Tilting

I love the topic of “Tilting” included in Brooke McAlary’s book Destination Simple – Everyday Rituals For a Slower Life. Brooke hosts the Slow Your Home podcast and in this gem of a book, she discusses single-tasking, unplugging, emptying your mind, three things and gratitude. She sets up plans for creating your own unique morning and evening rituals and then she discusses the un-ritual of tilting…which is a mindset to apply when you are in the opposite of balance.

Tilting is about being aware of the changing pressures of life and being flexible, while also rejecting the idea that everything needs to be perfectly balanced every single minute of every day and that anything less is a failure. It’s a leaning into our goals and dreams, while dancing with the reality before us!

Instead of exhausting ourselves by trying to achieve balance, learn to tilt. To willingly throw things out of balance, And, importantly, learn to be okay with that. Actually we need to learn to embrace it!

So when an unexpected expense finds its way into your life, or the bus breaks down, or the kids get sick…we can focus on what’s important in the moment, and intentionally choose to put our energies into those areas.

Lean into your goals and then tilt towards what’s important in the moment. Do not expect perfect balance, instead understand that your time is limited and valuable. And, you can choose where to put your energies, depending upon where they need to be.

To me it’s about having structure while allowing for flow…and not getting too attached to either. Lately I’ve been in a rebellious mood about many good habits I had set up including morning yoga, morning meditation and working with a nutritionist via sharing photos of my daily food and drink. All of these are good supportive things, but I had gotten almost too structured about them…feeling I was good only if I did them. A sort of feeling like I “had to do them.” So I am presently experimenting with allowing myself to not do them for a time. We will see how this goes. This may end up being a bit too much “tilt”, but we will see.

I do recommend Brooke’s book. It’s a quick read that takes about one hour if you sip tea while reading it or take it to a cafe like I did.