Thoughts on Busyness and Balance

There is never a good time to do anything. On top of the website changes and with many covid-19 restrictions lifted, I have been teaching a lot more in-person classes this quarter. The combination of more in-person classes and doing a major update on my website has been challenging. It reminds me of that saying about how it is never a good time to get married or fall in love or start a business or update your website or move to a new house or apartment. Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans, and change is hard. I have experienced the work-life balance challenge over and over. Let’s just say I have not done a lot of stargazing this quarter. But I share an observation about work-life balance, which is this. If you really get life-work balance right, it is a matter of sustaining current patterns and systems, what you might call maintaining the status quo. No small feat. This is great, but it can be boring, because it is not interesting or challenging. In contrast, when you are at the edge of your abilities and biting off more than you can chew and taking risks, there is excitement, for sure; but more importantly there is a high probability of learning. So, I humbly say that I have been learning new things every day, everything from learning the ins and outs of new software and designing new systems to finding new ways to practice mind-body arts to keep my mind and body strong. I have not gotten everything right, and there have been times when the mind and body have been at war, and the emotions have churned, and stress has bent my body and bewildered my mind. I have needed to rely on my energy management skills a lot to protect my energy and make peace every night. It is a long game. What I can say is that the tools, the breathing practices, the gentle movement, the mind-watching — all of these things work to keep your emotions, your mind fixed on the things in your life that are working and sustaining you. I have been reminded over and over that you don’t want to go to bed with the idea that you have not done enough at the end of the day. Taking a moment each night to shut off the devices and read a book that inspires you before drifting off to sleep helps a lot. This amounts to stopping, pausing, and remembering that life was absolutely full that day with its challenges and its little joys. Every human being certainly has a right to suffer and struggle, but may that struggle lead to learning new things and making the necessary adjustments as often as needed to find a way back to peace and harmony. So, use a conscious moment to remind yourself that, yes, you do enough and are enough every day and each time you renew your commitment to the light of love and awareness.

It is a practice very much worth doing!