Life + Movement = Balance

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." – Albert Einstein

Can you remember that first instant when you were finally pedaling, steering, and balancing a bicycle all by yourself? It felt so liberating and exhilarating. And terrifying, too. For me, there was that split second when I felt my big brother's hand leave the back of my bike seat and my instinctive need to balance kicked into gear.

I remember shooting down the slant of the driveway, miraculously banking to the left and riding down the street. Surely terror, amazement, and exhilaration must have been etching my face as I made that turn and managed to stay upright. I recall wondering in that moment, Why have I been so afraid of falling? This is so much fun!!

When I stopped to turn around at the end of the block, I feared that I wouldn’t be able to regain my momentum and balance without the gravitational boost from the driveway and the push from my brother. I was elated when I realized that I could do it on my own. I pedaled throughout the neighborhood before turning toward home to report my victory to my brother. I felt triumphant. Liberated, actually. I had discovered my independence, my Movement.

When it comes to hopping on a bicycle for the first time, it feels as if the potential outcomes are somewhat limited: keep moving to keep your balance, stop moving and fall to the ground, or quit trying altogether and prop the bicycle against the house – telling yourself that you will never learn how to ride the dang thing. I suppose you could add pop a wheelie or ride no-handed or some such sort of daredevil stunt to the list. We all know someone who learns this way.

When it comes to life, we intuit, believe, or simply know in our core that our life options are not somewhat limited. In fact, some of us believe that our options are infinite. But are they? I think that Einstein's brilliance might be the answer here: Our options grow when we maintain balance with our Higher Self.

In the ways of learning, living, loving, changing, and growing, some of my relationships have necessitated the need to trade in an old ride for a new one. After indulging in some nostalgic life review, I can now see that parking the bicycle was the best thing I could have done. Thank you, hindsight.

I now know that I should have just given up on the walking-on-eggshells, don’t-breathe-wrong, tightwire act altogether and fallen headlong into the net below. Taken the ol’ Trust-in-Self out for a spin while praying for the best.

But sometimes doing the necessary thing doesn't feel like the right thing at the time. We spat the decision back and forth until we are exhausted. We feel a paralyzing fear to remove the training wheels. What if we utterly fail?

After living in a state of stagnancy, falling to the ground numerous times, and feeling the Ouch Factor to the point of numbness overtaking me, I finally came to my senses and parked the bicycle and walked away. I didn't even bother locking it up to a bike stand or a tree because I knew that I was never going to give that bicycle another go. Some events in life are Good Riddance worthy. At times like this, it is necessary to get on a new set of wheels and ride like the wind off into a new paradigm.

Life, like a bicycle, is the vehicle we are riding. Our infinite options in life are the directions in which we point our front tire. The secret is to keep riding toward what we know to be our Higher Self’s true directions.

I have felt that unsettling, intuitive nudge when I know that I have been pedaling in the wrong direction and consciously made the decision to keep going, and I have certainly experienced that feeling of What the heck have I done? right before crashing and falling . . . again. My takeaway? Patch up any scrapes and get back on the bicycle and regain my balance point and keep on pedaling.

Yes, Einstein, the brilliant genius that he was, had it right. Life is like riding a bicycle: ride or fall. Keep pedaling or tip over. Keep going or give up. Push through the resistance or remain stuck. Sometimes the only way out is through.

Movement and Balance are key to growth. And let's not forget the rewards of taking a Risk with a capital R. Somedays it takes a lot of guts to take a deep breath and sail down the driveway, not knowing if we are going to keep riding or if we are going to crash to the pavement. I believe that we all crave that feeling of Triumphant Balance in our days. That feeling deep inside that tells us we are doing life justice with the right amount of Movement and Balance.

That split-second feeling of balancing all on my own has stuck with me. Today? I am going to get on my Bicycle and ride like the wind. I am heading toward that ultra-satisfying feeling of Balance and Movement. From here on out it will be just me, my hand-me-down Schwinn, and the open road.

A writing/walking/driving/doing the dishes/having dinner with your family prompt: Can you remember that first time you were finally pedaling, steering, and balancing a bicycle all by yourself? Write or share your feelings about the freedom, fear, and exhilaration that you experienced.

Is there something that is a little bit scary that you have been wanting to do? Apply the same courage, bravery, and gumption that you did when you balanced on that bicycle for the first time. Just keep moving.