What Is Balance?
Why do you believe balance in our lives is the key to whole health?
Balance and health are both loaded words in our culture. We are looking for health in the long term but we also want quick fixes but the value of slow, steady, small steps is often overlooked. While it might not be as appealing as a fad diet, the kind of work that builds on itself is what leads to sustainable and long term change.
True healing comes from The Body Within. The Body Within - it is the true essence of who you are.
What Is Balance?
Balance is a healthy state of being. It is calm, neutral, fresh. The best gift we can give ourselves is a fresh start every day. However, for most of us we are busy bodies and have many different avenues in our lives that could use daily balancing. For instance, nutrition is a big one for the majority of us, with the “on the go” lifestyle most of us lead, our nutrition tends to suffer because we turn to fast food, sugary treats, quick meal replacements, supplements or not eating at all.
Stress, worry, and anxiousness are challenging life events that weaken or block energy creating an imbalance that can lead to a variety of mental, emotional and physical distresses. Have you ever heard a little voice telling you what to do? But you push it aside or ignore it completely? That is your Body Within trying to get your attention.
What Creates Balance?
Balance is created by getting to know your behaviors and patterns when it comes to nutrition, sleep, controlling your mind, and connecting to your Body Within; A successful juggling act. Learning to use your Body Within is your way to intuitively feel and understand when you are out of balance.
When a person’s energy flows freely, body, mind and spirit are in balance and able to “right” themselves when life becomes difficult.
When you are in balance you will feel a sense of well-being, peace and mental clarity. This impacts everything from sleep, nutrition, and your overall mind. Connecting to your Body Within is key to creating balance
What Is The Impact Of Not Being In Balance?
If you are not in balance, that can impact your sleep. If you are tired, you experience mental fog, delayed reactions, forgetfulness, you make quick decisions on what to eat instead of planning ahead. This is one example of how you can be impacted on a daily basis with your energy being out of balance.
The body is a unit of function meaning that mind, body and spirit are interconnected and interdependent, and are in a constantly changing and evolving state. Maintaining balance is unique in that it addresses and treats all aspects of this unit at the same time!
Do you ever wonder why certain physical symptoms tend to persist no matter what you do? The ability to identify the various factors that have been creating the symptom and holding it in place, will give you the edge in finally dispersing the pattern - THAT is tapping in and listening to your Body Within.
The value of doing this is you giving yourself a conscious choice to improve your areas of imbalance; Your sleep, your mental state, your diet, etc. You may succeed only 50% of the time in the beginning but as time goes on you are changing an unbalanced pattern.
The Power Of Habit:
The best habit to establish is checking in everyday while learning to identify when you are in or out of balance. Now comes daily check in. More importantly, you are becoming aware of you patterns and learning to choose to accept or change them. Once you learn to identify them, you’ll see that you make choices that are more beneficial more often than not because the power of awareness is now in your hands.
By not checking in or choosing to correct imbalances, nothing ever changes, and the dysfunction continues. I refer in another blog about the accumulating disharmony that happens when we are in a recurring state of imbalance. Over time, do you agree that the outcome will be the same if we follow suit with our nutrition?
Your Daily Check In:
If you want to make this a subconscious habit instead of a daily dread (no one likes to fail) - I suggest doing a daily check in. Maybe you do it when you brush your teeth, wash the dishes, check the mail, or drive your kids to school - but your daily check in will jumpstart your routine and help evaluate your daily choices with awareness instead of judgement or shame.
The result? Long lasting results! Simple questions to ask would be:
Overall:
Ask yourself questions like -
NUTRITION: How is my nutrition? Is my diet working with me or against me? Did I shame myself for my choices? How can I prepare myself to do something different tomorrow?
MOVEMENT: Did I get enough exercise? Do I feel bad about that? How can I move my body for 10 more minutes tomorrow?
STRESS: Where’s my stress level at today? What helps me manage stress? What are my blocks to making those things part of my daily routine?
SLEEP: Did I sleep enough? What is enough sleep for me? What habits can I start before bed to help me get better sleep?
Mind:
Check in with your thoughts:
Are they scattered more than usual? Are you focused?
Did you get your “to do” list done today? Write it down to help you keep track of your thoughts.
Was there anything that impacted your balance? Stress, trauma, grief, etc. What can you do to acknowledge or release those feelings? Walk to the mailbox, go to yoga, take 10 breaths alone in the closet, etc.
What can I do to reset my mind? How can I take more quiet time to help refocus?
Body:
Do a body scan:
Were you connecting with your Body Within for the answers to what is ailing your Body and Mind?
Did you find yourself having any intuitive moments during the day alerting you to make changes you might have ignored before?
Are you listening to them now?
Are you taking time to meditate, to aid in rebalancing your personal energy, focus, thoughts, etc?
Living a life striving for balance is the missing piece to health and aging gracefully.