On Having a Sense of Balance in Life
I believe that one of the important lessons one has to learn in life is the need to cultivate and maintain a sense of balance in all aspects of life, whether it is about expressing our views and opinions on what all is happening around us, or in our actions, or even concerning our attitudes, beliefs and values. In my opinion, moderation or taking a middle path is always a better choice than going to extremes, be it in our life style, on health aspects, or in our attachments to socio-economic, political or religious ideologies.
Our holistic health is dependent on a balancing act between the demands of our external environment and our understanding of ourselves, which is our beliefs, thoughts and feelings, and what we consider to be the best for us for the maintenance of a perfect physical, mental and emotional health.
Our emotions can also play havoc on our health, and there is a need to strike a balance in controlling our emotions. Attitudes like optimism and pessimism are just two ends of a continuum, and excess of either is not good. A rational or realistic optimism and being fully aware of the pros and cons of any situation is always better than an unfounded or a blind faith in optimism. Also, being pessimistic and always worrying about possible negative turn of events in the future is certainly harmful to one’s health. Feeling stressful is another emotion where it is necessary to find a balance. A moderate amount of stress is always beneficial for providing a motivation and improving the productivity in our work. Emotional regulation or finding a suitable balance for most of our emotions is really a life skill—being neither over emotional nor showing an utter lack of emotions like a stoic person.
The way we form an opinion about any person is another area where a sense of balance needs to be kept in mind. Before arriving at any opinion, one should be aware of all their known traits and behavioral mannerisms, both positive and negative. No one is perfect, nor is there anybody who is totally without any positive qualities. Light and darkness must both exist otherwise, we will not be able to appreciate the value of light without darkness. In the same way, love and hatred, happiness and sadness, trust and suspicion and many other opposing emotions are also interdependent.
Today we also see different political and religious ideologies going to one extreme or the other, such as rightist- leftist politics, and polarizing religious beliefs—whatever be the religion. Such extremist ideologies can only create controversies resulting in conflicts which are not doing any good for the society at large. Taking a middle path instead of going to the extremes, a balanced approach in all areas and in every facet of our life will, I am sure, contribute in alleviating much of the pain and suffering we see in the world today.
-Raju Thomas