Studying your navel is a dangerous way to live. Failing to observe it is even more risky. Life starts – and sometimes ends – with both these perspectives. Are you getting your own version right? It’s a tough question we don’t much like to answer. Successful people ask it quite often. Perhaps you now have space to look at yours?
Let your perception revolve around four questions: Do I know who I am? Do I know what I want? Do I understand what, why, how and to whom I must give? Do I realise how much I must learn? These are navel-gazing questions. They deal with our strongest instinct which is survival. You can’t get more relevant than that. They demand ‘yes / no’ answers. And that’s a good way to begin. Your answers will draw you into more detailed questions. You will, I am confident, be honest and objective with the answers you give to those.
However genuine our assessments we have to recognise that we are biased in many ways. Handling those biases is key to our happiness. Recognizing them is the best way to do so. They are based on what we learnt not just from our parents and our education but from the world we grew up in. They are us. We know good and bad standards, I dare say. We have to be careful that we do not allow our biases to qualify them to the point where we cross the line between decent and unacceptable.
That line is our balance. We may have models, religious beliefs, historical precedence or other rituals to guide us. But the balance is ours, unique and judgmental. The only tool we need to make our self-assessment is a reflection of who we are. What it praises is praiseworthy; what it condemns is contemptible. Such stark judgment may be alarming but it is fair.
And now, I invite you to take five minutes to watch Sanddorn, created by Swiss artist Mädir Eugster Rigolo and performed by Miyoko Shida Rigolo. You won’t regret it. To me, it is almost a form of devotion — the beauty of its skill and precision speaks to life itself.
A thought-provoking way to see how much depends on balance.
When you answer your four questions you will bear in mind that some of your life will be a feather, some a strong staff, much a series of balancing relationships between your brain and events over which you have little control. Most important of all is the balance between you and the people who will connect you with others and help you to be seen by the world.
A final tip. Make your answers to the four questions very specific. Vague generalisations don’t help and give the appearance of strategic genius. Specific answers are what matter.
Modesty is truth. Miyoko’s modesty is a truth that endorses the balance she displays.
May our balance be so sensitively modest.
Good morning
John BIttleston
Please feel free to let us have your views at [email protected].
We always learn from them. Thank you.
10 January 2026
