Balance has been very much on my mind these days.  How DO we/I create balance in our lives? At times it feels like a juggling act: balancing family, care of close ones, ones in needs, one’s body, service — locally and further afield, attention to what’s needed at home and in the wide world.  

There is also the balance between the inner and outer; the balancing of material and spiritual.   More on this later. And let us not forget the art of balancing beautiful rocks, which fills me with wonder and awe.  

Here is a section from a previous essay of mine about balance that I offer you for your reconsideration. Let’s start with a question: What are some areas of your life that could use reflection or rebalancing? How does balance figure in our Becoming, our Journey? Using rock balancing as a metaphor, some insights occur to me:

•) We can’t force balance — we must gently feel our way, being attuned to detail, and also to the big picture as we add a new piece.

•) Everything is impermanent — even when we feel as though the balance is working well, things will shift, or collapse, and we will need to begin again…

•) Change/shift/collapse can lead to frustration and anger, fear or despair.  Or we can accept or even welcome the destruction of the old, and build anew.  The choice is always ours.

•) Each particular arrangement has its own beauty and gifts — this could mean the different balances we strike at various times in our lives, or the various lives different people live… We can celebrate the angles, the whole and the constituent parts… as they shift and change.

•) Sometimes we don’t/can’t create our balance alone: we must, or have the opportunity to, take others, and the context, into account as we seek to establish our balance.

•) It takes patience and sensitivity to establish balance — with rocks, or in life — and a puff of wind, or slight shake up can undo all the effort in an instant…and we can give up, or begin again!

A highlight is this stunning video of rock-balancing master, Pontus Jansson!

Another piece is that I wanted to share, apropos balance, is from a Daily Om issue, called Earthbound about the difference between our limited physicality on our infinite, conscious, aware, spirit.  It speaks to a deep part of our question: How do we create balance in our lives?

Here an excerpt I like:  “Striking the right balance between our physical and spiritual aspects is one of the most challenging aspects of existence. We are dual beings by nature, spiritual entities bound to earth by physical bodies. In our lifetimes, we are charged with the duty of nurturing and tending both with equal devotion and love. Yet while both aspects of the self are deserving of honor and respect, there is a tendency for people who are more spiritually focused to ignore, avoid, or dismiss their bodies. Similarly, many individuals are entirely ensconced in the carnal realm and pay no attention to the needs of the soul. In both cases, an adjustment is in order. We are whole only to the degree that we embrace both sides of our beings.”

I’d love to know what you are balancing these days. We are in this together this amazing journey.

Jill Schroder is the author of BECOMING: Journeying Toward Authenticity.  BECOMING is an invitation for self-reflection, and to mine our memorable moments for insights, meaning, andgrowth.  Check the website for a sample chapter, or see the reviews to get a flavor for the volume.  Follow me on Twitter, let’s be friends on Facebook  🙂