As I travel around the world, one of the questions asked most often is, “How can I bring my life into balance?” People feel pressured and pushed, unable to get centered.
Rebalancing requires effort since we may have to change some long-standing patterns. This is inner work—it is no use looking for help in the world around us. People have their own agendas, and rarely is it to help you attain a state of contentment. One soda manufacturer tested more than 3,000 recipes before it found the exact balance of sugar, flavoring, and caffeine to make people drink more of their product. Put simply, there is a conscious, scientific effort on the part of manufacturers to make their products as addictive as possible.
So, how do we get centered in an unbalanced world? We have to return to our core values. It might help to visualize balancing a ruler on your finger. You’ve probably done this as a child, continually moving your hand back and forth to keep the ruler upright. Without realizing it, you are trying to align the top and the bottom of the ruler with the earth’s center of gravity, or its core. This is a good symbol for what’s needed: to align your habits and activities with your own center of gravity, your core values.
We are physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual beings, and it would be very helpful to spend a little time meditating on your aspirations in each of these areas. Here are some general goals to start, but you’ll need to do your own thinking about personal directions:
Physical: To be healthy, strong, flexible, and energetic. To achieve this, we need to regulate our diet, sleep, and exercise, and to avoid toxins such as alcohol, smoke, and drugs.
Emotional: To be even-minded and cheerful.
Intellectual: To keep our minds sharp, creative, and able to concentrate deeply.
Spiritual: To achieve Self-realization, or union with God. This is the ultimate purpose of all life and the most important goal of all. Is it the center of your world? If you focus your life around your spiritual quest, everything else will begin to fall into place naturally.
“Master, Mountains, and Moon,” by Nayaswami Jyotish
Start and end every day with God contact. Devi and I have a picture of our guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, on the wall facing our beds. It is the first thing we see in the morning and the last at night. This helps us stay centered in God. Paramhansa Yogananda said, “It is very difficult to find the right balance between work and meditation. You will achieve a good balance, however, if you work in the thought of God during the day, and meditate on Him deeply at night.”
Rebalancing involves clarifying our core values and making them our priorities. It takes resolve. But to paraphrase Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, “Even a little effort toward achieving balance will free you from dire fears and colossal sufferings.”
From my center,
Nayaswami Jyotish
10 Comments
Panama Ji
Thank you for reminding and helping us to Focus to Attain Balance in the Path of Self Realisation.
With Gratitude
R Sundararajan
Panama Ji
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish Ji,
Thank you for the blog :)
Aum,
Prem
I enjoyed your article about finding a balance in our lives. and thus achieving union with God. With such a worth while goal, everyone should want to have a balanced life.
Seeking balance is an ongoing quest, I am finding that I can’t watch any violence any more at all or read novels that take me away from finding God. The big one for me is entertainment, movies…trying to keep that to a minimum. Reading the AY before I go to sleep keeps my mind centered on Master. Thanks Jyotish for the reminder. I love your painting of Master meditating in the moonlit mountains. I can feel the inner peace in the astral light of the moon. Beautiful.
I am most grateful for “Touch of Light” wisdom I receive. Every sharing is pertinent and uplifting as well as ever practical. Today’s reminder of balance and focus (I tried balancing the ruler…it works) is, as always, timely for me and I am sure for whoever reads the ‘Touch’. I have been challenged strongly in this area for several months. Recently (probably got hints before this recent ‘revelation’) that I need to change my thought, actions and attitude to more clearly make God and Guru the center fulcrum of my life. I thought I had been doing this but can now see where I did not reach the Center of the target. (Maya provided just the right delusions for me to think I was close…whoops!) Years ago, to help a client who was struggling with her ‘sins’ and feeling depressed and stuck at “not being good enough”, according to her religious upbringing”, I looked through an older version of Webster’s Dictionary. It contained the origins of words presented. ‘Sin’, 3rd definition on the page, was defined as an 11th century archery term for ‘missing the center of the target’. The advice given was to refocus one’s efforts and try again. I will “NEVER GIVE UP” and I will try again. Namaste
Dear Jyotish, Thank you for the instruction on achieving balance, something I certainly need. I do enjoy and feel helped by these weekly touches of light that both you and Devi provide, they are so helpful. I wonder if the picture is a new painting, I don’t remember seeing it before, and I love it. It is so calming, I feel inspired just looking at it.
Blessings, Gloria
Very useful tips for self upgradation and improving ones core values.
Many thanks and warm regards.
Kasturi Luthra.
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish Ji
Send meditation kriya for me shortcutt syystems.
With Thanks
Shivendra Singh
Your paintings are alive!