This newsletter piece is difficult, because I have not been experiencing balance lately. Maybe you feel that way too. I am looking forward to March’s theme of “balance” to get mine back.
Grief, overwork, lack of sunshine, negative 24 hour news cycle, violence in communities dear to my heart, and more, have tilted my axis. I can tell that I have been too busy, and that I let my daily spiritual practice be forgotten because I feel out of balance. Frequently my responses to problems and obstacles have been to see them as negative, whereas I can usually view them with curiosity, as challenges or puzzles.
How do you know when you are out of balance?
Keeping an eye on gratitude usually keeps me centered and calm, even in crisis. Writing in a gratitude journal is very grounding and reminds me that no matter how hard some-thing is, I can always affirm something or somebody. In times of life where events pile on and I lose my balance, it feels bad. Physically bad. Cause and effect get fuzzy—for in-stance, because I am too busy, I can not rest, and because I am not getting the rest I need, I am more likely to lose my good boundaries and overwork or ignore something important, like family. “Busy” becomes the keyword. Busy is not necessarily productive. Balance, friends, it is all about perspective and balance.
During some services in March and in April we will lift up wonder, beauty, rest, and breathing. Finding balance and keeping balance is an ongoing life skill that will get changed and tweaked as we grow. May it be so for each of us.
In peace with love,
Rev. Amy