I realized today that I have forgotten all about keeping up with my blog. Life has taken over, and I find my attention going in many different directions – writing new music, editing current music, teaching yoga, practicing yoga, a little cardio, and a kitchen remodel. But I realized that it all comes down to balance, or the idea of finding a balance within a life that goes at 100% all of the time, and I needed to re-evaluate what it all means to me.

Last week in my yoga classes I taught this idea of “balance:” I encouraged my students to explore what it meant to them to balance in a pose (physically) and to find balance in their lives (mentally, spiritually). We all look to the outside world for our sources of balance, happiness, joy, fulfillment, etc., but what I encouraged them to explore was that balance was already within us – the source of balance and happiness and fulfillment comes from within. It’s this idea of contentment (or the niyama Santosha) that encourages us to “fall in love with your life.” (Swami Rama). So if we can strike this balance, and not seek all of these other things to fulfill us, then can we find the balance in our lives without seeking it outside of ourselves?
This is challenging for most of us in that we do have so much going on in our daily lives. But what does that all mean to us? That we can be scheduled from one end of the day to the other, with barely time to eat, to sleep, to care for ourselves? Our society rewards business; it encourages us to wear it like a badge to show how important/special/meaningful our lives are. And if we take time for ourselves, then we might be considered lazy or not ambitious enough. We struggle to prove our worth every day to the outside world, and in the process lose sight of the fact that we already have the answer we need. WE are the answer! Contentment is already within us, and if we can shed away the external layers, then we might find ourselves balanced, content, and satisfied.

I do love my work and I feel blessed and content to have such joy in my life – writing music is part of my fabric, and teaching yoga has become a joyful way to serve others. I believe these are part of my path, but I must carefully strike that balance of seeking versus listening to my inner voice, or that inner light. And it’s the little things, like realizing that I haven’t written a blog post in AGES, that made me realize that maybe my balance for things that are important to me is just a bit off. But that’s okay! We might stray from our path, we might seek contentment and balance outside of us, but it is that inner voice, that True Self, that whispers to us and draws us back to where we need to be.

Look for your own “balance” in your life – and think on this mantra this week as you strike that balance: “Contentment is falling in love with your life.”