One definition for the word "balance" offered by Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary is “mental and emotional steadiness.” Personally, I would expand that definition to include physical and spiritual aspects, and I also believe that living in balance is more about resilience than steadiness. More about managing our energy in a wavelike fashion rather than in a flat-out, linear way.

We might expend extreme physical energy training for a marathon, but if we do so in spurts, alternating with periods of rest, we not only maintain physical equilibrium, we actually become stronger. The same is true about emotional energy. We might risk opening up to someone and feel a flood of emotion that leaves us drained, but when we recover we feel more empowered. Without the stretch we’d become emotionally numb. But, without the recovery we wear out. It’s the undulating rhythm of effort and rest that keeps us in balance.

Remember the last time that you taxed your poor brain for hours trying to solve a problem, find the right words, or come up with something new? If you’re like most of us, you worked hard, pushed past your productive period, and finally gave up and engaged in some distraction. Then...zap...just like that...on your walk, in the shower, or on the ride home lightning struck! The answer appeared. What happened? You surrendered to your ultradian rhythms-one key to living in balance. Just as we are hard-wired by circadian rhythms for a natural wake/sleep cycle in a day, we are hard-wired by ultradian rhythms to experience several waves of energy throughout the day, each followed by a need for rest. About every 90 to 120 minutes our energy peaks and falls...

>>> Click to Continue Reading "Have You Got Rhythm?"

© Copyright Suzanne Zoglio, Ph.D. This article was
originally published at our website, SoulfulLiving.com,
in July-Sept 2005, as part of our "Life Balance" Issue.

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