After a high-stress period of time, it is healthy to have a cooling-down period.  What I have learned this past week is that it’s not good to stop suddenly, you have keep walking to avoid a muscle cramp. (read emotional breakdown)

Have you come off a project lately that you needed to process before you moved on?  Do you do that with every project or just “the big ones”?

I tend to keep the heart rate (read schedule of activities) up too long and can crash into a burn out mode if not careful. This last big project of mine, the campaign that took 52 weeks, is over.  To avoid burn out or emotional muscle burn I decided to issue a cooling down period for myself.

It seems to have worked, in the last couple of weeks I’ve been able to rest on what I’ve learned but move forward with new plans and vision without a sudden stop and crash.

What do you do to cool down?

Balance is something that a lot of us seek, it is a place where you are supposed to have peace even in the midst of full-mindfulness.  Blah blah.

I’m an artist. I know the complete joy of being completely off-balance.  Many times, you and I will do things even when you know it’s not the “balanced” thing to do.  Some of the best moments of life come from experiences that make no since for you to leap into.

An illness that throws you off balance  may end up making you stronger in spirit than you ever hoped to physically be.  A layoff from a job may put you off balance only to find that the balance you thought you found in that work was a false one. You may be even throw away the pro and con list and run for public office in order to serve your community.

Yes, if you are a tight-rope walker you need balance, but honestly, you are a little off balance to want to walk the tight rope.  If we have complete and total balance, we’ll never get off the teeter-totter.

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I’ve been thinking this week about that breath at the end of  phrase in music that allows our transcendence.  Instrumental music in all it’s mathematically complexity is the most vibrant at it’s pause.

I  have been trying to be mindful of those moments in my life where the silence is the most important part of  the communication. The white space in art, the silence in music, the pause in the monologue.

I’m not talking about finding time to be quite.  That has it’s own  value.  I’m speaking of the space surrounded by the art of of our lives that makes the moment vibrant.

Where are your pauses?

Nashville Symphony’s Giancarlo Guerrero photo by Harry Butler

Bravery comes when you act on your intention. You can think about and plan for only so long before you simply have to flip the coin and take the bet.  Whether you have a new business to start, a project to develop, or a political campaign to run, sooner better than later, you must choose and flip.

Stopping short of beginning is the only failure.

What will you start today?  You can’t loose – flip it!

Through all of the advice that I am getting, I am learning most to trust myself.  As I get older, my own instinct seems to be the most informed.  I’m not sure when this happened along the way.

That beautiful balance: accepting, embracing and seeking out great wisdom while trusting in my own experience to guide me. – like this bird knowing to land on what side of this rock.

Maybe that is the true maturation of art itself.  The ability to trust like a child in instinct, no mater how playful, and the confidence to accept criticism and input along the way.

To blindly go out on your own is not only dangerous but lonely.  To trust people and become your own trust agent is the journey of living an artful life.

How often do you listen to your own instincts over the advice of others?  How has it worked out?

Photo By Rocker