balance

Ready ....or not. The Paradoxes of Reality.

Perhaps one of the key foundations of mental health is the ability to be in reality. It is the truth of what we are experiencing, in its fullness and entirety. To be fair, sometimes this is too much, and we have to take it in smaller pieces.

The alternative is to avoid, deny, push away, and bury what is happening — and this does not help in the long term. For a time, or a season, it may serve a purpose to protect us to function in those ways — and then at some point it is worth the effort to step into what is more real, accurate and true.

It is okay (and needed) to be able to say this hurts. This is hard. This has lots of layers and conflicting feelings. There are parts of me that I have to acknowledge and be true to, so that I can authentically show up in the world. Things I can’t pretend or minimize the impact of what it means to me. There may be some things that are really bothering me that I need to do something about.

When You Don't Know What To Do

Sometimes it’s hard to find your way in the dark. A difficult relationship, an ongoing struggle, patterns of spiraling, the exasperation of parenting, the journey of healing trauma. Where do you most relate? Perhaps life feels really out of balance. Maybe it took being off balance for you to notice. In the noticing, we can do something about it.

Go back to what you know to be true. What are the frameworks for mental health that give you (and your relationships) a strong foundation?

Somewhere you may have felt derailed or thrown off balance. The beautiful thing is, we can always come back to center. We don’t have to stay stuck; we don’t have to keep spiraling.

Life In Balance

Nature teaches us daily rhythms: morning and night, light and darkness, seasons of budding growth and dormant hibernation. Our inhale speaks to our sympathetic nervous system to bring energy and mobilization; our exhale whispers to our parasympathetic nervous system to bring a calm that settles us. Like the tide that rolls in and out, our bellies lift with the in-breath and contract on the out-breath.

In yoga, we work both sides of the body and notice the differences in how it feels when we reach, stretch, and contract — on the left, on the right — awareness and attention to the upper body and the lower body. We awaken and check our posture, our alignment, and notice where we hold tightness and need to soften.