Balance

 Balance 

How do we achieve the fine balance that exists between work and all the responsibilities that accompany the home? How can we experience the delicate balance between mind and body? Balance is supposed to be the natural state of our body and our world. Then why is it so hard to stay balanced? And what is the medicine or method that will bring us back to balance?

    The human body has the incredible ability to repair and heal itself given the right circumstances. All we have to do to self-heal is to remove the sources of disease, namely stress and toxins. Easier said than done. A stressor can be anything that makes us anxious, upset, or worried. Tension whether its from our job or the people in our life is a common stressor that we have all experienced. These stressors and our mental and emotional responses triggered by stress manifest into our physical bodies through pain, sickness, and in prolonged cases diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and even cancer. 

Like stress, toxins have the same harmful effect on the body and mind. Toxins can be in the form of food as well as pollution. Maintaining a generally healthy diet consisting of whole foods containing essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants help to keep the body strong and resistant to external toxins. It sounds simple right? Avoid processed foods containing large amounts of sugar, salt and hydrogenated fats. Exercise to relieve stress, and sleep by 10pm to assure that the body receives adequate rest. Are you laughing or rolling your eyes yet? 

These tips sound good on paper, but we all know that life and how we deal with challenges and obstacles is never so simple. Like many of you, I often find myself overwhelmed and worn out at times trying to juggle everything from work to kids, and there never seems enough time to relax. The realistic approach may not be the perfect one, but it seems that de-toxifying or de-stressing ourselves altogether may be impossible in the hectic world we live in, but even small changes can have positively lasting effects. 

Let’s begin our journey to balancing ourselves by taking small baby steps. For example, if you’re juggling multiple things and feeling overwhelmed, the simplest thing to do is to really drop one ball. Drop one thing- not indefinitely, but temporarily. This way, the things that take priority won’t tire you out as much. Schedule time for yourself. It is really the only way you will ever have time for yourself, if you make an appointment and know you can’t back out- go get that massage or whatever it is that relaxes you. Our diets can’t always be perfect, so it’s okay to give in to our cravings and indulge, but just try to make it twice a week rather than everyday. The rest of the week try your best to eat as healthy as possible, and drink lots of water. Don’t stress! I know it’s easy for me to say, but very difficult to do. A friend told me once that it’s okay to worry about things a little, but turn the dial down a little especially if it’s not a life-death situation. We tend to over stress about things, and sometimes make little worries big ones. I thought that was great advice on how to put problems into perspective, and perhaps decrease our stress if not remove it altogether. 

Until the mind is relaxed, the body cannot rest. This mind body connection is delicate, but with continued self-care and awareness and avoidance of triggers that cause stress, we are able to achieve balance. A balanced mind and body is the source of positive energy, and this positivity flows into our world. I don’t know if our world, plagued with pollution and disease can ever be balanced, but we can begin with ourselves, one by one.