Tightroping life with 'Conscious Balance'

Many decisions in Life resemble a tightrope walk. And, we deal with these decisions based choices made on informational inputs and our own world-view. While choices are common to every situation and every person, its how we choose that makes all the difference.

Our choices in every situation rest on various factors. In a case of a real tightrope walk, it would start with our assessment of the environmental 'wind-factor', on the tension in the tightrope et al to arrive at an extremely complex decision of the foot placement and the next step. The final result of a successful tightrope walk in its entireity can be called 'Conscious Balance'.

The term 'tightroping' is usually used to demonstrate delicate maneuvering over precarious terrain. Lets apply the same term to Life. Here, we often think that we've been doled out a situation and after assessment of its significance we choose to deal with it in a manner we believe would give the best results in such a situation.

Life's situations, more often than not, are not just about chosing a response to a situation, they are more about whether we want to treat any situation as the tightrope equivalent or as an ordinary one. Its our definition of the situation that determines how we will react to it. We often believe that significant situations handled extremely well connotate success. However this is not the only truth. Significant achievement and outcomes emerge from several factors. These we could club under the overall concept of 'Conscious Balance'

First important step in achieving Conscious Balance (CB) is the recognition that the current situation, no matter how small it may seem, deserves to be treated with the care that one would employ in tightroping. Prominence of achievements is not based on the WHAT, but on the HOW of things. The important thing for us to realize is that each thing we do, each action we take, and every situation that life deals out to us can be significant, depending on the way we treat the situation. The choice is ours to make it a significant situation or not.

Another critical factor in achieving Conscious Balance is to know the environment, or to know the things which impact the situation. These are not, however, limited to the aspects which impact the outcome of the situation alone, but instead these are ALL things which impact the situation and the interaction they have among them. As a dynamic entity the environment has to be seen as such, even considering the manner in which the observer impacts the situation.

Knowledge and our interpretation of the same is the next important step to achieving Conscious Balance. To achieve a good Conscious Balance, one that will give complete success in all situations it is important to have a well-rounded world-view where many perspectives are allowed co-exist. This part of the balance is about accepting various points of view as existing, without having any one opinion overshadow any other in your observation of the situation. Rigid viewpoints are the antithesis of balance and therefore not conducive situations to achieving Conscious Balance.

The fourth important point to make significant achivements of everything you do, is to know the pace of progress. Too slow and too fast both can be impediments to being successful. To understand one's own pace (as against a borrowed pace that is usually achieved by comparing one to the rest of the world) is not about complacence. In fact its quite the opposite - To discover your own pace, you need to constantly race yourself, test your limits and try and achieve the most. With each step, you must be better; with each try you must be faster. Knowing your pace is one of the most critical success factors of Conscious Balance.

The final way to continuously strive towards better Conscious Balance is through practice. No amount of practice is enough and its best seen in the sports arena. A little out of practice and the selection board decides against you. Continous practice or skill honing is as necessary for new skills as it is for the existing skill-set. This is done to hard-wire & automate the actions required in any particular situation leading to a 'Do-without-thinking' approach.

Conscious Balance, in conclusion, is unique concept that allows a system approach to success, a sum total of the internal forces that allows us to make significant achivements from each of life's situations. Apply the rules of tightroping to everything you do in life, and you'll find successes in everything you do (and not be searching for them in things you do!)