Ask most people, and they’ll agree: Enjoying everything in moderation and maintaining balance are fine ideals, though fairly challenging as a daily practice. As with so much else in life, finding our ideal balance requires both patience and persistence. It also empowers us to stop struggling with an Either/Or existence and embrace a Both/And perspective. Most significantly, it brings us to a greater realization of God as an infinitely compassionate, unconditionally loving presence in our lives.
The key to finding and maintaining our balance is keeping our hearts (our spiritual and feeling natures) and our minds (our intellectual and thinking natures) aligned. As spiritual beings living a human, earthly existence, we find life most fulfilling when our hearts and minds are balanced and in sync with one another.
Our hearts, the center of love and compassion, hold our sense of discernment, while our minds, the center of our intellect, help us explore, discover, learn and think. If we’re too heart-centered, we can become overly sentimental about a long-gone past, hopelessly romantic about someone who doesn’t return our affections, or foolishly compassionate, doing for others what they need to do for themselves. If we’re too mind-centered, we can become unnecessarily critical or analytical, as well as overwhelmed or fearful, worrying about situations and people we can’t control.
When we’re balanced in heart and mind, we live more fully in the flow of life, floating on our raft, gently down the stream, rather than trying to force the current to move the way we want. This allows our spiritual nature and our intellectual nature to work in harmony and guide us on our journeys.
Please be aware, however: This is not in any way a passive activity. In fact, at times it may require tremendous inner strength and spiritual understanding, especially when we face situations we don’t like and circumstances we can’t control.
Yet, as we strive for balance in the most emotionally healthy and spiritually mature ways, we can travel our journeys more comfortably and avoid leaning too much to one side or another. As we continue our daily practice of aligning ourselves with God first, we find the currents easier to navigate, no matter where we are on our journey.
Our times of silence, prayer and meditation also allow us to reflect on which situations and circumstances we can change, which we cannot, and what course corrections might be necessary along the way. And be assured, no matter where we are in our lives, we can find our ideal balance and continue forward in trust.
In Part 2, a story about a balanced heart and mind, and practical steps to discern our own divine balance.
© 2016 – Rev. Jennifer L. Sacks. All rights reserved.
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