The High Wire Balancing Act

Most of us have been to a circus in childhood. Some of us have been to a circus half a dozen times prior to reaching the age of 20. I am one of them. I have always loved going to a circus. Today at my age of 72 years, I will still enjoy going to a circus because the little boy in me just loves a circus. The smell of circus grounds and the special music played by the circus band for each performance always set a mood of excitement for me. The masked clowns (we called them jokers) with their wise cracks also set the tone for fun and excitement. The elephants, tigers, horses and sometimes bears, monkeys, dogs displayed skills beyond expectations. Various acrobatic skills displayed by men, women and relatively young kids held me in awe of their accomplishments. For the duration of the show, the huge circus tent seemed to be a universe of its own. The tent seemed huge from my perspective when I was a 10-year old. In my childhood, the huge circus tent was always pitched in an open ground, and the arrival of the circus in town was always very well advertised in advance, stirring up excitement.

The ease with which various acrobatic acts were performed by men, women, and the clowns made it all look so simple and easy. When I returned home from crcus and tried to perform the same tricky acts, my crashing to the ground within a few seconds was assured.

In the circus, the high wire act always attracted my special attention. With wide-open eyes in high admiration, I would watch the tight wire rope that spanned from the top of one high post to the other high post. Against each post, there was a tall ladder for climbing up. After eyeing this pre-set assembly, my eyes wanted to make sure that a safety net was in place and that it was wide enough to catch a performer just in case! Then I would wait anxiously to see the high wire act to begin. No matter how many times I had watched the same act before, the excitement at its beginning was always the same.

Each high wire performer looked trim, confident, and wore a pleasant demeanor. At the beginning of the performance, they filed one by one on the ground and bowed gracefully to the audience. Each one of them wore well-designed fancy clothes. Some clothes had sparkles on them, which reflected the floodlights focused on them giving each one of them an aura of a great star performer.

At the beginning of the high wire walking act, usually one or two performers climbed up the ladder and stood on the small stepping platform which was located at the level of the high strung rope. Then the first performer would put his toe on the tight rope to check its tension. It was a quick and careful check. It seemed as if the performer’s toe was connected to an efficient calibrating machine in his mind, which checked the tension of the rope. Then the act was about to begin and suddenly the whole audience dropped its conversation level to almost zero decibel level; and so did the circus band. The performer usually had a balancing pole in hands, which was held horizontally in front at stomach level. Just as the performer set first toe on the wire rope, a gentle music played by circus band set the tone for the balancing act to begin.

As soon as the acrobat’s second toe touched the wire rope, you could tell that the real balancing act had begun. The acrobat looked totally focused on carefully placing each step in front of the other with a measured gentle movement. For the acrobat’s safety, I would pray that no body make an unnecessary sound to distract the acrobat’s concentration. It seemed that I would even slow down my movements and hear the changed rhythm of my pounding heart. Then suddenly, I would hear the circus clown crack a joke reminding the high wire walker that there is a safety-net underneath, just in case! The disciplined high wire ropewalker seemed unperturbed and gracefully continued executing the constant balancing act.

From the very first step to get on the rope and the last step to get off it at the other end, the high wire ropewalker seemed totally focused on every little movement at every moment. Even a slight mental distraction is enough to loose balance and take a fall.

Our individual health and life is just like walking on the tight rope in circus. The first step represents our entry into the world at birth. The last step on that wire represents our exit from the world. During our entire lifetime, we have to discipline ourselves for constantly maintaining a harmonious balance within and without. When we lose our mind and body balance, even slightly, we have to make every effort to restore the balance as quickly as possible.

While our body is constantly carrying out several balancing functions inside, it prompts us to cooperate. The prompts come with appropriate signals. Our body constantly prompts us to eat proper food, exercise regularly, rest adequately, and use the brain (common sense). In absence of it, our body looses its normal and constant balancing acts and disease sets in.

The root cause of every disease is in the mind. Disease is manifestation of imbalances allowed to occur over a protracted period of time. Due to the imbalance, the weakest link in our body snaps and disease sets in.

Imbalance is loss of concentration and focus, which triggers a fall. Nobody knows it better than the acrobat in a walking on high wire in the circus does. For each one of us, life is a high wire walking act with an opportunity to perform.