We often think of balance as the goal.The balance of two opposites or complimentary aspects.Or the balance of the many aspects of our lives.Yet balance is unrealistic.Perhaps a better word to use is harmony.For even if we can achieve balance in our lives, it is always short lived.For how can we sustain balance in our relationships, our work, our health, our finances, and our growth all at the same time?When we will concentrate on one it is at the expense of another.If we focus on our career or our finances, perhaps our relationships or our health will suffer.If we look to balance the energies within us we do ourselves a disservice.For if we show up with our feminine and masculine traits in balance for a football game, we are not likely to do well.If we show up with aggressive and passive energies completely balanced for a date, we may not be able to make that heart-to-heart connection we so desire.Balance is over-rated.It is an ideal that is not sustainable.And it does not serve us well in our lives.Sometimes we need to go to extremes.Sometimes we need to be imbalanced to meet a given situation properly.So we work on the dance between opposites.We learn how to be more fluid.And as we become better and better at accepting and using all of our aspects, we become more of who we are.We are light and dark.We are strong and weak.We are masculine and feminine.We are courageous and scared.We are connected and alone.We are passionate and passive.We are joyful and depressed.We are driven and apathetic.We are caring and insensitive.For we are all these things and more.As we learn to flow from one to another, we learn what works best in any given moment.Balance gives way to harmony.And in harmony we are more fully who we are meant to be.

~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant