The end of the summer and back to school also means back to the balancing act. Plus, with the sad news of Queen Elizabeth’s passing and Autumn being the season of change it’s easy to feel unbalanced.
What is being unbalanced?
Forgetting to:
- Act
- Think
- Feel
- Dream
Yin and Yang
One of the main ideas of Taoism is the belief in balancing forces, or yin and yang. These ideas represent matching pairs.
- Light and dark
- Hot and cold
- Action and inaction
They work together toward a universal whole. Yin and yang show that everything in the universe is connected and that nothing makes sense by itself.
Taoism teaches that all living creatures ought to live in a state of harmony with the universe, and the energy found on it.
Source: nationalgeographical.org
The following ideas are based on Taoism.
Balancing Earth
Earth = The physical world and your body.
If you have ignored or overworked your body:
- Do conscious physical activity, nutrition and rest.
- Allow your body to build, feel, explore and create.
- Dance
- Exercise
- Gardening
- Rock climbing
- Martial arts
- And more like this.
If you are
- Physically minded (Earthy)
- Complete movement practices to bring emotive, visionary or intellectual awareness into physical life.
- Intellectually minded (Logical)
- Design a brilliant exercise or dietary regimen.
- Emotionally minded
- Tactile art forms like ceramics or emotive dance; salsa, samba etc.
- Spiritually minded (Visionary)
- Spiritual movement practices like yoga, tai chi or qigong.
Balancing Air
Air = The mental and intellectual realm.
If your logical thinking is erratic or still:
- Move into conscious mental activity
- Give your mind specific, well-defined tasks.
- Focus with clear intent
- Study
- Read
- Learn a language
- Research things that interest you
- Puzzles
- Play games
- Crunch numbers
If you are
- Physically minded (Earthy)
- Bring intellectual study and planning into your physical life, diet and exercise. Sit still and let your thoughts do all the moving.
- Intellectually minded (Logical)
- Use your mind to help support your physical experiences, your emotional knowledge and your visionary awareness.
- Emotionally minded
- Deep study of art, psychology, mythology, sociology, or cultural anthropology.
- Artistic expression, relationships, cultures or human development.
- Spiritually minded (Visionary)
- Study comparative religion, a deep and historical study of the beliefs you hold (without any faith based rules).
Balancing Water
Water = The emotional realm
If your emotions are overflowing or dried up.
- Move into conscious, expressive activity.
- Anything that releases feelings through your body and mind.
- Dance and expressive movement
- Music and art of all kinds
- Writing (especially poetry)
- Any nature pursuit is deeply healing
If you are
- Physically minded (Earthy)
- Slow Down and feel textures of food, your body, and the world. Dance, sculpture, water play, and healthy sensuality.
- Intellectually minded (Logical)
- Make a study of the emotions, writing, music, poetry.
- Emotionally minded
- Bring awareness to your intellectual pursuits. Watch how people relate to each other, become aware of how you feel inside.
- Spiritually minded (Visionary)
- Flowing meditative movements, tai chi, qigong, meditate in nature or spend quiet time by bodies of water.
Balancing Fire
Fire = Spiritual or visionary realm
Useful if your fire is raging or dampened. Make room for dreams, intuitions and visions in everyday life.
- Religious observance and meditation can be healing for some.
- Nature walks
- Time spent with animals, children and elders
- Time spent around water
If you are
- Physically minded (Earthy)
- Physical meditative practice, yoga, tai chi, qigong.
- Intellectually minded (Logical)
- Bring Spiritual texts and ideas into your thought process. Study great dreamers and visionaries.
- Emotionally minded
- Bring a Visionary view to your emotive process. Look at emotions from above, across cultures, within your family and within your psyche.
- Spiritually minded (Visionary)
- Bring your vision to your physical life, your intellectual processes and your emotional awareness.
Balance opens up another element…
Intelligence about your intelligence. Your centre of self
Your soul, ego or personality!
Find what works for you!
We are witnessing history in the making, take care of yourselves during this season of change!
If you would like to read more like this; take a look at the Quieting the Noise series:
I would love to be invited to capture you content and relaxed, surrounded by those you love.
Why is Photography Important?
I’ve read that children feel safe, welcome, seen and loved if there are images of themselves in the family home. I love this idea and think this is something every family needs to know.
You see stories, memories and keepsakes are important. Life is short. Our humanity is what makes us beautiful. The light will never look or be seen the same again and neither will we.
We will never have this moment again.
So, let’s capture it!