On the Importance of Balance

Pablo Picasso was a creative genius by anyone’s standard. He co-founded the Cubism movement and created the style of collage.

Along the way, he created 26,075 published works, the equivalent of one piece per day starting at age 20 for 71 years.

To pull off such a feat, Picasso made artwork his singular focus, and this earned him worldwide adoration as well as a net worth of $500 million dollars.

Picasso’s singular focus also had a down side. He burned through several marriages via a long list of sexual flings which left behind several children – some of whom he disowned.

In essence, Picasso’s personal life was a revolving door of affairs and infidelity, which prompts the question: “Did Picasso add more joy to the world than personal pain?”

LD Pankey spoke to this issue when he discussed “The Cross of Life”, a graphic depiction of essential elements of a balanced life. He taught us that success in one area of life can easily lead to failure in another area if we are not careful and clear about our values, motivations, and deepest priorities.

Constantly working at trying to keep our life at a reasonable level of balance is therefore the key to not only personal happiness, BUT ALSO MUCH OF THE HAPPINESS OF THOSE CLOSEST TO US.

So, the most important question to ask ourself then isn’t just, “What kind of success do I want?”, but also, “What am I willing to sacrifice to achieve it?”, AND “How happy will those closest to me be under that circumstance?”

Paul A Henny, DDS

Thought Experiments LLC, 2017

Read more at www.codiscovery.com