Balance
Sarah Denholm

The Chinese word for 'busy' consists of two symbols: one is the
human heart - the other, death. I take this to mean that when
one is excessively busy, the heart is insensible, frozen. In a
world where busyness is held up almost as a virtue, especially
in business, I'd like to take a look at coming back into balance.
It's a big topic, and one I'll return to over time.

We hear a lot nowadays about work/lifestyle balance; today I'm asking, what does a balanced life look like to you?

Balance: there are various definitions in dictionaries depending
on context, but one that I particularly like describes it as
"harmony and proportion".
Perhaps these words resonate particularly with me given my
original training as a musician, but with their overtones of
unity and spaciousness I feel that these are virtues that most of
us could do with more of in our lives.

Balance is about feeling connected to ourselves and others, and a
sense of rhythm and flow between mind, body and spirit. It's
about being flexible - having awareness about what's going on for
you at any given time, and equally important, having the ability
to respond to the messages that you're receiving, bringing you back into harmony.

If you think about it, when we balance on something, we're always
moving as we seek to remain in equilibrium: think of the
tightrope walker, and how he adjusts his position on the rope
continuously in order to remain upright.
Likewise in nature; the universe is always seeking equilibrium:
think of our bodies and homeostasis, the means by which the
internal systems of the body (e.g. blood pressure, body
temperature) are maintained, despite possibly extreme variations
in external conditions; also the way in which as cells die in a
healthy person they are replaced by exactly the same number.
We don't have to think about these bodily processes, but constant
awareness of our thoughts is required to create mental and physical balance.

Today I'm going to give you two very different time-frames in
which to consider what balance means to you: one may feel more
appropriate to you right now than the other.

There's moment to moment mindfulness, where you might choose to
observe your thought processes at various points during the day
(perhaps using an external trigger such as when you put down the
telephone after a call, or you hear the next door neighbor's dog
barking; whatever it is, make the trigger something that occurs
regularly during your day)....
As you observe your thoughts, see if you can let them go and
become aware of what is happening within your own body; you might
like to incorporate this with breathing in and out slowly a few
times, and saying a statement to yourself that you find calming
and centering: an example might be: "I am in control of my life"
or "life flows easily for me".

Another suggestion for "in the moment" mindfulness is to choose
an activity that you do on a regular basis and that you consider
a chore, and see if you can, by coming into the present moment,
alter your experience of it, as an active meditation.
If you hate washing up, for example, see if you can become highly
aware of the heat of the water, the sound that the dishes make as
you clean them, how the plates shine after they've been buffed.
Breathe, and feel the calm and balance that comes with mindful activity.

The other method is to take the 'big picture' view. Balance
doesn't have to be about compartmentalizing the different areas
of your life: indeed, trying to see these areas in terms of
symmetry and allocation of percentage points (e.g. work life 22%,
social time 15% etc) can cause more stress than it cures!
There will always be times when we're out of balance, if we're
dealing with a sick parent or child, or a deadline at work for
example, but in general, some questions to ask yourself are these: