Agility as a function of balance
A Monday sort of magic
I played a fair bit of pick-up basketball as a teen and young adult. We lived in a beautiful old treed street, the kind that still had a wide boulevard of grass and trees in the middle, just to keep the green space greener. There was a park down one end of the block (with a fenced basketball court), and a schoolyard (where my brothers and I attended and were frequently late because we could see the school entrance from our front door) in the other direction. This also had hoops. While I didn’t play many sports in high school (except for soccer, which was a new enough addition that I didn’t need to try out, just volunteer), I did make the team in Bible School, my first year after high school. I was a mercy pick, and didn’t sustain the hope of my coach. I scored on our own team, at least once. I really struggle with directionality. I still remember watching him scribble plays on his little whiteboard and the sense of hopeless confusion I had with all the Xs and arrows and keys and such.
Anyway, I know enough about the game of basketball that traveling is something I can avoid. You get the ball, you plant one foot, and then you pivot.
In this game, the ready position is also highly useful. I practiced it a lot - the half squat, centre of gravity low and mobile, and a wide base of support; preferably with feet offset so it is easier to shift not just forward and back, or side to side, but diagonally as well. Maximum options without moving that one planted foot.
Dribbling the ball, with both feet on the ground, scanning for a lane or a pass or a shot, there is a natural triangle to the body position. The legs are of course two corners, but then where the ball lands is directed by one hand, while the other is up, guarding.
Deer Girl’s comment on Saturday’s post made me think of basketball. (I’m sure she was hoping I would!). She suggested that perhaps keeping her physical world smaller allowed her inner world to expand. I thought about this all day.
I think I’ve been more or less assuming that balancing my inner team would probably entail them each becoming the same length or strength, or that the triangle they form inside of “me” would have equilateral sides, or something like that. I initially thought of a three-legged easel as a good image of a triune person, with the soul as the canvas the easel is holding up. But in basketball, and even with an easel, there is that one planted foot. In the easel’s case it is the back leg, the one whose length, relative to the front two legs, determines the angle of the canvas. And there is no correct angle for the canvas to be, right? Just as there is no right foot (ha!) to pivot from. It could just as easily be my left foot. It all depends.
So all of these various thoughts and comments and images are giving me a more complicated version of my original concept. Balance, especially a balanced “ready position,” is better when it is not quite symmetrical. It is probably most effective to have at least one stabilizing corner while the other two are given a longer distance from the centre. Or perhaps two legs are planted and one is more mobile as a result. You get the idea. I’ve been pretty vocal about how I want my balancing tool to work dynamically - in real life, in motion, in amongst the slings and arrows. If it is only a pedestal for standing still then it’s not going to be worth much to me or anyone else, after all.
Primarily for medical reasons, I am cooking and eating “keto,” and for the last few months have been adding in intermittent fasting just to see if I can do it. The goal of this combo of lifestyle modifications is metabolic agility, more than anything. Basically, I want my body to be able to switch from carb-burning, to fat burning, with nary a ripple of protest. The counter-intuitive benefits of time restriction (and carbohydrate restriction) are that I can eat to satiety (which is a lovely feeling), and yet also go for long periods without eating at all, with no discernible “crashes.” Best of all worlds, and high fat foods are also quite delicious. This agility comes through the asymmetry of fasting/feasting windows, as well as the tandem effects of starving myself from normal energy sources (sugar and starch) while providing ample amounts of alternate fuel. My body has to adapt, often, and quickly, and it has gotten pretty good at it.
I’m thinking now, as I try to balance my inner team’s messages, needs, gifts, and voices in my daily tasks, that it would be strategic to “plant my foot” in one corner or another, depending. I could stop trying to treat them all equally, as if they are my kids, and I have no favourites, and instead think of them as uniquely suited to pivot off of, in certain situations.
The planted foot (in this metaphor) would be the stable base - the team member dealing with the least amount of change, or variables, or chaos.
For instance: a small physical reality is a strategic choice for anyone who wants or needs to be highly creative, or who must solve difficult abstract mental problems. A reduced range of emotional experience is critical for someone trying to climb a rock face, or engineer a bridge, or even sew a beautiful quilt. The physical concentration required for some tasks just does not allow for simultaneous strong feelings. Often, as well, I can feel my mind shutting down as my physical and emotional demands increase (particularly in a caregiving role, where empathy and quick responses are required). It’s not that I stop thinking, precisely. It’s that I can’t think as much, or very well. I have to divert energy elsewhere. It’s not practical in this sort of situation to try to be “fair.” Intuition and gut responses become paramount, as they should.
I think that all of these situations constitute balance, in the sense that they allow for agile responses to fast moving, complicated, and layered situations. I could support my own growing agility by being aware of this set of shifts in “leadership” amongst my own Heart, Mind, and Body. Sometimes, it is quite okay, and even strategically beneficial, to push one of my team members to the back, and ask them to hold tight. Maybe even literally hold on to something so the other two can reach a bit further out, without us all falling over.
A Monday sort of magic
Think of a day where you navigated some extra challenging situations. In this particular day, which of your inner team members needed to be given maximum flexibility? Which needed to hang tight, stay strong, or hold the course, as a stable base for the other one or two parts of you?
For me, some Mondays often constitute a slight uptick in difficulty, as my husband heads off to work (often far up north) and I need to keep track of more tasks. This presents me with both mental and physical challenges - extra lists to keep on top of; extra chores to complete. I know that I can be emotionally a little more “short” on Mondays (also Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays…).
Maybe I could give myself a break in this regard. If I was to accept the reality that I can’t do three hard things at once (and that doing two is stretching it already), then I would probably be able to think of ways to reduce my emotional vulnerability on those days. It may be, for example, that I set slightly larger boundaries with other people. I might not come near situations with known triggers (if I can help it). I could even do things to support my tender Heart, knowing she is anchoring the other parts of me, and that this is hard work.
The one thing I can avoid doing, for sure, is judging myself for being emotionally constricted on those days. Of course I am feeling a decreased spectrum of feelings. I’m too busy handling the barrage of sensory and cognitive information that only I can sort, filter, and deal with. It’s okay to temporarily plant my emotional “leg” and pivot off of it, rather than trying to move in all directions with equal enthusiasm.
You may have different examples, with different legs as your pivot point. You may even have days where you must change which is your stable team member, more than once. Those are challenging days!
I think, having considered this from a few angles (see what I did there?) that all of these shifts are part of a balanced soul, at work, in the real world. Agility is a function of dynamic balance, and it is great to notice this in my own life, and even better to allow myself to work to enhance this particular life skill even further.
Whatever your Monday is like, I wish you the magic of a team that is balanced, and also agile (and also moving in the direction of your own team; not the opposing one’s!).
And…remember that doing only one hard thing is plenty.