Restore Balance

 



“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ~ Albert Einstein                                                             

The year is roughly at half-time and I’m in M&E mode. Monitoring what has been accomplished, evaluating how effectively I have done that, and taking stock of what is left undone given the time left. A quick check on my date calculator tells me today is the 174th day of this year and there will be 184 days left on July 1st. it will indeed be half-time on 30th June and there’s no better time to re-calibrate than that.

The last few weeks, I’ve felt like I’m more on the heavy side of the scale than the lighter one; weighted down by life’s many demands and time’s stinginess. There is just not enough time to do it all used to be a mantra I recited, now the mantra has changed to there’s just not enough energy to do it all. Whitney Houston’s ‘I’m Every Woman’ does not apply to me.

But, life goes on. And those things I’m not getting done are not all expendable; some of them do pile up and create chaos if they remain undone! Yes, that is where restoring balance comes in.

I was listening to episode 415 of the Sister Circle podcast and Chrystal was talking about 3 components to finding balance that I found profound. She called them Pillars, Rhythms, and Margins.

Pillars are the major stuff you are not willing to compromise on. Those things that just have to happen if you’re to be alive at all. Some of them are part of my SAVERS morning routine - prayer, Bible reading, exercise, journaling, fasting, regular bedtime, and time with family – the core stuff of my life. If I slipped on any of the core stuff, my foundations would instantly totter. And to be honest, some of what I consider pillars have been sent to storage in the last few weeks – no wonder I’m feeling out of whack.

Rhythms were defined as the things you do consistently to bring peace and order to your life. These are the routines that get things flowing and working right in your life – the patterns you have established to take the difficulty out of getting by. I have set daily alarms to remind me of daily tasks I need to get done, and these go off at the same time. A reminder to get my daily Duolingo lesson done, a crafting hour reminder when it’s time to switch off the blue lights and wind down for bedtime and a bedtime reminder. I have a wash day to get my cleaning done, and a self-care day to get my nails and hair done. I do meal planning and grocery shopping on a set day and feed my cats at regular hours daily. When the rhythms are running as they’re supposed to, things work. There is balance. Chaos is kept at bay.

The last one is Margins, the spaces in our life that bring peace. The space to just be – rest, relaxation, nothing scheduled. When you can stand and watch the sunset at the end of the day, or spend a few minutes petting your cat or dog with no agenda other than enjoying each other’s presence. Spending time in silence savoring a cup of coffee or tea. The art of ‘Being Peace’ as Thich Nhat Hanh would call it. I am a master of to-do lists and organization but over the years I have learned the importance of leaving spaces in my schedule to just be. Allowing flexibility so that life can carry you along when it wants to surprise you. Such spaces enrich your close relationships by allowing you to be present for those you love, spontaneously and without guilt. Not everything in life has to be scripted.

Part of my mid-year reflection and evaluation exercise will involve redefining those 3 segments based on what is important for my life in this season. I will acknowledge what has not worked as planned and forgive myself for my past failures. I will let go of guilt for those things I wanted to accomplish but have failed, and use the lessons of those failures to plan a more successful second half, taking into account my pillars, creating rhythms, and allowing margins.  

“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.” ~ Thick Nhat Hanh, Being Peace

“Somehow, we'll find it. The balance between whom we wish to be and whom we need to be. But for now, we simply have to be satisfied with who we are.” ~ Brandon Sanderson

 

                                                    

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