A Partnership in Balance

Sometimes we can’t always find the balance we need on our own. Our stresses can push us beyond our ability to ground ourselves so we ultimately don’t even know we’re out of balance. It’s not a fun place to be, and often, for me at least, results in a crash of one sort or another as a very clear reminder that boy oh boy was I out of synch with who I am.

So let’s talk about energy.

Bear with me. It’ll make sense in a minute.

Science tells us we’re all made of energy. It’s what we do with it that seems to then tread into the realm of metaphysics. We have auras that we can expand and contract. There are multiple layers of energy that represent different aspects of our consciousness -- mental, emotional, spiritual, etc. We have chakras, spinning wheels of energy, throughout our bodies that represent different attributes of our lives (e.g., fight or flight, sexuality, will, love, etc.). The list goes on and would be better explained by others more well versed in these matters.

One of the interesting things about these various energies is that they react based on our life experiences. The chakras can get mucked up by a negative encounter and need to be cleaned out. Disruptions in our various energy bodies can be indications of health issues we face, or have the potential to face. When we want to pull away from a crowd of people, we can actually pull our aura closer to our bodies as an energetic signpost that says “um, not interested in interacting with, well, anyone, thanks.”

This brings me to a book I read long ago, The Celestine Prophecy. It introduced among other things the notion that in our interactions with one another our energy fluctuates. For instance, a domineering person’s energy field may have a much more aggressive approach to another person, growing and expanding, as a way to assert dominance over the other person. If the person they’re interacting with is equally dominant, there will be a clash of energies that in the worst case could lead to physical confrontation. If the person though is intimidated, their energy may retreat closer to their body and they submit to the other person’s will. In the book, author James Redfield speaks to the need for us to work collaboratively with each other’s energies to gain the greatest benefit for both parties. (If this intrigues you, I’d suggest reading the book. Keep in mind the book is considered fiction, but the concepts really struck a chord with a lot of people. Me being one of them.)

Now this brings me to a guy I’ll just call “Art.” I ran across him in Toronto. Tall, thin and lanky, he sat in dusty clothes bordering on rags on the sidewalk surrounded by a circle of large stones and broken pieces of concrete. What he was doing in the middle of this circle actually evoked oohs, ahhs and applause from the small crowds who stopped to watch him.

He was building impossible structures. They were rocks balanced atop one another in ways that just didn’t seem possible – small stones holding up a large concrete block by a single edge. The stones seemed to be acting in ways against their nature. It was beautiful to see.

As I watched him work, in one piece I noticed how he would place a stone on another and then press upon it with his thumb, almost as if he were transferring something to the stone – communicating with it in some way.  

I struck up a conversation with Art and he told me that he worked with gravity and the rocks as he built these miniature towers. He would listen to his pieces and place them accordingly. In return, they seemed to listen to him because they did what he wanted them to do.

It struck me that he was breaking the barrier between worlds – the world of these inanimate objects, a place comprising of gravity and solid mass -- and the world I was walking in before I came across him. Furthermore, he was transferring what he learned in one world into the next and created something that seemed unbelievable.

I left that exchange feeling like I had just met a modern day mystic, and gained valuable insight about the exchange of energy between people and our world.

I realized that sometimes, most times in fact, creating more balance in our lives requires a partnership. A partnership with our family, friends or even the environment in which we find ourselves. And by crossing the barriers between us, trying to understand another’s world, we can balance seemingly impossible things.

So, is this really just a long-winded way of saying, we need one another? Perhaps. Or maybe it’s opening a doorway to people and places you hadn’t considered.

It’s your call.