01.25.10
Balance In Motion
Ever wondered what Frankenstein looks like skiing? Click this link to watch the video! 
This week’s Comedy Around The World goes to New York state. Downhill skiing.
Yesterday was the first time I’d ever tried downhill skiing. I always thought it was an easy sport. Those people just go down the hill. It doesn’t require any muscle work or skill. Not like Cross Country skiing, not that is hard!
Well I was wrong. About everything. Especially as my shins started hurting. And that was just from putting the ski boots on. The rest of the day brought out new muscle pain with each skill we learned.
All day I thought about things our instructor taught us. Things that were a lot like Humor.
1. Lean forward. Toward the downhill side. Most people panic going downhill. They lean backward, thinking that hugging the uphill will keep them from falling.
Lots of people think that way about negative events, problem people, or other bad thoughts. We try to lean away from them. Ignore them. Fight them. We like to think they don’t exist. But if we acknowledge them for what they can teach us, we don’t fall.
2. When putting on the ski, our instructor Sue told us, put on the downhill ski first. The downhill ski and foot will have more control.
We like to think that positive thinking will get us everything great. And it will. But relying on the positive, uphill ski, will make us lose our balance, our control. We need to support our weight with both, as both can teach us necessary info. When we go toward what scares us–as I did with learning downhill skiing–it loses its power.
3. Sue kept telling me, “Relax. Don’t panic, you won’t run into anyone.” The more I thought about avoiding hitting people on the way down the hill, the more I forgot all the moves I’d just learned minutes ago.
The people will always be on the hill. Skiing is a popular sport. And there will always be a variety of adventures every day–both good and bad. When we’re relaxed, our minds don’t focus on the disaster scenario. We can better navigate around the problem areas and arrive safely.
4. We didn’t use ski poles. Our instructor said she wanted us to learn how to balance. And anyway, she said, ski poles don’t help you. They are only a crutch. And they could even get caught in the ski and make us fall. Relying on the ski poles causes us to grip the handles. This makes us tense. We can’t relax.
Don’t use anything as a crutch. Not even these six points! Not even if it looks cool, like skiing with poles, or seems right. When we rely so heavily on one mind-set, we miss the opportunities and messages that other ideas have to offer us.
5. Riding the ski lift is not a good time to remember that you are afraid of heights. But our instructor had told us that downhill skiing is like a movie. The picture is always changing. “It’s balance in motion,” Sue told me. So, I didn’t have to stay in my fear of falling into the icy snow below. The ride would end, and with any hope I would know how to disembark from the machine.
Too often we get mired in whatever negativity is happening right now. Or else we desperately hang onto the happy time we had last weekend. When we remember that the movie is constantly changing, we can keep our balance. We know that we don’t have to be connected to the events of our lives. We can just sit back and enjoy the movie.
6. Remember that you have control over your speed, your direction, and your safety. We learned how to do the wedge (or pizza shape of the skis) to slow us down. Making a thinner wedge would make us ski faster. A bigger one would slow us. We are always in control, the instructor told us. “All you have to do is change the shape of your wedge.”
What is your “wedge?” What is the thing that you feel you have no control over? The thing that you feel is pulling you downhill and out of control? Look down at your skis. Know that you can control your actions. Maybe you don’t have control over how icy the hills are. Or how many people want to ski that day in front of your path. But you can use the equpiment you already have, and let that take you safely down the hill.
See you on the slopes!
