Balance: Find your center of gravity

When a dancer is turning, centrifugal forces exert torque, throwing the dancer off balance. This is similar to how changes in your environment can throw you into a tailspin! To compensate for these forces, the physics of what the dancer does is to shift their center of gravity. In dance, this shift of the center of gravity is called dynamic (but not static) balance.

In dealing with a constantly changing world, when asked to make changes or adjust to changes, do you know how to find balance by finding your center of gravity? When I work with clients experiencing change I often ask them, "What will stay constant within the change?"

It's a trick question really; because what you can count on to stay constant is inside you, not outside, where you see the change. Places where you can look for your center of gravity are what I call the Core You and Essential You. The Core You is where your values live. No matter what changes, when you shift your center of gravity to the Core You, focusing on your values and acting from there, you automatically find your dynamic balance point. The Essential You is your essence, your spiritual being-ness. That Essential You never changes. It is the still point, like the hub of a wheel. Focusing on this hub will keep you from getting dizzy and frazzled during the changes, just as a dancer can keep their focus spin after spin.

There is a lovely description of this hub, described by T.S. Eliot in his poem The 4 Quartets:

"At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance." ---From the 1st Quartet, Burnt Norton.

The next time you feel out of balance, instead of looking to the situation to find your balance point...dance with the changes from your center of gravity. Shift your attention to what you know doesn't change and remember you are an essential part of the change!

For more on the Core You and the Essential You download the free introduction to Lea's book Walk on Water: How to Make Change Easier.