A Rock Tower Crumbles and Teaches a Major Life Lesson on Balance

I sat on the beach basking in the warm, spring sun.

My five year old collected rocks.

Beautiful rocks.  Black ones. Flat ones. Round ones.

They caught my attention and I decided to stack them like the cool rock towers I see when I Google images of "rock towers."

The first few minutes of stacking them became harder than I thought.  I'd get four or five stacked and they would tumble.  I'd start again, and then... ...the tumble.

It took me much longer than I expected to get 7 stacked, but I was proud of the work I had put into it.  As I laid down in front of my rock tower to take a picture with the ocean behind it, my five year old threw a big rock and tumbled the whole tower.

I gave him an exasperated, "Duuuuuuude!!!"

He sat down to cry knowing how hard I had worked.

After we made up and I assured him I wasn't mad, I started the stacking again.

It took me even longer to re-stack the 7 rocks, but I finally succeed and snapped the picture above.

Then it dawned on me...

This month's topic at CSLCV is "Balance!"...what can I learn from the rock tower?

Here's what came to me:

It took me time to find the balance of the rocks that allowed them to be solid enough to create the foundation for the next rock.

The tower tumbled at one point.

I re-stacked it to create the balance again and it took awareness to DECIDE to do it again.

I became aware that, in order to create something as beautiful as I had done, I'd have to start all over. 

I became aware of how each rock precisely balanced just the right way on top of the other.

I realized that finding balance in our own lives takes awareness.

It takes awareness of knowing when we are out of balance, and tapping back into the tools we have to get ourselves back into balance.

These tools being meditation, journaling, soul rejuvenation hours (one hour a day taken only for us!), reading a good book.  These are tools that have transformed my life and have given me more balance in it.  

Finding balance takes concentration and awareness.  

Yes, balance in life is possible, but it starts with a decision.

Decide today to be balanced.  Take the intricate steps necessary to create it.  Be aware when it "tumbles" and "stack" your tools until you find balance again.