INTENSELY RELAXING

BECAUSE BALANCE IS EVERYTHING

Here’s a fun fact that might might come in handy, just in case you’re anything remotely like me. (Which I’m guessing you are, being human and all.)

As it turns out, life is insanely complex, yanking us this way and that with its ceaseless demands. Often conflicting, if not directly competing in flat-out contradiction.

So big surprise that — in my neverending quest for emotional equilibrium — the core of me is constantly waging a battle between relaxed and intense.

But honestly?

The trick is to be relaxed behind your intensity.

RELENTLESS INTENSITY WILL BATTER YOU RAW. I can tell you this from a lifetime of experience, beating myself against every wall that ever stood between me and wherever I hoped to go. There is no substitute for genuine focused devotion. And walls don't come down easy.

But there's a zen that comes with clarity of purpose, if you can step back enough to remember why you're doing it. It's the center of the hurricane of your ambition. And the center is quiet and still.

In that still, quiet center, you accept that the very best you can do is the best you can do, insofar as you are able. That you are not responsible for other people's responses. They'll love it. They'll hate it. They'll be largely indifferent. They'll do whatever they do, steering by their honest responses. (Or dishonest responses, as the case may be. Because an awful lot of people aren’t even honest with themselves.)

Understanding this has allowed me to relax behind this adventure called life in ways that I appreciate more and more, each day.

RELAXING MEANS LETTING GO. Throwing down and letting go, all at once or in turns.

Speaking personally, I am never more relaxed than when I feel like I'm on it. Doing a thing that I love, with every speck of my being. With people I love. For people I love. Whether anyone else likes it or not.

That's the zone, baby.

Relaxed and intense.