Overall, we are not sufficiently aware of our decisive role in the "relational" dimension of balance, i.e. our role as a balancing or destabilizing actor, depending on the case.
Indeed, our way of being and acting has a direct impact on our relations with those around us, but also on the relations that those around us have with the people around them (through a conduction effect) and so on and so forth… Whether this chain of relations is balanced or not in turn conditions the organizations we belong to, and then everything that coexists with these organizations: the market, civil society, our natural environment, etc. All these spheres are interconnected in a relationship of total interdependence. Nothing is insignificant.
For example, an unfortunate comment, an inappropriate look, an excessive or ambiguous turn of phrase (in a discussion, an email, a blog, etc.) may act as a shock wave and "alter" another person and your relationship with that person. Various effects may then arise: silence, withdrawal, a bad atmosphere, declining results, separation, or even legal proceedings or threats (sometimes death threats!), to mention just a few.
But the opposite is also true: kind words or an authentic smile can produce miracles, in life as well as in business. One single person can transform an atmosphere and even an entire organization! Our lives are full of these balancing and destabilizing attitudes with multiple effects that are more or less visible. Are we sufficiently aware of this? De we want to make progress in this area, individually and collectively? These are essential questions that we need to ask if we want to improve the quality of our lives, our businesses and the world in which we live.
Every day, around the world, lovely manifestations of balance warm our hearts and reassure us. In a concern for contributing to the balance of others or of nature, many people from all walks of life take part in initiatives aimed at re-balancing things that are not or are no longer in balance, by providing food, care, human warmth and hope to those who need them, protecting the natural environment and the different lifeforms, encouraging access to microcredit for the poorest among us, contributing to healthy local policies that are close to the people, developing all kinds of constructive projects that bring people together, etc.
By doing this, they do their best, each in their own way, to encourage the forces of balance on our planet that are in a fierce struggle with the forces of imbalance, chaos and destruction that are at work everywhere. Solidarity, closeness, sharing, love and joy are unquestionably the best manifestations of balance there is, an absolute necessity for living and growing together.
It is firstly within each and every one of us that the forces of balance and imbalance constantly do battle and we must be aware of this. If we are not careful, our balancing act could take us down and we could bring others down with us… We therefore have to cultivate the balance within us and in our relations with others, as often as possible, because it is the total of the little streams of positive energy that produces mighty rivers.
Gandhi said, "Be the change that you wish to see in the world." A wonderful call for a spirit of responsibility!