Harmony, Not Balance

Who ever it was that thought "balance" was the thing to strive for in life must have been an acrobatic tight rope walker.  Then I could understand the reference.  But for 99.99993% of the population (in my scientific estimates - ahahaha, you should be laughing at that), balance is not only unrealistic, but impossible and actually stressful.  

Think of that tight-rope walker.  Sure, one millimeter in the wrong direction and life will suddenly have a a VERY different feeling.  Balance is of key importance to staying alive.  As everyday humans, if we try to live at that speed, any slight misstep or faltering can leave us feeling in survival mode.  And don't even get me started on the juggling analogy...

How about instead we turn our attention toward the word harmony?  ahhhh, even the word itself elicits a sweet sounding sense of peace, alignment, and congruence.  Harmony.  Did your shoulders just drop away from your ears too?

What I like about striving for harmony is that, like the video of these three singers below, they are not all singing equal amounts of the song, or exactly the same note as one another - balance here would destroy the complex richness of the ear-experience.  Each part of a harmonic collaboration plays an important role, they all need to show up.  Yet, not in equal amounts, at equal volumes or even in the same key or at the same time.  Much is like your life.  If you spent just as much time keeping your house clean as you spent at your computer, that wouldn't feel so great, would it?  Feels a bit exhausting to me, and I like to clean.  If you put the same amount of intensity into your kids homework as you do your crossfit class, your kids might be a bit shellshocked (or you'd hit a PR, depending on your approach!). 

What would shift for you if you began to consider harmony between all aspects of your life, as opposed to balance?  Listen to this song, consider the various things that are important to you... how does each one get to play their role - is one singing over another?  Which one might need a bit more air time?  Find one of your all time favorite songs and seek out how the experience of it's harmony hits you.  You feel it deep.  It resonates.  That's what life can feel like too.