" Balance ... "

" Just open your eyes,
And realize, the way it's always been.
Just open your mind
And you will find
The way it's always been.
Just open your heart
And that's a start ...

And he felt the earth to his spine,
And he asked, and he saw the tree above him, and the stars,
And the veins in the leaf,
And the light, and the balance ..."

~ The Moody Blues ~ Balance ~

***

Finding balance in life ... is it a myth or obtainable?  Well for something to be out of balance, there must have first been a balancing point.  Therefore, whatever is out of balance can be rebalanced ~ obtainable.  Just as we all have a breaking point, we all have the ability to find our balancing point.  

Our balance point comes from expressing our truth in our life.  One approach is to rid ourselves of the emotions and situations that caused initially caused the imbalance.  Yet it may be unrealistic to assume that a magic wand can be waved to bring things back into that balancing point ... many imbalances occur slowly over many years.  Inner balance is a sense of well-being ... a feeling of contentment and peace, as it should be and calmness.  Ironically, everything is always as it should be, even when we are facing difficult situations.  

So start by taking responsibility of yourself ... the key to finding balance.  To accept full responsibility for how you are feeling, what you are thinking and what you are doing.  Balance comes from YOU.  It is important to not confuse comfort with balance ... others can advise, support and encourage but you keep you in balance, and you allow this for yourself.  So it makes sense the next thought is to quit taking responsibility for others.  Stop taking on everyone else's problems.  At times, this can be a detriment to your well-being.  Again, remember help, advice, assistance, compassion and understanding can be given freely, but when other peoples issues take over your life, you need to take a step back.  This will help them learn how to be responsible for themselves.  

When you feel balanced, stepping forward in your life isn't dating.  You have complete trust in yourself.  You become fully acknowledged in those things that throw you out of balance, preparing you for the next time you encounter them.  It is not an easy task but once you do, you can take ownership of it and then it is yours to re-balance.  If it helps, you can start by writing down an imbalance list ... everything which you feel is bringing you down.  And recognize if you start blaming others or feel stuck with some items, you are not taking responsibility.

It takes commitment from ourselves to re-balance.  Consistent effort.  And as soon as we think we've dealt with and worked through all of our triggers, something else comes along which bowls us over and knocks us out of sync again.  But if practice the above, we will find it easier to recover from these as they occur and recovering from the same knocks will take less time ... eventually our foundations are solid and we can react from a point of balance, the ultimate goal.

"Roam ... "

"roam if you want to 
roam around the world
roam if you want to
without wings, without wheels
roam if you want to
roam around the world
roam if you want to
without anything but the love we feel"

~ The B-52s ~ Roam ~

***

Recently, I came across a great article about "the cost of Roaming" ~ The compulsive checking of messages, staying connected because we are afraid of missing out, or answering a late-night work email because it makes us feel needed.  This can be powerful distractions from knowing ourselves.  I realized that prior to my diagnosis, that was me.  I worked hard, very hard and took pride in telling others " I am sooo busy, I work 60 hour weeks, etc...".  I always seemed connected to some form of technology.  And all of my gadgets and tech toys tempted me with endless stimuli that invited my attention to go off in a million scattered directions at once.  If you need to get a hold of me, no worries, just try my hand held device, or my laptop, or my pager or my .... and it goes on.  

We can avoid the roaming charge or "the emotional or psychic cost connected with the distraction and expectation associated with that phone, wherever and whenever it might be ringing - by remaining as attuned to your inner technologies as you are to your outer ones".  It can be a challenge to maintain inner calm in a world of constant connection, yet I have had the opportunity to practice perfect this during my therapy and it has been essential for my well-being.  Wisdom practices such as yoga and meditation, have allowed me to set matters aside, cut myself loose from my ego, and experience freedom from external affirmations and influences ... like breaking free from rapid-fire tweet and measuring my popularity from facebook likes ~ yes, we don't need our smartphones to discover nirvana, what a relief!

It definitely takes discipline ... we all have the urge to just check that email or message ... but introspective wisdom practices will result in higher productivity, greater inspiration, and increased creativity.  It allows us to maintain presence and inner connection in a world designed to pull us in every waking moment outside of ourselves.  We can live with the latest technology and still have a connected inner life.  Perhaps next time let your voicemail take that call, let your email go unanswered and evaluate your relationship with technology instead of blaming it when you feel distracted.  Feel the shift as it may be the next new wave of inner technology you may just be looking for.