Finding Balance

I took up the practice of rock stacking this summer. It started as a way to pass the time on those endless summer afternoons, but what I found was an extremely meditative practice that’s taught me a bit about life. Some of the lessons I’ve learned:

• Stacking rocks is hard - they don’t inherently like to balance on top of one another

• It generally gets harder as you add more rocks

• Sometimes getting two rocks to balance requires a third rock to counter-balance

• There’s almost always a solution if you’re committed, flexible, and patient

• It gets easier with practice

• There are no shortcuts - you have to start at the bottom and add one at a time

• A gentle approach is almost always better than firm

• Nothing is permanent - it’s built with the intent that it fall down

• It’s okay if you fail, you can always start again

• It’s not about the rocks