There is no feeling more solid than feeling balanced. Balance can be literal and physical as in balanced on our feet, balanced in a chair, balanced on a floor or the ground outside. Balance can be mental and psychological, not just the sense of feeling well or at ease, but also knowing that we can handle stresses when they arise. Balance can be spiritual, an inner knowing that we are open to what is beyond our immediate senses, that the Beyond communicates to us, that we are working with that kind of interior communion in our lives.
Balance is not about perfection, but balance does create stability for us, within us, and to some extent around us, touching others in our spheres of influence. Foundations of any sort must be balanced. If the foundation of a house or building is off balance, the building that sits on it will, over time, begin to slide off the foundation and crumble, drawn ever so slowly by the constant force of gravity. Balance and foundations go hand in hand. They are a counter to the force of gravity.
On this first full day of the Spring Equinox, one of two days in the year when day and night are equally in balance, the midpoint now between deepest winter and hottest summer, how are you creating balance in your life? Without question, we all encounter “gravity” in our lives, both the literal kind as well as the other forces that pull and draw us toward some mass. Those “gravities” will always be there, and they will slowly have their effect on us. Balance is the counter to them.
Physical exercises and practices (yoga, tai chi, running, weight lifting, stretching), mental exercises and practices (learning something new like a second language, puzzles, reading, mindfulness practices of all sorts), and spiritual practices (meditation, prayer, service to others, painting, writing, knitting and other forms of creativity) all invite us toward balance. Let this day of balance in the Earth invite us to ponder and reflect on the balance in our lives.
Bob Patrick
