We learned from Sir Isaac Newton long ago that bodies at rest stay at rest and bodies in motion remain in motion unless they experience some outside force.  The same can be said of minds, hearts, and spirits.  The principle applies to the whole person.

As I live and write about living, this principle grows in relevance to everyday life.  I find the balancing act between stillness and action a work forever in progress.  I find the desire for stability and the search for stimulation, the instinct to curl up alone and the urge to reach out, the integrity of sticking to a known path and the enticement of striking out cross-country in a constant play of give and take.

Constant activity, productivity, social engagement, self-improvement, learning, and goal setting eventually wear me out.  At those times, an outside force like a bad cold or a back spasm might remind me to take a break.  If I am lucky, the decades of lessons learned will trigger a more proactive approach.  I might clear the calendar, put the pile of unread books back on a shelf, ditch the to-do list, and turn inward to re-calibrate my priorities and size up the time and energy I devote to each.

I also have times when, however briefly, my life achieves harmonic balance to the point of monotony.  The patterns of eating and exercise, work and play, time alone and time together represent a rhythm that, while soothing, might eventually lull me to sleep.

My challenge is to know when and what kind of adventure is needed to kick me into motion when I am stuck at rest.  I recently returned from three weeks of exciting travel.  When I got home, mind and body collapsed for over a week , asserting their need to recover.  Now I find it hard to get moving again.  I do mindless chores and run endless errands, but re-charging the adventure of purposeful effort eludes me. 

This morning, I sat down and chained myself to the laptop with a commitment to write.  It has not come smoothly.  Those brain cells that pull thoughts and words together are stiff and reluctant, but they are responding to the exercise.  Body, mind, heart, and spirit are stumbling into motion again at last!

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How do you stop when you're moving too fast , or get started again after a period of calm?  Which of those is more true for you right now?