Staying in Balance

 

Bonnie Diamond, Licensed Acupuncturist

Easthampton, Massachusetts

781-718-6325

health@bonniediamond.com

 

 

Staying in Balance Volume 6

Finding Your Rhythm – Part 2

Nietzsche wrote, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”  Finding your rhythm begins with the “why”.  Only when we determine what the melodies are that we want to fill our lives filled with, can we practice playing them.  When I began thinking about time and making the most of it, I thought I would put myself on a schedule, focus on time management and create a plan for how to best live. It didn’t work, probably for the reason that most diets don’t work – it was externally imposed.  It reflected how I thought I should be living – not how I actually want to live.

 

We have become a culture obsessed with scheduling and being productive.  Our very being becomes hidden by roles we have taken on.  We save time through efficiency and technology only to wonder what to do with our extra hours or to schedule ourselves with even more tasks.

 

Our rhythm is there – within us – we just have to find it.  I found that by slowing down and focusing, by visiting my core values, I was able to live more satisfying days.  The soul cries out for what it needs.  We merely have to learn how to listen.

 

If you lost your job, your family, your home….who would you be?  If you threw away your computer, palm pilot, calendar, would you still know how to live?  Talk to any baby boomer and you will find memories of a childhood without play dates and arranged activities.  We reminisce about simpler days when we played out in the street and knew to be home for dinner.

 

So, am I suggesting we turn back the clock and surrender to a simpler past?  No, not at all.  We can use technology to help us live in sync with ourselves, as long as we view technology as a tool.  We needn’t be slaves to our computers and hi-tech gadgets.

 

For a moment put aside the messages to be more productive.  Toss aside expectations that don’t suit you.  Life is a journey and the journey, the path is uniquely yours.  Lao Tze Tung wrote, “When the shoe fits the foot is forgotten, when the belt fits the belly is forgotten.”  By living in harmony with who we are, life becomes easier.

 

Here are some exercises to help you get in touch with your rhythm.

 

¨ Get a calendar with enough room to write down all of your activities and spend a week filling it out.  Go through each day and write down what you do over each period of time.  This is an important step.  Stay with it even if you miss a day.  Try to write without judgment.  The calendar doesn’t have to be incredibly detailed.  It should give you a sense of how you are spending your days

 

¨ Write down three of your favorite memories.  What made them special?  What activities were you doing?   Where were you?  Who were you with?  Think of the sights, sounds and smells that accompanied these times.

 

¨ Make a list of things that feel essential to your own well-being.  These are things you want to do. Think back to a time in your life when things were going well.  Life felt easy.  What were the things that you most enjoyed?  Think about things in your life that you can’t imagine living without.  Try to get beyond the roles you have taken on.  My list includes solitude, the outdoors, the written word, preparing food and physical activity.  These are things that have been with me almost as far back as I can remember.  If I was removed from the present circumstances of my life, I would still have them.  They are the things that exist at my core and define who I am.

 

¨ Write a paragraph about your experience with time.  Are you someone who likes to be early?  Are you comfortable having chores left undone?  Do lists help you, or do you have some internal sense of tasks to be completed?  Some people like to schedule most of their time, while others do better with spur of the moment decisions.

 

Spend the next few weeks putting this information together.  In the next newsletter in this series I’ll talk about how to begin to integrate the data you’ve collected with your current life.  For the moment, focus only on the exercises themselves.  The process of thinking about what you want is in and of itself a powerful one.  Give your mind room to explore and contemplate new experiences.  Relish your proudest and most complete moments.  Think of memories that you created.  Witness your power.  Treasure the person you are.  Find your “why.”

 

 

.Link to Staying in Balance—Volume 7