“Stability itself is nothing else than a more sluggish motion.”

– Michel de Montaigne

Stability is an illusion, I think. Homeostasis is a more realistic situation, and it can be used for evil as well as good. (You know, that moment when you announce your new diet is the moment you come home and see someone brought donuts just for you.) But we can use a sense of stability – that sluggish motion de Montaigne was on about – and use homeostais as a way to get better and better, too, and to do so in small, baby, incremental steps.
I call it leap-frogging.

I get a teeny, tiny bit healthier in thought, word, or deed, and if I can hold that frequency, if I can stay strong in the face of temptation, then before I know it my spouse leap-frogs me. And then she’s just a teeny, tiny bit healthier than me. (Honestly, that’s the point my competitive nature kicks in and more often than not I don’t just peacefully leap-frog her right back, I do my best to do it with a vengeance.)

And so with leap-frogging there is a feeling of great stability because the change is so bloody tiny, so incremental, but always observed, always lauded, always congratulated and noted so that our reactions to each other can be constantly updated. But given that the tiny, incremental change is always in the right direction, it’s also made all the difference in the world.

Here’s to sluggish forward motion!