THE BALANCED LIFE

THE BALANCED LIFE

You don’t need to be spiritual to live a balanced or an unbalanced life.

On a scale of 0 (unsatisfactory) to 10 (very satisfactory) you can rate your current status. Choose your own categories; but they may include: work / career, family, relationship / love, sport, hobbies, fitness, health, friends, spirituality, travel, art / creativity, finances etc.

Draw a circle with some spokes (like a wheel) from the centre to the edge. At the end of each spoke write one of the chosen categories. The centre of the wheel represents your zero, unsatisfactory rating. The rim represents your ten, the very satisfactory.

Now plot you scores onto the spokes of the wheel and join the dots. A workaholic who rarely sees the family, or who has no time for relationships might rate career at 9 and family, or relationship at 2. Someone out of work, but who has time to meditate and do yoga each day may rate career 0 and spirituality 9.

The lines between the dots show the shape of your wheel, your present moment life balance. Would your wheel roll down the road, or stop?

It is important to focus on your present moment life balance, and address any imbalance. It could improve your health as well as bringing necessary balance.

How did you rate your spirituality? 1 or 2 because you are frustrated, can’t find the time, or don’t know how to progress? Or 8 or 9 because you live and breathe it, despite other calls on your time and energy?

It is easy to put spirituality into little boxes, the one-hour yoga class, and the weekly meditation group. Then you get on with your life until the next spiritual appointment in your diary. You are probably the one who made a low score on the wheel, and you see spirituality as another activity to find time for.

Or you make the decision to act like the spiritual being that you are (or want to be), living this human experience. Wake up a few minutes earlier in the morning if necessary and develop a routine, for example:

Make four rounds of the yoga surya namaskar (sun salutation) and follow it with ten minutes of meditation, before you put the kettle or the computer on.

Then throughout the day think LOVE to all, and everything, smile at people, say good morning to strangers, pick up some discarded drink bottle and put it in the recycling bin, take a few deep breaths, connect with nature, even if you can only make loving touch with a tree outside the office.

Be CONSCIOUS about all aspects of the day. Spiritualiy is consciousness and awareness.

Consider what really matters, what is really important. Focus your energies on what needs doing, in a conscious way. Treat the people around you in a conscious loving way.

Speak using positive words and statements. Avoid negative words,

Instead of “s**t, there’s no coffee”, say, “We need more coffee”.

When asked how you are, reply, “great thanks”, even if you don’t feel it. It raises the whole vibration and positivity in the home, or in the workplace. “Not bad” or “could be worse” drops the whole vibration. Be the shining light in your people group and the others will respond. Diplomatically, you can even encourage the others to do the same. Become, discreetly, the spiritual leader. Avoid becoming the spiritual bore.

Very few people are truly in balance, all of the time. Compare with a yachtsman steering his yacht across the sea. The desired destination may lie ahead on a compass course of 090 degrees, due east. When he concentrates, the bow will follow that average course but may move between 085 degrees and 095 degrees. When he gets tired, or distracted, the course may vary between 070 degrees and 110 degrees. The yacht will still reach the destination, but will take longer and get there in a less efficient way.

So are you on course today, and focussed, or are you distracted and keep deviating from the course?

There are extremes in spirituality of course. You may choose to take an intensive three-month retreat in an ashram, and ignore the world outside, or take some similar time out on your own in nature. Identify and live your truth. Over time you will develop different perspectives, and you will create the new balance that suits the new you. In fact some time out to find yourself, or to get to know yourself, is a worthwhile part of the spiritual journey.

Think yin and yang, think balance, be balanced.

Copyright

David Millner

August 2010