Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Balance or Harmony?

One of the tasks in Week Two of The Artist's Way is to make a map of all the areas of our life: Spirituality, Exercise, Play, Work, Friends, Romance / Adventure. First, you draw a circle, divide it into 6 sections, and then draw a dot representing where you are currently in this aspect of your life. When you connect the dots, you can see if you are well balanced or if some areas are totally lacking. The intent then becomes to increase the parts that are lacking and become more balanced.

I read somewhere once that we should try to achieve harmony rather than balance. At different times in life, some areas take more precedence over others. The dominant areas will change, just like the melody and harmony in a song. I still think the idea of mapping out our life areas is valid, because it lets us see if the smaller areas remain in harmony or if we have neglected them altogether. We can still nurture them in small ways even when other areas are demanding big chunks of our life. This keeps them alive and contributing. And maybe we can learn ways to trim back the time-hogs!

Doing the Artist's Way is making me aware of how many pockets of time are available to slip in some creative play. And slipping in all those different slivers of creativity is bringing my life song back into harmony and balance.

How about you? Do you try to achieve balance? Or harmony? Do you think there is a difference?



 

2 comments:

Lori G said...

I like your post. I think you've explained in a better way what I was trying to say in my comment to TAW blog. I'm more of a harmony type. Also, I find a lot of overlap in the categories.

Linda said...

Thanks for your comment, Lori! I agree that it is sometimes hard to know where to place certain activities. I guess it is good if they satisfy several different areas. Maybe becoming aware of the nurturing aspects of everything we do is a part of the lessons we will learn in TAW.