Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Our Unfortunate Dilemma and What to Do About It

Balance and passion: two eternal struggles. Mike’s your average jock, a gun on the Playstation and a bit of a lounge-lizard; he loves his sleep-ins on a weekend and he’s a dependable partner and employee. Guy’s a little different. He’s out there and passionate. He’s inclined to be so “into” things he gets addicted really easy. Diligent to a core, he’s also a bit of stress junkie. His boss loves him; he constantly exceeds expectation.

Which one is more you—Mike or Guy? Going beyond pure A-Type and B-Type Personality theory, life wires us so we’re more one side or the other of the parallel—lacking or exceeding in either life balance or passion, but not both at the same time.

It’s a sad story really for the latter person. Any self-improvement article, program or book these days is going to be heavily slanted toward the person with life balance issues if anything; not that the person effusing balance for want of passion is going to be bothered either way. He or she just exists, and they’re pretty much happy with it.

Both types of people will live with advantages over the other, as well as disadvantages. We’d bore each other to contrast the obvious facts. How can an analysis in this regard enhance our lives? That’s what we really need to know.

Bolt on Both – Balance & Passion

Too often we go for an “either / or” solution to life when patently we could as easily have a “both / and” outcome. This is one classic example.

There is no reason why we can’t be both incredibly balanced and uniquely passionate. It’s all about entertaining the concept of both in a healthy and situational tension with each other.

Like writing with our opposite hand will get the right and left brain integrating better with the other opposite side, approaching balance and passion simultaneously is a key to establishing real, living wisdom.

è Plan each day with a ‘to do’ list, but make at least one item on the list a transforming activity.

è Get to appointments on time, but do so occasionally by going a slightly different way.

è If you fit further toward the passionate side, embrace more transactional problems.

è If you naturally tend toward being balanced but struggle for enthusiasm for necessary things, take a walk on the wild side at least once a week. Do something radically different.

è Engage in the things that interest you but take care to control it. Too much of anything is not good.

These exercises and the whole issue is about integration—becoming a more full and rounded person, and someone that’s not so easy to pigeonhole as being this type or that.

You are you. Our uniqueness is dependent wholly and solely on how we set ourselves apart.

© S. J. Wickham, 2009.

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