Balance the Opposites
(This post was written many years ago, but I have chosen to leave the present tense intact.)
I spent a glorious two days with my friend, Bobbi, at her beautiful log home in the U.P. We were exchanging VIP Days for one another. VIP Days are 5-hour, intensive, focused energy work on a specific topic to launch movement forward in a dramatic way. (I’ll probably blog more about that in the future).
Today’s blog is about a nature card I drew from a deck Bobbi gave me as part of my VIP Day (NaturePortals.com). I drew a card with 2 deer and the focus was on opposites. The title was: Look beyond opposites to wholeness. It read “We live in a physical universe that consists of many opposites – light/dark, large/small, dry/wet, sun/moon, life/death, and hard/soft just to name a few. The two deer on this card represent the opposite energies of masculinity and femininity. As you observe nature, find examples of opposites. Notice how one could not exist without the other. One is not better than the other; they are both a necessary part of the wholeness of nature. Embrace the opposites within yourself to experience wholeness”.
At the time I pulled the card, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to focus on with it. This morning I meditated to the card and discovered the opposites of being/doing. As a chronic doer, I have long struggled to insert and maintain the beingness aspect into my daily life. Having been raised in a blue collar family, I still carry inklings of the belief that hard work is the only thing of value. Many of us struggle to balance the being and doing in our lives. We may start a day with the best of intentions only to have time get swallowed up in menial tasks that seem urgent, but have little or no importance (thank you, Stephen Covey, for this concept!)
So what to do when we know we’re out of balance in the being/doing dichotomy? Here are a few suggestions that will help bring greater balance into your life:
1. Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, had an awesome tool for keeping balance called the Six Most Important Things list. Before bed every night, write down the top 6 things you want to accomplish the next day, including “being” activities. The value of doing it the night before is you have a clearer head about the next day than you will have in the morning when the pressures start coming to bear as soon as your feet hit the floor.
2. If at all possible, put a “being” activity into your early morning routine. Much like exercise, “being” activities often go by the wayside when we get into our busy days. Linking this activity up with parts of your routine that are already well-established makes it more likely you’ll stick with it.
3. Try different “being” activities. So what are some options? How about trying some of the following: journaling, focusing on a candle flame for 20 minutes, listening to meditative music, walking a labyrinth (we have a beautiful one right here in Green Bay at the St. Norbert Abbey), being out in nature, laying in the grass and watching the birds, stargazing, and countless others.
Make a decision to add more “being” time into your day and observe the magic that happens. I’d love to hear what each of you use for “being” activities!