My psychotherapy with clients frequently presents situations where people react because life doesn’t turn out the way they planned. They create an elaborate set-up to achieve a goal and either they fail or circumstances do not support them. Their reaction is understandable, but they still have a choice to consider an alternative response. In fact they could use the clues to “the balanced life” that are right before them.
Ever try to get ahead in business? If you have a goal for your business and aren’t making it, then life is telling you there needs to be an adjustment — in the balance. Maybe you are trying to accomplish too much too fast and need to be more realistic. Or the Balance may be suggesting you take into account other factors to obtain your goal. You may need to exert more energy into an area you originally felt did not need it. Use your results in business to point out areas that need attention.
Life is instant balance because all there is is balance. Whatever you do receives its just reward. Whatever you get is a result of your efforts and the prevailing conditions. If you’re not feeling happy now, this feedback challenges you to question what more you could do to feel better with circumstances being what they are. Your situation may look impossible, but you are faced with what’s needed in the balance to make it possible. Don’t focus on your shortcomings, but rather approach life as if you are an artist looking for the right combination of colors for your picture. It may never be perfect, but you eagerly strive for that balance to produce the right effect. That balance can fulfill and consume all of you.
Life is really an experiment in balance. We think we know how to live it or someone gives us a good idea and we apply it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes we end up modifying it. This is a constant process as life tells us what we need to learn more of. Success takes some trial and error. You try something, you try the reverse, and sooner or later you come up with just the right adjustment. All you have to do is watch, pay attention, and see what works.
The trouble with watching is that our heads often get in the way. We can’t believe that life won’t reward us with success when we have tried so hard. We think it is unfair, unjustified, and downright criminal. The point that we miss is …this is it…whatever happens is life’s instant balance for the situation. Even when it does not look balanced, it is balance for the myriad of factors that are involved. To understand this balance is a deep subject sometimes. When a loved one passes on, it is difficult to think that this tragedy is a balanced situation. Poor health is easier to explain, but when an accident occurs, we often ask why it happened to such a nice person.
Whatever happens is balance for the situation at that moment. When a person falls off balance, it lasts only for a moment and he’s back to balance although on the floor. During his fall, you might not think of him as being balanced, but he is actually in a dynamic balance between the forces holding him up and the forces pulling him down. The point is that balance is ever present in life; to make it work for you, you need to pay attention.