Fine Tuning Balance

Usually it’s a habit to turn on the radio first thing on my drive home from work.  I roll down my window, crank the country radio station as I turn out of the parking lot.  Growing up my dad would often say to us kids when we flipped the radio dial ever thirty-nine seconds, “you kids just need constant distraction”.  In some ways he is right, music certainly knows how to easily distract the head and the heart after a long day of work. 

But lately, I’ve found myself riding home in silence preferring the hum of a 16-year-old car.  I don’t think it’s a sign of my growing maturity of wisdom though.  I think perhaps music is a way that I “fine tune” the balance in my life.  As we quickly learn in our early adulthood years, the ebbs and flows of life are here to stay.  We go through periods of wildness, joy and finding but also periods of withdrawal, introspection, and searching.  With these inevitable ebbs and flows we humans search for the middle ground of contentment between the peaks of intensity.  I believe we do this by “fine tuning”.  One month you may be in that period of wildness, joy and finding where you find yourself grounding your spirit through the jubilant release of a full on music jam session to Keith Urban.  That release brings you down to that centered middle content poised ground.  The same goes for the month of withdrawal, introspection and searching- you may crave the quiet to give your soul the necessary peace it too needs to rise to the middle ground. I think of it as an almost full jar filled with rocks- the fine tuning comes from the small pinches of sand you add to the top to fill in the cracks. 

I found this poppy growing wild last night on a walk.  I picked it last night and was disappointed when the bloom slipped always through the opening of its vase.  I gently pulled it back up fearing I would loose a few petals on the way.  I came home today to full extension of it’s petals soaking up the late afternoon golden light.  I marveled in the simplicity of nature’s ability to also “fine tune” its balance between a need for light and dark. 

Balance like a clean house doesn’t come from the dramatic, drastic moves like quitting your job, picking up a new hobby, or taking a new yoga class.  It comes from the small subtle fine tuned adjustments that you must listen to and re-learn each new season of your life. 

The small extra alterations.  The simple steps.