Balance, flexibility and presence

"In a changing world, certainty doesn't give us stability; it actually creates more chaos.  As we stay locked in our position and refuse to adapt and change, the things we hoped would stay together fall apart.  By holding on, we destroy what we hope to preserve; by letting go, we feel secure in accepting what is."
  -- Margaret Wheatley, Finding Our Way

I came across this paragraph in my reading for school last night, and thought I would share it with you this morning. It reminds me of that old Emerson truism: "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds."  Except that in this case the hobgoblin is the potential to destroy the system.

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, my readings for class have been almost eerily congruent with my readings in Buddhism and Christianity; I love thinking that the theories in one area might apply to the business world.

This particular concept always reminds me of Friedman's work in family systems theory, which I first encountered at a clergy conference years ago.  He shared with us a model which still resonates with me almost 20 years later: if you think of a family, or a congregation, as a molecule, then you can see that a disturbance anywhere in the molecule will result in a disturbance to other parts of the molecule.

A large disturbance can put unbearable tension on the molecule if some part of the system is rigid or inflexible, and can actually lead to breakage: we have no choice but release and relax a bit if we are truly dedicated to the idea of holding things together.

At the same time, a certain amount of stability at the center can keep the whole molecule from breaking apart if one section becomes severely agitated.  So it's really about balance, about staying attuned to the moment and what it needs; or -- in the immortal words of Kenny Rogers -- "You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run."  Never an easy task, and often a challenging responsibility.  But it helps, I think, to have a model that helps clarify the need for balance, flexibility, and presence.