Is BALANCE a 4-letter word?

We are in the middle of a late evening yoga class, and I’m watching a dozen of students precariously balancing on one foot with their eyes closed. I deeply admire their courage: for most of us it takes a lot of guts to try something unfamiliar, especially if that something creates a sense of instability. Students in this class are no ordinary bunch, though; many of them have had their knees replaced, ankles fused, and backs operated on. Many of them live with persistent pain that can easily hijack one’s sense of balance and coordination, amongst other things. Yet here they are, one by one, let go of the wall and…. BALANCE!

November is FIND YER [BALANCE] month at Satori.

As you know, my problem-solving usually goes in a roundabout way, so this month we’ll take a peek at finding work-life balance, and use “Eyes Shut” protocol to improve our posture AND coordination. I’m also hoping that by the time you finished reading this, “balance” is a 4-letter word in your books, too.

Have you ever tried to find a balance between work and life?

This, of course, is more of a rhetorical question, for just about every person I meet on a yoga mat or a meditation cushion cites lack of work – life balance as their main reason for landing on the aforementioned yoga mat or meditation cushion.

[bctt tweet=”What if the work-life balance we are all so busy chasing doesn’t exist? “]

Personally, I fall into that very same category… I have forever tried balancing the two – “tried” being the key operational word here. My challenge is, of course, compounded by the fact that I work for myself (which basically means that I can work indefinitely and still not finish whatever all has to get done, and the work is always, ALWAYS, on my mind), and also because I am a high-strung perfectionalist. Apparently, I live for challenges.

Finally, when I got frustrated enough by trying and not getting anywhere, I decided to shine a mindful light on the thinking behind my trying – mindfulness can work in mysterious ways…

Here’s what I’ve discovered: whenever I worked, I’d be thinking about life things; and when I did the life things, work was usually on my mind. More than that: I perceived balance as a still line (or a fence, if you wish) – static, well – established and non-changing. Work was always on this side of that fence, and the rest of my life – on the other. Nothing, of course, the matter with that situation, unless you are want to be present and fully attentive to what you are doing right in this moment….

If you know me, you know where I took my frustration… And as I walked, I was suddenly very well aware that NATURE doesn’t operate in terms of static balance – in NATURE nothing is ever still (even if it looks that way) – it is more of a constant ebb and flow.

I love applying NATURE’s concepts to human predicament – as much as we’ve managed to convince ourselves otherwise, we, humans, are still a part of NATURE.

What if the static work-life balance we are all so busy chasing doesn’t exist?

[bctt tweet=”What if health +happiness is the matter of finding your RHYTHM and FLOW? “]

I would love to hear from you! Share your BALANCE vs FLOW thoughts + comments here.

OR, jump over to Satori FB page – after all, I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t give you some science data to back up my FLOW discovery.