Trusting Balance

We had an interesting choir practice last night.

I haven’t figured out how I’m going to tie all this into our journey of becoming published, but I wanted to share it with you, and figured… who’s going to stop me?

Let me give you some background first.

Katherine is also our choir director at church.  She has the group — a mix of teens and adults — do a type of lead-and-follow exercise at the start of our practice.  There are two stated points to the exercise. 

The first point is to demonstrate that, as part of a group, you must master the art of focusing your attention in the direction that it needs to be.  You must maintain this focus no matter what you’re dealing with or what other distractions are around you — crying babies, people talking, people moving around/leaving early, etc.

The second point of the exercise is to demonstrate that there is a constant give-and-take, lead-and-follow exchange that must permeate throughout the community that encompasses the director, musicians, choir members, clergy, and congregation. This exchange of energy and switches between the lead and follow roles happens continually among all the people involved (i.e., choir members, musicians, director, clergy, and the congregation).   We are all connected.

It was an interesting exercise.  Some members were more comfortable following, while others were more comfortable leading. The "leaders" had a hard time relinquishing control when it was their turn to follow, while the "followers" lacked the presence to lead.  The leaders lacked the trust needed to follow, and the followers lacked the confidence to lead.   

At the conclusion of this exercise, Katherine reveals that one must be a good follower to be a good leader, and vice versa.  As a leader, you need to understand what your followers need from you.  As a follower, you need to understand what a leader needs from you.  To be able to move easily between both roles, you need to be comfortable, confident in your roles, and trust in each other.

I find this lead-and-follow, give-and-take, yin-and-yang balance important… not only in choir work but in life.  This balance between the feminine energy and the masculine energy lives within each one of us — whether you’re male or female.  

There’s this constant dance between the creative, nurturing, receptive side that follows where the path leads and the directive, action-oriented side that propels the movement forward.

I think every start of a New Year tends to focus more on the yang of things… with its focus on New Year's resolutions and what needs to be accomplished — taking control of one’s direction and destiny. 

I wish I had more opportunity to yang through 2011… but I don't.   I have to yin most of it, instead.  

I have to trust that everything is connected and will work itself out, somehow.  I have to trust in the lead and follow, give and take, yin and yang of life.

This is not easy to do.  For example, the more I push in the direction of becoming a published author, the more I realize that I have to sit back and let things unfold.  It’s teaching me to take each moment as it comes.  It's teaching me patience.  There’s no rushing through this process, no matter how hard I try.

To sum all this up in one thought:  We have to keep everything in balance and in perspective; and to do that, we need to trust in ourselves and each other.

A good reminder for the New Year... and Happy New Year!


OH!   Don't forget to wish Ellen DeGeneres (http://ellen.warnerbros.com/show/respond/?PlugID=10) a Happy New Year from us!

Thanks!



.