Balancing Thoughts

by Stephanie F. Earls

Life is about balance. In yoga we balance ourselves physically by practicing postures on both sides of our body. In many postures we find balance by locating our center. Sometimes we fall.  But it's not that we failed, we just got some information about where exactly our center, our balance, resides. Our body tells us "hey, you went to far there" or "oh, that feels perfect, hold this now".

And what about balancing the mind?

When things are tough do we resign ourselves to sad thinking? Do we "fall" into a black hole, feeling despair and making our lives an all or nothing based on a dark perspecitve?  Or do we realize we are just getting information?

We've all been in the "fall"...going through stuff (I'd put another "s" word here but I promised my kids I'd stop using it...) and we start to spiral down thinking about all the things that have gone wrong and how there must be some big dark cloud around us attracting more of the same.  It can get compounded by what we hear and see around us. This week I learned of a friend's son who lost half his body in Afghanistan and then the news of this crazy guy in Arizona. We all feel the collective weight of things out of our control.

This stuff, whether personal or global, gets in our face and sucks our attention away from the miracles and quiet sweetness that happen everyday. It's a trick of the ego, personal or collective, trying to get our attention and hold us back. We have to stay balanced.

Let's keep ourselves pliable and growing. If we fall a little into a dark spiral, we have to admit we're in it and it does not feel good. There is no benefit in denying that it broke our hearts to hear troubling news. But then remember that how we feel will change like all things do. And it does not own us.

Sometimes we easily jump into the "everything sucks" place but, how often, when things feel happy, calm (sometimes mistaken for mundane), joyful, or abundant  do we do that exact same thing and jump into the "EVERYTHING IS FREAKIN' AWESOME" place?  How often do we create an all or nothing out of a good day? If we are going to go to extremes with our thinking, why not do it on the happy end?

How often do we spend time watching people on tv talk about all the joy and kindness in the world? How much stop and listen do we do when things are good?  I have a hunch we all listen and rejoice and celebrate the small triumphs in each other's lives quite a bit. It might not get news attention, but it gets our attention.  We move through our days, honoring stories of the amazing midwife who helped a friend birth their baby... Or the doctor who stood by a patient through way more in life than one could ask... Or the grandparent who gave up a day at work to make cookies with their grandchild... Or the father whose brain tumor healed by his own strength and the power of prayer... Or the teacher who makes each student feel like part of her family. These are everyday miracles that go un-talked about in mass media but they are our everyday and they far outweigh the craziness in the world.  These examples are what is.

Even if just in our own hearts and minds, let's make mountains out of these everyday beauties so that when crazy pops up we do not disintegrate our well being and our peace of mind.

Let's balance.

Try this if you notice yourself going to the "everything sucks" mode when you have a bad day... the next time something feels sweet, go to the "everything is freakin' awesome" mode.  If you need to balance things off, do it big: OH MY GOD, THIS IS WONDERFUL, EVERYTHING IS HAPPY. HOW PERFECT LIFE IS.  Do it as soon as, and any time something makes your heart leap or the corners on your mouth turn up, or even if you just have a moment of peace of mind...when you have something, anything happen that makes you feel good.

Let's see what happens. It's not about denying when things feel hard. We honor those falls because they show us the way to our joy. They give us information. They help us balance. We just do not let them own us. This is about acknowledging with the same enthusiasm and conviction when things feel good so that just like the falls, we get information and find our balance.