“Koyaanisqatsi” is a Hopi word. It means “life out of balance.”  The Hopi are a Native American people who primarily live in the region around Arizona. The name Hopi is a shortened form of Hopituh Shi-nu-mu (“The Peaceful People” or “Peaceful Little Ones”).

What is balance? What is a balanced life? Does such an ideal really exist?

Life out of Balance

The ideal of balance in life is a dangerous belief. There is no balance in life. There is this moment. In this moment, you are enough. There is the next moment, in that moment, you are enough.

When you are running, run. When you are reading, read. When you are talking with your child, be with your child. When you are writing, write. When you are eating, eat.

The lack of balance is a feeling, not a reality. The feeling comes from not being here. It comes from trying to be here and to be there. I am with my daughter but I am thinking about a meeting with my boss tomorrow. I am neither here nor there – this generates that feeling that is described as Koyaanisqatsi, “life out of balance”.