Ep 09: Digging Deeper into what purpose & balance really are

What is balance truly? And how do we obtain it? Is it a perfect state of being, where nothing ever goes wrong? 

I don’t think it is. When I think of balance, I think of it as a rhythm or cycle, where we are in a constant state of change. In my mind, I have an image of a pendulum swinging left and right. In one direction is activity and creativity (let’s say its the right side) and on the other is rest and introspection (and we will say this is the left).

As the pendulum swings to the right, at the peak, just before it starts to descend again is a moment of weightlessness. It is effortless at that moment to be in that energy. On the right, everything is firing, adrenaline is pumping, action and creativity are happening and it feels really good.

Now at the apex of the left side, it too has a moment of weightlessness where it is effortless and bliss to stay in the energy of rest and introspection.

They both feel good…. Because they are BOTH good for us…. BUT there is only a moment of weightlessness before the momentum shifts to going back in the other direction. If we choose to stay at the apex of the left or right, it will take effort and energy to hold yourself there, resulting in a negative outcome.

For example, if we stay too long in the energy of the right side (action and creativity), we become overstimulated and unable to create anything of quality, eventually leading to hyper-emotional states like anxiety. And if we stay in the energy of the left side (rest and introspection) we can become lazy and detached and our mood can drop into feelings of hopelessness and depression.

So while it is extremely tempting to stay on one end or the other, the pendulum is always seeking balance and if we flow with it, we will find a balance of activity and rest that works well for us. (Because everyone has a different balance of how much rest vs activity they require).

My point in giving you this analogy, is so you can give yourself a break from chasing that perfect ideal. If you feel like you are forever adjusting your course in an attempt to energise yourself through activity and then pulling back for rest, then you are most likely doing a really good job.

Awareness is the key and just the same as how a toddler learning to walk, finds herself wobbling and making big adjustments in order to balance on two legs, we do the same with our energy balance. But as the toddler practices, pretty soon, she is able to stand so still that you wouldn’t even know that her muscles are making slight adjustments, constantly, to ensure she stays up straight. In this same way, we will also improve our ability to tack back and forth, clumsy at first but improving as time passes, as we follow the pendulum from activity to rest and vise versa.