Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Balance: Exercise, Inspiration and the Human Element

I've been trying to psyche myself up to take better care of myself.  You know, eat better, sleep more, get exercise, get a check-up, etc.  All of these things, as well as enjoying the moment, not wasting time worrying about possible negatives, and letting my creative streak flow, are part of my ongoing inner-based minshap enhancement cycle .  When you get right down to it, the key word here is "balance".  Don't we all know it!  Whether we use that word or some other to describe it, what we need and what we have to work at is balance.  It might be a roller coaster ride, but if it keeps you moving and you don't fall off, it's okay.  What we can't abide is not being able to keep on course... on some sort of course... which each of us devises for ourselves of course!
So, here's what I've discovered over the last few days of philosophizing over balance and its derivatives.
On the one hand, now that we're nearing the conclusion of our six-month experiment, it throws me into a mini-panic at times, thinking about having to say good-bye.  You get used to being somewhere called home and you let people into your life there, and when you have to say good-bye, it hurts.  Having the comfort of being able to tune into each other in a messenger chat, or with skype, or even thru FB, which I thought I'd never succumb to, is a relief.  It's not really good-bye, but rather hello whenever we want.  Maybe I'm just playing tricks on myself, but it helps tremendously to think of substituting good-bye with TTYL and leaving it at that.  If that's all it takes to keep me from going off the deep end of sadness, I'll gladly accept it.
The other stuff about leaving, like sorting out what to take and what to leave - things - is no problem for me.  We'll take what we want or physically can fit, and give away the rest.  We haven't really accumulated much at any rate, though what we have accumulated is mostly BIG stuff... taking up lots of space!  So we'll have to plan it out, but that's okay with me.
What really gets me though, is having to do the tedious stuff, like giving notice on the apt., something we just did, and there and then received a rude awakening.  Turns out, we are required by the terms of our lease to pay one more month than we had assumed.  We counted out the 6 months and thought we were okay, but turns out that in effect, the 6 months didn't start until the second month's rent... so we are supposed to pay September, when we will be gone by mid-August!  We had a meeting with the administrators, but they would make no mutually beneficial agreement with us - for example if we found another renter so they wouldn't lose any money, or if we paid for the first week of March, which was not counted in our first month's rent, or if we left them our deposit - nothing moved them.  At the end of the interview, when the manager finally came into the discussion and said she was sorry and that she understood our concerns and point of view and said we had signed a contract and there was just nothing she could do, I said quietly, "but of course there is something you can do.  Contracts can be amended, if both parties agree.  The truth is, you simply don't wish to do that.  We came here hoping to appeal to you from the standpoint of the human element, but there seems to be no room in your organization for such consideration, which I find truly sad.  It seems to be a sorry trend and we'll simply have to make sure the next contract we sign will be with people who don't subscribe to it." 
We then took our leave, and we told ourselves, and each other, that we'd done the best we could, we'd made our point, we and they knew we were in the right, and they would most certainly feel bad about their actions for awhile... We reconciled ourselves to paying the money and considering it just one more lesson learned, but the truth is I haven't totally given up and may still find a way to get through to them in some way.  It's not only the money you see, it's the human element!  I hate to give up if there's still a chance I can get through to them on that level.
Meanwhile, I woke up the other morning and saw it was a good time to do some yoga.  So I did, and the next morning, I woke up again and did it, and this morning, again.  But it's not exactly yoga, or at least not totally.  It's this combination of movements. I start with some basic yoga exercises I learned many years ago from a book, interspersed with those standard exercises we did in gym class and before swim practice when I was really young, which all blends together into a sort of "stretchy calisthenics" which, by adding more continuous movement, turns into an aerobics hodge-podge. Very interesting.  I never know exactly what I will do, but it works, it's exhilarating, and it's graceful in a way I never thought was possible as I've never been particularly graceful in exercising (I could never follow an aerobics teacher/routine).  Yesterday I kept at it for over 40 minutes!  I had this neat idea of doing it with others, outside somewhere, each person moving to their own rhythm... What starts out in kind of a slow-motion stretching of arms, legs, torso, neck, etc. evolves into a sort of dance that takes you where it will, for as long as you will, spontaneously!  Afterwards, I find myself wondering what it would have looked like on film, or to music...
I put the word "inspiration" in the title, and there's a reason for that.  You see, when I was questioning the sense of replacing my "coffee and computer wake-up" for a "yoga and grapefruit wake-up" as my morning routine at this late stage, (50 ++), I immediately thought of my mother and her age and how she is always ready to make changes.  So in effect, if you think of yourself as reaching 80+ or even 90+ years, there are still a good 25-40 years to go!  Which is plenty of time to establish and grow into a new morning routine. 
At any rate, old habits do die hard, and after the fruit, there does come a good moment for that coffee, which I'm just finishing now.... goes well with blogging, don't you think?  The sun just peeked out, reminding me it's time to go out and greet the day.  Have a great one everyone!