Finding Balance

Finding Balance

The good thing about weekends is that you can work for longer stretches of time without being interrupted by phonecalls, SMSes or meetings. I always feel that it is a good weekend if I can finish off a major chunk of work.

Now hang on, if one has to work over weekends, when does one get to rest? Isn't rest important?

Of course, we need to find time to "sharpen the saw". But that need not necessarily happen only on weekends. If we learn how to sleep deeper (and I know a lot of people find that difficult), we feel fresher and more rejuvenated the next day. We must also know how to take short breaks in between meetings or major tasks. The mind must be given the opportunity to return back to its "original shape".

People who practise meditation knows how restful a session of deep meditation can be. It's the mental stresses and strains that make us feel tired. If we know how to release these clogged up energies from our minds, we will feel a lot more relaxed. We don't need to wait for long holidays or weekends to "rest". Rest equals absence of stress.

Sometimes we don't face mental stress but the physical activities that we do make us feel very tired. For example, taking flights can also be very tiring because of all the walking and queueing that one has go through at airports, not to mention having to drag one's heavy luggage around. But I normally get to rest very well when I get onto the plane because the monotonous drone of the jet engine during take off puts me to sleep very easily.

It's Sunday night again. I'm all set to tackle another week of intense work. I'll probably feel very exhausted by midweek but I'm sure I'll find a way to rejuvenate myself. Going for a morning jog is the best--my energy level increases tremendously if I get the chance to exercise and do some deep breathing.

I recall a book I read ten years ago: The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity by Daniel Reid. Not that I'm such a health freak, but I did learn a lot of good tips about healthy living from there. Taoists and yogis belief that energy is always there in the air in the form of chi or prana. Of course, it cannot exactly be proven by science yet but I'd like to believe that it's true.

Eastern medicine is all about balance. A healthy life is a balanced life. Balance work with rest, hot with cold, actvitiy with inactivity; then all the yin and the yang forces will be in perfect harmony. Finding that balance, that delicate point of dynamic equilibrium, is a skill that will take us a lifetime to perfect.