Risk is inherent in life. We may not live like Wile E. Coyote, liable to have a safe or a piano dropped on us on a regular basis with only a small pink umbrella to protect us, but the world is sometimes a dangerous place.
The answer, sadly enough, is not that we need to build a blanket fort and hide in it all day reading murder mysteries and eating popcorn (although if anybody wants a play date, let me know!). It’s preparation.
I’m not talking about having an earthquake kit or a first aid kit (even though it’s a good plan). I’m talking about working on balance.
What we need for the routine dangers of our lives is balance. We need to learn how to react when we unexpectedly step off a curb. We need our bodies to adjust, automatically, when our toddler grandchild crashes into our legs or when the dog we are walking suddenly tries to chase a squirrel up a tree.
Balance comes from, among other things, knowing where our bodies are in space to begin with and from having the strength to adjust to sudden changes. We can work on improving our balance in lots of ways. One of the easiest is to practice standing on one foot, maybe while we’re standing at the sink anyway brushing our teeth or when we’re stuck in line at the grocery store.
If we want to get more intense about learning balance, we can cart ourselves over to yoga class or the Pilates studio. It’s just being a good scout: prepared.
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