Being in the external world

[Diana]

I don't think that putting somewhat more importance on the inner world is necessarily an imbalance that demands correction. I get the impression that most wanderers are introverts. :

It's true, and makes perfect sense, I think, about Wanderers being more introverted. And I agree that this does not indicate an imbalance necessarily.

I will caution however, that too much introversion can be distorting. This, at least, has been my case. I was always in my head as a child; and as an adult, because I work alone for myself, there is a LOT of alone-time which I like. But, for me, although I seek my own company so to to speak, and quiet, and inner-scape, there are times when it skews my balance. I lose the ability to talk to others as well; some of my thoughts get too "large" because they haven't had the chance of being expressed thus moving and transmuting the energy; in other words, I lose some of my ability to interact efficiently in the world, and this includes being able to express what is in my heart (blue ray). I personally need to stay a bit in practice, so too much introversion is not good for me. It happens that this is one reason why I post here.

So my point is that one needs to feel this out for themselves. In my case, I don't even know I have gone off balance until I have to go to a store for groceries; I have found myself blabbing happily and inanely away at a grocery clerk about anything at all, because I hadn't talked to anyone in days. Then I have the opportunity of laughing at myself, but also recognizing that I am short on human interaction.

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@ Patrick: Great post above about chores, and wisdom/compassion.

A few thoughts on housecleaning from my perspective...

When I clean and organize (unless I am in an overwhelmed state which does sometimes happen), it is not about cleaning and organizing. It is about creating beauty (for lack of a better description). It is also about a vision of beauty and loveliness that I, as an artist, seek to create in the physical world. Some people may clean the house and get everything clean. I like to go further: I love to make it all as beautiful as I can. When I transform my environment into this beautiful state, it is like creating a beautiful piece of art. I will add that this would be too exhausting if I let my environment degrade into chaos, and then had to work from that state (which is something that I think happens to people who let things go and then can't face where to even start to rectify it). In addition, maintaining my environment is part of the effect, because I exist in it not for just the day I have accomplished it, but every day. This is my ideal, and it doesn't always play out this way.

My point is, when I am not stressed and don't have pressing work deadlines or other piled-up stressors looming, I can clean the house this way, with love, making it beautiful as I know it can be. I consider that even inanimate objects are due respect. Everything here is made out of the same stuff.