What is Balance?

                       

Wholeness comes with balance, and balance seems to be that type of existence that I am constantly striving for.

And because so much of my life is spent trying to hang out in this space of balance, having observed that my wholeness is dependent upon it, my posts will come back to this topic often.

I used to think balance meant that things had to be equal to be balanced, just like on a balance scale. Now, I tend to see balance being like an infinity symbol.  

(In my previous post, I talked about Receiving and Giving, so I will use that as an example).

As I mentioned in my post about receiving and giving, what I receive will affect what I give; What I give creates space to receive more, and the cycle repeats over and over again. There are days I give a lot of time and energy to others, and there are days when my body, mind and spirit beg me to do some receiving and self-care. I could spend three days in the receiving space, and one day in giving. In the end, it doesn’t matter if I make things exactly equal in time or quantity. What matters is that there is a flow. It looks different every day, and there are layers within layers, balance playing out in different areas of my life at the same time.  

Balance is a flow. This is key. It is ever changing and moving within a given space.

And do you know what also exists in balance? Abundance!

(There will be another post on Abundance at some point, so stay tuned).

I don’t know about you, but not only do I desire wholeness in life, but I also desire an abundant life! And it can all be found within balance.  

Look at the picture of the connected pools of water at the beginning of this post. A pool near the top receives its fill of water and keeps receiving more water. As it is receiving, it gives to the next pool while staying full itself (this is abundance). In that giving, the next pool receives its fill and then gives to the next pool after that, and so on and so forth. No pool lacks. All pools have enough AND to spare.

Imagine with me for a moment, a community or group of people that all exist in this balance of receiving and giving. There would be no lack! There would be no poor! All would be filled in their receiving, and have a surplus to keep giving to each other!

This type of living tends to be easier to talk about than to live, isn’t it? There is always need out there and some of us feel like we don’t have the time or energy to receive in-between meeting needs, and then we are told we must always put others first in order to be a good person. There are too many demands that keep us giving more and more each day, building upon the expectations that service to others and productivity is the measure of our success. But are these things actually true??

I know that for me, I am out of balance when I have been giving from my metaphorical pool of water without realizing that I have cut off the receiving flow. I get caught up in all the things on my check-list, I feel burnt out, overwhelmed, resentful, and really stressed. I want to run away from all people and responsibilities. I feel a lack because I am not full. It isn’t until I finally get to the point of allowing myself to receive what I need that my pool gets filled again and I start overflowing with water to give.

I am learning to more quickly catch those moments where I am draining buckets of water from my pool and the flow from receiving has stopped. I am learning what it looks like and feels like, so that I can set the bucket down, correct my receiving flow and get back to balance. I often ask myself:

• What am I able to give today because I first received?
• If I am feeling run down and struggling to show up for others, what am I receiving for myself today? 
• Am I wanting to give more? Then how can I increase my receiving capacities?
• What am I afraid of that is getting in the way of my flow? 
• Am I willing to spend time in receiving?

Not only have I learned more of what balance and imbalance feels like for me, I have also had the opportunity to identify why receiving can be hard, why I feel the need to give more than is balanced for me, and why receiving can be considered “selfish” by others (I will be redefining what “selfish” is at some point). All this inquiry has been very eye-opening for me and caused me to shift my perspective. It has been good for my soul!

Balance really is the name of the game, so to speak, and there will be more thoughts to be shared later. Guaranteed 😉