Balance!!

This week the theme of BALANCE has been showing up again and again for my students……or should i say the LACK of balance.

We can easily lose our sense of balance in a life where excess is consistently within our reach.  We live in a world where we have easy access to SO much.  And we can have it at the click of a button or a short drive in our car.

Let’s look at balance from the perspective of a tight rope walker. As you think of a tight rope walker you will have an image of a person carefully, mindfully moving across this small thin wire.   You see them sometimes taking a back step to catch themselves, you see the side to side swaying.  You see how they use their arms or a pole to assist themselves.  It is an exquisite dance and when done well, they arrive on the other side safe and sound.

Let’s suppose that you are the tightrope walker.  You wake up in the morning and you step out onto the wire.  But then you realize you stepped out onto it and you had not gotten enough rest.  You remembered you had not had breakfast so didn’t know if you would have the energy to get all the way across to the other side.  But here you are.  You could stop right now and make a decision to get that extra hour of deep rest or to go and fuel yourself……or you could ignore your bodily needs and just keep going.

So off you go, a bit unsteady, but you are moving.  You are forced to be mindful about every single step and movement.  You notice your mind wanting to leap to one thing or another but you know you must stay present and focused.  At least you have a safety net underneath you in case you do lose your balance!

Now you have your momentum.  You have taken hold of your mind and your awareness and you keep moving forward.  Now with confidence.  You may need to take a back step from time to time to regain your balance but even that is part of the moving forward.

And suddenly there you are at the other end of the wire, safe and sound!

Our life IS like this.  Each day we step out on our wire.  Are you ready?  Do you know where your wire is heading?  Do you have what you need to make it?  Rested?  Fueled?  Do you have your pole?  Do you have your safety net in place?  Is your mind centered and calm?  Are you present in the moment?

This week take an inventory of your life.  Make a list of the different things that are important to you.  You may have a list that includes; family, partner, friends, work, social life, fun, creativity, spirituality, alone time, self care…………you get the idea.  After you have your list, make note of how satisfying each area is in your life.  You could use 0 to 10 scale.   0 meaning totally dissatisfied and 10 meaning completely satisfied and the rest as varying states of satisfaction.

Once you complete this second step you will see where you need to  put your attention.   In order to feel balanced in life we need variety.  The balancing act is also balancing from one aspect of our life to the other.   Some weeks we may feel we have put more time into work to complete a project.  At the end of that  we will need to re balance with family and friends, self care and rest.   Sometimes our personal lives take precedence and work and creative endeavor gets put on the back burner.  If we pay attention to our inner guidance system we will know when it is time to shift our attention back to work.

In keeping our balance there will always be movement, awareness, shifting back and forth, a step backward, steps forward, swaying side to side yet ultimately reaching the other side.   Balance is not stagnant or a straight line.

If you are in a state of overwhelm, feeling scattered, fatigue, confusion, lost you may need to step back and see where you have gotten out of balance.  Where you are putting too much energy where you are not putting enough.

The last piece I want to add is this.  It is difficult to find balance when we just have too much on our plate.   If we desire balance you may need to take a close look at what you currently have on your plate and decide what can stay and what you need to let go of.

OK!  This is an important aspect to look at in your life.  I see people who are so busy, running around all day long, scattered, frazzled…..and for what?

Ease, calm, peace, joy, fun, laughter, freedom, satisfaction…………A balanced life brings more of these.

Much love everyone!  Here’s to finding greater balance!!  mj