When I begin to change in some way my sense of self, my stability of what is and is not starts to tip in one direction or another like a old fashion scale with weighing trays. What happens when the scale gets tipped one way or the other? For me, I end up getting in a mode of thinking that leads me into some kind of troubling out come. This could be explained in having either a lack of confidence or a great deal of confidence. One might lead to depression, one might lead to hurting others because of a disregard for their feelings. What are some examples that you see played out in your own life? There are as many as the breathes that we take, though it is not something we always think about, so taking your time to write one down might help you begin to see how this plays out in your own life.
In order to live to the fullest within our changing nature, I have learned that it is like walking a tight rope where shifting my weight to fully on the self confidence side or the lack of self confidence side can be trouble. I find that there is trouble with either extreme, like depression vs. egotism, and it is a sense of compromise that exists in the center where I feel the most at peace, the most myself. Finally, the war between one force of right and the other or an entire different and opposite sense of right have set down their arms, and have agreed to let each other live their lives as they would be in mutual consideration of each other. It is very much like the conflicts that I see acted out in my everyday life between myself and another who may have a disagreement, but we learn to live together in a way that allows favorable conditions for us both. When have you had a personal experience like this within yourself or with another? How did you come to a compromise? For me, each time, each situation has its own solutions that are never final but rather based on the changing needs of each side ins the conflict.
My answer then to the need for there to be balance in my life exists in my need to feel a sense of peace and stability. Where do your own needs lye in this every changing world that may seem to always be in conflict between the old and the new, the right and the wrong, etc? My path leads down peace and equanimity it seems from all that I have experienced in my life, everything else seems like to much of a roller coaster ride to me, and I have naturally come to a place in my life where conflict seems minimal compared to what I have learned it could be if it had gone down another path. I have experienced what in my mind was extreme happiness and suffering, and both have created problems for me in the long run. It is not that I have learned a way to eliminate pleasure and pain from my life, or somehow go against nature. What I have found is that there are attachments that I have formed which cause happiness and suffering, which can lead to foolishness or seriousness, which could lead to egotism and depression. In the short run these experiences have lead me to wise insights and empathy for others, but in the long run they can be self destructive. This is why I have a need to come back to a sense of balance and peace, essentially resting the story of my life, which gets confusing and difficult to manage the longer it plays out. Are there story lines in your own life that have become a bit too much, and are causing problems for you? How might you begin to rest back to a balanced life?
Until next time...
May everything in your life come to the balance that you need moment to moment.
Much wellness in mind, body, and spirit to you, my friend!
-Aaron :-)