2 August 2021 – Pivot Point

Pivot Point – Standing in Motion

Pivot point – fork in the road – choice time – time for change – get me out’a here . . .

These and other terms and phrases express times in life when transformation, modification, adjustment, and perhaps even revolution winds and loop through breath and body. This word, pivot, has in excess of one hundred meanings with an unusually wide scope including mechanical engineering, military strategy, financial analysis, and dentistry – a few examples of the wide range of the pivot concept. A pivot anchor illustrates the basic action of pivoting; it is an anchor that permits a pipe to swivel around a fixed point. The idea of “standing in motion.”

The poem offered below portrays a pivot point that is anything but mechanical. One meaning of pivot is to whirl around on one foot which is how many people feel when they are creating change (the pivot) and when change forces the pivot.

To pivot in life typically causes a measure of anxiety; however, some people, often called “adrenaline junkies,” thrive on pivots. Such folks are not only open to pivots, their disposition for taking forks in the road provide them with experiences that, however they unfold, present welcome lessons, and excitement. The truly expert pivot pointer actually creates such points, of change for the thrill of it, for relief of boredom, and for the love of learning and experience.

Another way of visualizing a pivot point is to see a center around which something rotates. This is the secret of pivoting in life. Unlike making change for change’s sake or modifying one’s life to shock others (sometimes not such a bad idea), a well-performed pivot has a good chance of providing clarity of direction, orientation to new environments, and even realization of dreams and visions that the pivoter once thought impossible.

Today’s poem, naturally titled “Pivot Point,” intends to describe someone in the middle (aha!) of pivoting. Notice that a journey is ending, so the poem’s expression is one of arriving at a fresh pivot point and feeling some disappointment at the closing of – well, whatever is closing – or perhaps opening an immediate urge to make another pivot.

                                                    Pivot Point

I stand at the edge

the edge of the sea

Is this the last ground I’ll stand

after the journey

I fear has ended

Virtue dwells in not arriving

My whole life

I’ve believed one thing

and now the arrow tip

punctures the back of my head

The pivot point turns me and shows

I’ve been wrong all along

The fruit of it unfolding

So many times, I’ve told the story

the island kingdom and coming home

All the fleeting

star at dawn from the Diamond Sutra

bubble on a stream

flash of lightning behind a moon-pale cloud

flickering lamp

Without footing - no shore seen

The true home always in between

Background

Every human being has at least one critical “pivot point” in a lifetime. The norm is to experience many. I’m neither proud nor ashamed that I’ve had a good share of such turnings. Some of them came along due to uncontrollable (what can be controlled anyway?) causes and conditions. Many more pivot points were changes of my own making.

I’m not talking about the incredible hardships and uncertainties endured by refugees and asylum seekers, nor am I referring to abused persons, and especially not to those whose fondest ambitions/dreams are shattered beyond salvaging. I’m talking about pivot points that shape our identities, beliefs, and values, of forks in the road that lead to difficult yet exhilarating experiences. Specifically, I’m talking about the chosen pivot point, the opportunity taken, forced or voluntarily – the transformations and revolutions that stay with us all our lives, whether their results are pleasant or not.

Exploration 1: Are you able to identify one or more significant pivot points in your life?

Exploration 2: Why is the speaker disappointed at arriving?

Exploration 3: What does the final line mean? Especially consider the concept of “home”.

Exploration 4:  What is the “best” way to pivot in your life. Keep in mind that for most of us the number of pivot points in a lifetime can be counted on half your fingers. Also notice that they have things in common. What? By surfacing the connections, the seeming chaos of such times can emerge into patterns and intentions.