I have been brain-mind thinking about bringing balance into my life.
I notice my pattern is to push out my energy into my interests and purpose with enthusiasm and vibrancy, drawn by my passion and motivation into pursuits that inspire, feed and nourish me. That all sounds good. The very acts of putting my energy out, enthusing, are at the same time nourishing and draining. Eventually, I find myself on overload, my left brain refusing to take one more step and I sink willingly into rest, relaxation and restoration, sometimes for an extended period of time.
Why this pattern of pushing and collapsing? Why not a more balanced arrangement of activity and relaxation? Surely, I could arrange my time more neatly to insert relaxation into the landscape of my days? Can’t I discover richness in my irresistible jumping into the world adorned with periods of rest and re-connection? This is the familiar brain response to judge and control.
This sounds good too. I can bring acceptance and compassion to my pattern. What I then learnt about was HOW to act in a new way, that meets my needs for balance. Part of this balancing act is about the way I connect to my inner self, before I run out into the world. I chose to nourish this with a slow and fulfilling Morning Routine, involving in any order or quantity: Nature/ being outdoors first thing, Embodied postures of Ground and Inspiration, stretches, music, dance, meditation/ walking with a mantra, honouring the five elements and connecting to my heart and belly. These acts find me feeling more settled and connected as I start my days. My needs for inner body-connection are met.
The transformation is to find balance in every moment, not chunks of a timeline, but to connect to presence in all the moments of beginning an activity, continuing activity and completing activity and checking into rest and relaxation all the way through my daily acts. Then there is no judgment and control. What matters is to remain open and in relationship with myself and the world, feeling this connection in my body-mind and not thinking it in my brain-mind. Perhaps pushing and collapsing is a reasonably life-serving pattern on some days!
How do you balance your time and energy? What is your pattern and does it serve you? Would you check with your body what your feelings and needs are?