 Spiritual: September 29, 2010 Issue [#3987] |
  Spiritual
This week: Mind Body and Spirit - a Balancing Act Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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In all perfectly beautiful objects there is found the opposition of one part to another and a reciprocal balance.
John Ruskin [WordNet].
Welcome to this week's edition of the WDC Spiritual Newsletter. I am honored to be your guest host, and thank you for allowing me this brief respite in your home.
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Greetings, balance is about maintaining consistency and equilibrium within body, mind, and spirit in order to promote and improve your overall quality of our own lives and those of others we encounter. The miracle of the body is that it works and maintains health and heals itself - by being in balance...
One of the ancient Chinese philosophies, Taoism, educates that "true balance" comes from a Universal balance between the Mind (philosophy), the Body (scientific), and the Spirit (religion).
In our modern world, however, this delicate balance is easily and frequently upset - or "unbalanced" - by what we call "Life" - things that we encounter multiple times everyday such as:
•Emotional Stress (deadlines, bills, traffic...)
•Physical Stress (over/under exercise, sleep deprivation...)
•Environmental Stress (air/water pollution, heat, cold...)
•Dietary (processed foods, inadequate nutrients, few phytonutrients...)
For most of us, these sources of "imbalance" (stress) are internal, and external, and everywhere! We really cannot avoid them - so we have to teach our bodies and minds to deal with them as well as we can. This is where we can harness the Wisdom of ancient medicine to help restore Balance to our bodies in our modern stress-filed world.
As we've just encountered Mabon, or the Autumn Equinox, it's a good time to consider balances in our lives.
Balance: A harmonious or satisfying arrangement or proportion of parts or elements. [The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language].
The journey of life is like a balancing act. To stay upright, we need to maintain a balance between work and play, richness and poorness, asceticism and indulgence, and so on. When we are off balance, we stumble through the ups and downs in life without direction. With balance comes clarity, so that we can take the ups and downs in our stride.
The philosophy of balance can be found in many of the world's religions, particularly the eastern religions. In Buddhism, there is the principle of the "Middle Way". In Confucianism we have the "Doctrine of the Mean". In Taoism there is the balance between yin and yang, and from Hinduism we have the concept of balancing your chakras.
Balance your lifestyle - Consider the so called "work-life balance". On the one extreme, over working yourself leads to stress and damaged relationships with family and friends because you don't spend enough with them. The other extreme is laziness or spending all of your time partying, which could cause you to end up without an income and means of support.
Balance your mind, body and spirit - In both Hinduism and Taoism, the idea of balancing your mind, body and spirit is very important. In Hinduism it is believed that the body is made up of seven basic "chakras" or energy centers, each of which correlates to different bodily functions, levels of consciousness, emotional states and so on. In order to stay healthy, we need to ensure that these chakras remain balanced.
Similarly in Taoism, there is the concept of "chi", which is the vital energy that flows through the body. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that illness is caused by imbalances of yin and yang in the body, which blocks the free movement of "chi". Thus, to stay healthy you need to maintain the balance between yin and yang in your body.
In western culture, a commonly heard phrase is "healthy mind, healthy body", which encourages balance between mental and physical health. Having a healthy mind and body, however, is only a part of the story. In sport, for instance, we know that a good athlete must be both physically and mentally fit. Without mental strength, the athlete's physical movements will be uncoordinated. Without physical strength, the body will be ineffective in carrying out the mental commands. Equally important, however, is spiritual balance, which brings clarity to the mind. The completely balanced athlete appears almost magical in their abilities, while the unbalanced athlete appears clumsy.
Balance your behavior and opinion - When you find yourself in an argument with someone, you should try to look at the problem from their point of view as well as your own. It doesn't mean that you should weakly submit to their argument, but neither does it mean that you should try to force your argument upon them. The principle also applies in relation to your emotional reactions to events or situations. Unfortunately in today's society, taking a stand or going to extremes is often glorified, while "sitting on the fence" or making compromises often have negative connotations attached to them, as if they somehow imply a weakness in character. From our leaders we hear statements such as "you're either with us or against us". The problem with this sort of extreme statement is that rather than bringing people closer together, it pushes them further apart. One wonders how many of the conflicts in the world today could have been averted if our leaders better understood the art of compromise.
Balance yourself with nature In Taoism it is believed that the entire universe is a balance of opposites, symbolized by yin and yang (day and night, winter and summer, male and female, life and death, etc). Instead of trying to act in opposition with events and forces, you should try to act in harmony with them: allow the apparent negative to be balanced with postive energy. Accept that life can't always be positive. Consider that without sadness you couldn't appreciate happiness.
And, spend a little time with some members of our Community who share their thoughts and experiences with us.
Keep Writing,
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Embrace the sense of balance sought and/or found by some of the members of our Community as they share their journeys in prose and in verse
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I thank you for abiding with me ~ my prior saved selections and comments did not update and many of you first saw blanks. Because of this error of which I was unaware for several days, I've tried to attain some balance by donating the stipend for this week's newsletters to RAOK.
Brightest Blessings to one and all,
Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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