Being in Balance

As I was sitting outside this morning enjoying my morning cup of coffee and left over strawberry shortcake I made last night (hey I am getting my fruit requirement..home made, fresh berries locally...can't beat that!), I started looking at my collection of sea rocks which I love and treasure, they each are like little gems that are gifts from the ocean, and from the world....each one having been formed in some part of the world, tossed and turned, polished and cast upon beaches.

The process continues until they are tiny bits of sand, which makes up the beaches for us to walk on, for critters, for protection of the land, and so many other uses, let alone their beauty and enjoyment for us all. Truly a real lesson in 'cause and effect' if we are paying attention.

Well, this morning, I started picking up rocks...starting with big flat ones, and finding others to balance on top of each other. You have all seen that, perhaps done that too.

Aren't we all creating a balancing act? Each step in our lives is another 'rock' set upon another. As I kept picking up another rock and another, finishing one set, then starting another set I became fascinated....examining each rock. Which is flattest, which one would 'sit' on this one or that one? Which one was concave or convex enough to 'fit' the last. I would play with them, turning them this way and that, upside down and around, also playing with the colors, looking for certain colors or textures to contrast or blend in with the 'set'.

My venture grew and grew until I had quite the little zen garden growing on my glass table top, with trees for the contrast, the glass mirroring each set so I could also see them upside down.

It brought to my mind a passage in the Bible about not building your house upon the sand, but upon a rock. Well, we all know what happens to houses built upon the sand when the water comes....all is washed away. It is not a good foundation. The advice is a practical one for each of us in our personal lives but also for companies, and for governments.

It became such a lesson for me, building these sets, I would purposely place rocks upon others that I knew would not last long, would not be suitable to use as a base for other rocks, and could fall at the slightest touch. I was testing myself, pushing the envelope..as it were to see just how much I could get away with on 'some sets'. On others, I chose very carefully to see how high I could go, how well I could balance them, how creative I could be, but keeping within the parameters I had chosen. I am not sure how long I sat, drinking my coffee, putting all my other chores for the day in the background, wanting, needing the lesson of this challenge.

When I was growing up, it seemed like I was creating a good, solid foundation for my life. I was an excellent student, loved to learn. I had a good family with good moral teachings, the future did seem for me, and for most young people in America (I thought), that you could accomplish anything you wanted with your life, if you just planned, built one part on top of the other in a good solid manner. We had a future to look forward too then, the world seemed quieter, the future for America was rosy, people had jobs, the depression was over, the wars were over, we hadn't gotten into Vietnam yet, we didn't have the reality of the 'race' inequities being laid out bare for all to see. The hippy era had not begun, we still believed in God and country.

At some point in time then, in the 60's it did seem to start becoming 'unbalanced'. Life was not as simple, Vietnam and the fighting started, Martin Luther King, the riots, the hippies and 'flower power'. Our world became more complicated, there were more choices to be made. Somehow it seemed that the plans we had made, like the rocks in some sets, didn't quite 'fit' the one before anymore. No matter how hard we tried, things started tilting, and falling down. We kept picking ourselves up, try to 'fit' a different life on top of the old one, or start a new base and toss the old one away completely. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't ....for many, once that solid base was kicked away, they could never build another set, never find 'pieces' that fit, like a puzzle that someone had mixed up with another one, so the whole picture became distorted and un-achievable.

I know my 'base' that seemed so solid, and the future I was thought was ahead of me from each 'rock' placed one upon the other, suddenly was not there anymore. I fumbled for ever so long, trying to discover 'who' I was now, trying to create a base, 'some kind' of base to start building on again. I am not sure I ever got back to the kind of 'base' for building a future that I could make plans towards, and one I could 'see' happening. Now, I see that what happened to me has happened to others, but right now, it is happening en masse, exponentially expanding as millions lose their jobs, their homes, their futures, their rights and freedoms. They too, have lost it.


As I created the 'set's of rocks, I mused about what kinds of personality types would pick 'what' kinds of rocks, wondered if that could be another one of those 'discover yourself' personality tests? You know the kind, the ones that make you chose your favorite colors, trees, animals, etc, and then someone puts you in a little box with a label on it. You are all neat and tidy and now can be put away. I couldn't help but remember seeing in some landscape pictures from 'somewhere' rocks balancing one upon the other, but these are not just little rocks, but big boulders, huge, and nothing that anyone could easily pick up and place upon other huge boulders. Those are the mind teasers. Are they real, natural or un-natural formations, or 'who dun-it' and why? Smaller ones we see in gardens, or sea shores or planned landscapes are much easier to accept, for we know 'someone' did it.


I wondered at my own personality 'type' as I layered the stones......some so carefully planned, but also.....yes, I did have to 'push the envelope', I had to think outside the box, putting things on top of others that obviously are not made to fit, and yet, that is the challenge....isn't it? There were some rocks that just wouldn't fit on top of anyother rock, they had to stand alone, not 'fitting' into any pattern.


Do all people fit into certain 'types' of builders? Do some sooo carefully plan everything in their lives, so nothing is left for chance? Do some plan, but can only go so far before something topples, for they didn't plan carefully enough? Are there those who never plan, that they never will build up.....one rock upon another, for their lives are either so flowing that they move easily from one situation to another, not needing anything solid under them, or others who live so chaotically, that they just cannot plan, it is not in their capability to organize for a future. Perhaps there are those, who by no fault of their own never have had hope, or a chance to even contemplate how, or what, or why to build....at all.



The one thing we know for certain, is that the ocean will keep flowing, washing upon shores, making tiny rocks out of big rocks......that is until there is no ocean. We know that the earth, or nature will keep striving to keep things in balance, for that is its' nature. The earth existed long before mankind came upon the scene, and will most likely exist long after we are gone, for we are out of balance, personally, and globally. People keep using the resources of the earth, resources that have taken the earth billions of years to create. However as we are doing this, and creating more and more population to overload the earth, our base has crumbled, there are no solid foundations for any of us anymore, anywhere. Our governments promise us all that they think we want to hear, but they know they can't keep. It is like giving us prosac, keep us quiet, keep us smiling, pretending we aren't depressed, pretending that we can still 'build' a future.




Funny how building a pile of rocks can make one say...


Hey, STOP!......'whats' that sound?

Everybody look what's falling down!

Hey, STOP!......What's that sound?

Everybody look what's going down!

Here it comes....Here it comes....

What are WE heading for?????

STOP!.....Look around....