Living In Balance
Balance is one of these concepts that sounds nice but is very hard to practice. Life, as most know it, is a cycle of never-ending ups and downs.
Yet, there is a way of living that lies in balance. One where you are no longer at the mercy of your circumstances and aren’t a victim of your internal state.
The practice of living in balance is one that I have been moving towards for the past 4 years. But I’ll be honest, this is very difficult and demands a lot of discipline and awareness.
Because one of the keys of balance, is that it is dynamic — our center is changing all the time. You cannot have a tight control system for all of your life. Nor can you have no grounding and live in complete chaos.
Balance lies between structure and spontaneity. A flow of life that is neither too rigid nor too chaotic.
How does one practice this way of living? Well, I believe that each of us has to find our own balance. It is unique to ourselves and our role is to discover what it is, bearing in mind that it is always changing.
For me, it means having a regular morning routine and being more flexible during the rest of the day. It could also mean going with the flow and staying connected to my feelings in the present moment.
We all have an internal guidance system that we can tap into. It is how we can feel if we are going overboard and if we are off-balance. The goal is not to judge where we are, but to observe ourselves and see how we can come back to our center.
Yet, many reject the idea of balance because they are attached to the ups and downs of their life. They believe that life is only worth living in extremes.
But the problem is that they rarely feel a sense of peace or satisfaction in the present moment. They are always seeking intense emotions to cover up their discomfort with reality.
I say this with experience, having been one of extremes for most of my life. I used to oscillate between rigidity and chaos all the time.
I can tell you that there is no real peace or happiness in these extremes. Finding our balance and honoring it, is one of the greatest tasks of our life.
Yet, life will always give us challenges to test our balance. It is part of the human experience. You can take the current crisis and see how it has disrupted our internal and external sense of balance.
I have seen a lot of people give in to fear for the past year because they had lost their center. Living in balance enables us to take wise decisions in the face of a crisis without being at the mercy of our emotions.
Balance also enables us to live a joyful life while honoring our different roles. Many get stuck in their work or relationships because they don’t honor the other facets of their life. Balance is how we honor all that we are.
We are whole beings at the source. We are so much more than an identity or a role.
When we over-identify with one part of ourselves, we lose track of everything that makes us who we are — our childhood joys, the little moments of love we share with one another, the rays of sunshine in the morning…
Balance is the key to our well-being and inner peace. Yet, it takes awareness to know when you have lost your center and humility to accept that you need to change.
So, how are you currently honoring balance in your life? What do you need to change?
And how can you bring more flexibility into your days?
