Juggling Act

Image Credit: Lisa Renee Wilson

I’ve been thinking about juggling. I don’t know how to juggle. When I watch someone else attempting it, it’s quite amusing and intriguing. 

Juggling is an act of movement, patience, direction. You are constantly letting something go. You have to let something fall, to be patient while it does so. You are constantly learning to lightly hold without grasping (which would interrupt the flow of movement) and to put just the right amount of energy into something so that it plays nicely with the other things you have moving around. You are creating a direction of movement but have to constantly allow for other forces (like gravity) to have their say as well.

There are the sayings about trying to “juggle” our days, our schedules - to try to keep them all moving in harmony. I will admit - there is an attractive flow to watching someone juggle with ease - juggle three colorful balls or a work life, a home life, a social life, a healthy life.

But after awhile, the repetitiveness loses its allure. The same movements, over and over. I simultaneously wish I could achieve that flow and am bored by it. 

What keeps me entertained is the laughter when the balls are dropped and scatter everywhere. The smile and deep breath when the attempt is made again.  The delight when the balls begin to move in harmony…and the frustrated delight when they tumble all over again. 

What might be more entertaining than a life perfectly juggled is one where we all learn to let go, to lightly hold, to allow for multitudes of forces to play into our days, and to laugh when the balls all tumble. To sit down with them, breathe, gather it all, try again.