FEATURED INK: Balance

Life is bound to get a little hectic from time to time. There are seasons of life in which certain areas of our lives will require more attention from us than others. The idea of balance in our culture is often communicated as an expectation that we uniformly divide the competing parts of our lives into segments equal in size, like a pizza cut into eight symmetrical pieces-- an expectation that is largely unreasonable considering the fluctuating demands of our lives. 

For instance, after having a baby, the majority of one's time and energy will be poured into sustaining this new life. Balance for new parents is going to take on a different form than it would for a person working to get their business off the ground. 

Balance has less to do with the management of external circumstances than it does the maintenance of one's internal environment. The state of our internal environment determines how we perceive and thus respond to the events happening around us. If our physical, emotional and spiritual needs are satiated, we will carry with us a sense of ease that can withstand the vehemence of any storm.  

Balance, then, is about continuously pulling ourselves back to a centered state of being. We can do this by checking in with ourselves throughout the day, gaging how we are doing at any given point in time and finding ways to fulfill our needs. The more that we can stay in tune with our mental, emotional and physical states, the easier it will be for us to determine when we are out of balance and thus go about bringing ourselves back into a state of alignment.

Along the way towards a more centered state of being, let's try to forego any tendency to begrudge ourselves for failing to uphold an ideal of balance that is often incompatible with the fluctuating demands of our lives. Let's instead aim to work with, opposed to against, the seasons of life by seeking out that grounded state that will allow us to hold strong through any external challenges that come our way. 

Amanda,

Conscious Ink Staffer  

Amanda Brown is a wellness blogger and a member of the Conscious Ink Team at our home office in Bend, OR. She is passionate about helping people find peace with where they are at while pursuing their best, most fulfilling lives. For more of her work, you can head over to her blog at www.liminalwellness.com.