I understood what he was saying at the time because I was in a different culture at and in the midst of these highs and lows. But I think it is true in the day to day life...without grandiose travels or separation from the known. Now that I am back in Virginia, my 'home' if you will, the same remains true. The feeling I am talking about is like coming back from vacation, or the feeling after the work and preparation for a big holiday (the moment is gone so fast), or visiting a friend or loved one then having to leave, or when your visitors leave you. You get to a point so high that there is no where to go but down.
So my options are to ride it out or seek balance. I am going to have highs and lows, I am going to be riding the open waters one day and then I will be faced with some great storms the next. The water and breeze on my face will be a great reminder of freedom and the joy of life, then there are going to be winds so hard that I will question that freedom and joy. How do I learn balance?
When I am struggling with balance in my life, should I ask?
Am I balanced? Am I talking to God? I am living just for today? Is my life manageable or in a disarray? Am I emotionally supported? Am I physically involved, working out, breaking a sweat? Am I resting enough or too much? Am I feeding my body the right fuel? Am I reading and seeking out truth? Am I taking time to relax, time for myself? Am I organized at work? Am I playing enough or too much? Am I helping others or too focused on myself? Am I financially making smart decisions? Am I being honest with myself? Am I seeing the situation for what it is? Am I being fair, honest, righteous, and kind to others and myself? I am not always kind to myself. Am I jealous, even unintentionally? Am I putting too much un-needed expectation on myself? Am I thankful and grateful? Am I loving?
When I experience the lows in life, I can choose to force an action. Maybe the questions above can serve to guide my quest. No matter how exhausted I am emotionally or physically, I can choose to force an action. I can make myself get up or just lay there. Life is about God, Balance, Giving, Who I am, what kind of person I am (not what I do or who I know). So I say to myself wake up...so much easier not to...Get up, get out of here...get up or lay there. I often let the highs and lows guide my path…but I also know I can choose to force an action. What will I do today? I am not sure. I think the unexpectedness of life, the ups and downs will eventually bring me back to a middle ground or I can choose to seek out it out myself and be more grounded which is what I think the soul craves...Homeostasis.
Inspired by my best friend...Stephanie Woolwine Whited who already is and will be a tremendous counselor. Our original discussion on this was in Samoa during one of my lower times.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Written a long time ago on Einstein
Einstein is the man, some of his quotes and my thoughts!
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."
Curiosity is another one of those things that make life interesting. I am thankful to have a brain and be able to question things I don't understand. However, I think there is a fine balance for me to question ALL the things I don't understand and remain faithful and simple. In first Corinthians, it says "I see but a poor reflection in the mirror. But one day I shall see fully as I am fully known." This helps me face life and the questions that can not be answered or understood. This to me is an example of how two things so opposite in connotation come together to express something more profound for me.
"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible."
I think this is beautiful. The word contempt means the act of despising. I find that I run after things that I truly inwardly despise. It makes no sense and reminds me of Paul's struggle between desiring to do good but doing otherwise. I have to remember that kindness, beauty, and truth can be found in the land of the living, even if I have to wake each day anew and devote myself to seeking these three things.
"Never regard your study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy but to the profit of community to which your later work belongs."
"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."
Curiosity is another one of those things that make life interesting. I am thankful to have a brain and be able to question things I don't understand. However, I think there is a fine balance for me to question ALL the things I don't understand and remain faithful and simple. In first Corinthians, it says "I see but a poor reflection in the mirror. But one day I shall see fully as I am fully known." This helps me face life and the questions that can not be answered or understood. This to me is an example of how two things so opposite in connotation come together to express something more profound for me.
"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible."
I think this is beautiful. The word contempt means the act of despising. I find that I run after things that I truly inwardly despise. It makes no sense and reminds me of Paul's struggle between desiring to do good but doing otherwise. I have to remember that kindness, beauty, and truth can be found in the land of the living, even if I have to wake each day anew and devote myself to seeking these three things.
"Never regard your study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy but to the profit of community to which your later work belongs."
"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
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