Growing: Some of us want to reach for the stars, blaze our shining star across the heavens, strive to be successful or at least be the best we can be.

Grounded: Some of us care more about being the behind-the-scenes stable, balanced, reasonable, practical, safe, and therefore, taken-seriously person.

Most of us need some of both… right?? We all contain and express these qualities in some kind of dynamic balance. For some of us it takes a lot of burning ourselves up and out before we acknowledge the need for ground. For others we stay locked in our heads or bury our feelings underground for a long time before we acknowledge we need a spark, a change, something more dynamic that may involve risk.

For me personally... I have always been someone with strong desires and emotions. I have relied on the very ground of my being – the strength, grace and movement of my physical body – to be the conduit for that electrical life force energy, connecting me to the earth. As a child that meant running through cornfields with my dog pulling me along. As an adult it has meant an ever-evolving world of dance, inward and outward, and a deepening of the conversation with the natural world.

For a long time “growth” was random, lucky, accidental, untamed, unpredictable and definitely unreliable.