Abandon, Balance & Stealth

"In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth." -Patti Smith

I found this quote interesting and confusing. Abandonment is a complete surrender to our natural impulses without restraint or moderation. In art and dream we leave reality behind and allow our minds the freedom to expand our horizons and dabble in the unknown. In life, I find that I restrain myself and control my impulses in order to be balanced in all areas. As an obsessive compulsive type personality, it is very easy for me to dive head long into something and become completely unbalanced as I pursue my single tracked mind. In my painting and dancing I am able to give in to those impulses and allow myself to surrender to the moment without restraint. My dreams take me in directions my conscious mind would not allow. Art and dream add dimensions to our lives we would otherwise suppress.

If we lived our life with complete abandon, it would be chaotic at best. Life requires that we maintain balance in every area of our life in order to fully enjoy it and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Living life with stealth, though, is an interesting concept. When I first thought on the word stealth, pictures of stealth planes popped into my mind. The ability to prevent detection is their greatest asset. We as humans, on the other hand, want to be on the radar and involved with others during our life’s journey. Other connotations of stealth would include being secretive, covert, or hiding something. I hope we don’t live our lives in this way, hiding who we are, out thoughts and beliefs. Such a double life produces stress and anxiety which would greatly imbalance our lives.

That left me with a third characteristic of stealth…the act of stealing. How could we apply stealing to a balanced life? I pondered on it for a while and it suddenly occurred to me…we have to steal time to live a balanced life. Numerous outside sources continually rob us of our time leaving us unbalanced as we devote more and more time to work and other activities. Women especially find themselves short on “me” time and opportunities to stop and smell the flowers instead of rushing headlong to another appointment or commitment. It is imperative that we steal time from unimportant areas and apply it to living a healthy life that incorporates care of our mind, body and soul.

Allow yourself times of abandonment, letting your spirit soar free expressing yourself through art, dance and dreams. The importance of this cannot be overstated. A balanced life includes these times of indulgence to our natural impulses. The other aspect of a balanced life involves restraint and maintaining focus on our goals and our journey, stealing time for the important things in life…our family and ourselves.

A cute side note…Abandon, Balance and Stealth = ABS

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Thursday's Affirmations:

~I feel beautiful
~I take care of myself mind, body & soul
~I respect myself and set the standard by which others should treat me.