Don’t worry about staying balanced, just keep yourself grounded
Life feels a little out of balance — and that’s fine by me. It’s often like this.
I’m busy. Engaged. Got lots of interesting things going on. Right now, I’m running in different directions, trying to finish last minute deadlines, and pay the bills and get the groceries, and make it to my kid’s school to volunteer. I’m moving in many different directions during the day. Sometimes it’s all about work, sometimes it’s all about parenting my daughter, always it’s a mish-mash of all the things that I love.
Doing all this stuff used to really stress me out. Sometimes it still does, but rarely, because even when life feels a little unbalanced, I am grounded. Rooted in myself and living with passion. This wasn’t always the case.
I spent many years of my life trying to balance it all, family and work, money with material needs and desires, activity with rest. I never did it very well and I felt stressed and bad about myself that I somehow couldn’t find the magic to live a calm and settled life. Now, I know you can have peace even when you are busy.
Life is fluid and flexible and in that way I don’t expect things will ever be in perfect balance. Some days my family needs more nurturing and attention, other days work gets my energy. Some days I exercise, some days I don’t. Same with meditation. But it all gets done eventually and the pendulum of participation swings back and forth.
I no longer have a need for balance, what I’m going for is groundedness. Whatever I’m doing I work to maintain my spiritual connection, a sense of self. So even when life feels hectic or overwhelming, I have some place to go, I turn inside to my source. That reminds me of who I am and what I value. Being grounded means you never get too caught up in Ego or concern about what others are thinking. You don’t become overly attached to outside expectations. You maintain a bit of perspective even when looking at the long to do list.
Sure, you may still experience stress, or overwhelm, sometimes feelings of insecurity. But you can become aware in these moments, take a breath and find your way back to yourself before you get too caught up in the hard stuff. I have been doing this a lot this week – regrounding myself during stressful moments. When you do that, you will find peace.
This time of year, when we are bombarded with boldness and activity and emotion and demands it’s a good time to practice this sense of groundedness. On Wednesday I’ll give you some practical, in-the-moment tips that will help you do it. But, for now, put your feet flat on the floor, cross your arms and reach around until your hands are resting near your shoulders and give a little hug. Sit like this for a moment. Take a deep breath and feel your heart beat.
Sound a little goofy? Yes, but I’ve become a fan of this practice because when we connect to ourselves in a physical way like this, our bodies react by releasing oxytocin, which prompts us to be more nurturing. And when we care for ourselves with a little compassion, we that kindle our inner spark and we become grounded in spirit.
That helps us to stay connected to our essence even when the world seems crazily out of balance. It allows you to find peace amidst the chaos and that makes every moment a little easier to bear.
Image by: Stock.xchng
