Keeping Our Balance


Last week I shared some insights I've gained from being a motorcycle mom ("Target Fixation," May 20). One of the things I mentioned was that we can stay upright and more balanced ourselves if we don't let today's stresses hijack us.

I was thinking first about physical balance. There's the natural balance of breathing, with each in-breath in leading to an exhale. Our body requires sleep at regular intervals, to restore us after hours of wakefulness. We move in patterns of activity and rest while we are awake. We need food and hydration to fuel our bodies, and our shifting energy levels reflect these needs.

We can tell when each of these systems is in balance. We feel physically better when we are rested, fed, we're breathing fully, and we have had sufficient exercise without harmful over-exertion. Our bodies both require and desire balance on a physical level.
We also know when our body is out of balance. Have you been feeling stress in your body lately? Perhaps you have experienced headaches, digestive issues, chest tightness, or an ache in your shoulders, back, or jaw as stress has come to you.

Then there's social balance, which is heavily influenced by our temperament. Extroverts -- those who recharge their batteries by being with other people -- need more social time than introverts, who find their respite by having time alone. But in these days of distancing, both types may be struggling to find a healthy social balance. We may all yearn to be close to loved ones and friends again. Loneliness can hit those who are sheltering alone. Yet video chats and Zoom conferences can be exhausting for introverts and extroverts alike.

Finding a good emotional balance can be a particular challenge now. Times of stress and uncertainty of course make it harder to stay on an even keel emotionally, so we may find our moods fluctuating more than usual.

Keeping our balance can be tough even in the best of times. It is bound to be more difficult now. But one thing to know is that our physical, social, and emotional balance is  interrelated and interdependent. When one domain wobbles, the others are likely to follow. On the other hand, finding more equilibrium in any one of these areas is also likely to have a positive impact upon the other two, as well.

All three kinds of balance are tested when we are overwhelmed by stress, which can happen quickly when we are fixated upon bad news. So the first thing we can do to help ourselves is take a step back from the news, to give our brains and bodies a break from stressful input. You're doing that right now, at least for the few minutes that it takes you to read this post. Gazing at the photograph in today's post will give you at least a few moments' peace break. What would it take for you to move on to a soothing activity rather than your news feed after you read this?

Exercise, fresh air, and natural light can help us regain both our physical and emotional footing. Even a brief bit of movement or a short time outdoors can clear your head and ease the stress in your body. Walking outdoors is still one of the best ways to both strengthen your body and boost your mood. You can hit all three balance domains -- physical, social, and emotional -- by taking a walk with a friend.

Here are some other ways to add more balance to your life:
  • Try some easy yoga poses. Here are some that you can do even in your bed, Simple Morning Yoga  
  • Stretching, bending, marching in place, walking up and down stairs, squatting and standing, or sitting and standing are all easy ways to use your body without leaving home.  
  • Ask yourself what you need or want -- physically, socially, or emotionally -- then give yourself permission to pursue it. For example, if you need a nap, take one. If you don't feel like having virtual interactions, say no to that FaceTime invitation or Zoom gathering. If you want some company on your walk, call a friend. For more tips on self-compassion and self-care, review the April 8 post.
  • Drink more green tea, which has been shown to have a calming effect on our mood.
  • Use aromas to lift your mood. ("Scent Marketing at Home," 5/18).

These are trying times, indeed, and we are all more likely to at least wobble, it not tip over, now and then. So if you've been feeling a bit unbalanced lately, know that you're in good company. Keeping our balance is a work in progress. We're all just doing what we can.

Until tomorrow, I wish you good health and a more peaceful day.

Love,
Nancie/Mom/Mimi/Grandma

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Counting the Chicken Money

Image
I worked as a bank teller while I was in college. After I graduated in 1974, I went to work at a branch in a busy commercial district. This was back in the days of night deposits. One of the businesses that brought its cash to the bank dropbox each night was a fast food chicken restaurant. Each morning the tellers would count night deposits in a ritual that I can see -- and smell -- to this day. Nobody wanted to count the chicken money. We'd gather around a conference table while our manager wheeled in a big cart of night deposit bags and dumped them out before us. The heavy canvas bags were nearly identical: each fairly grimy pouch had the name of the bank stenciled across the side and a strong zipper across the top. But even though they looked alike, the chicken money bag always stood out from the rest. You could smell that bag no matter where you were sitting. And that was before it was opened. The actual money reeked. Counting the night deposits was like a game of musical c
Read more

Motivation

Yesterday I talked about trying to hold more realistic expectations for ourselves and others. I know that that's a challenge for a lot of us right now. It's a struggle for me, and I hear from many of you that you're wrestling with it, too. One of the things I hear is that some are feeling a lack of motivation. I've been told that it's hard to get even paid work done, much less personal tasks that we need or want to do. I'm also hearing concerns about getting students to do their online schoolwork. "How do I motivate my children," some of you ask, "when I'm having a hard time motivating myself?"  When you say, "I'm having a hard time being motivated right now," what I hear with my therapy ears is, "I may be struggling with stress and mood." And who would be surprised by that? The ongoing stress affects us all, and likely even more than we know. We're probably all grieving on some level, whether we perceive i
Read more

Choosing Joy

It seems a lifetime since my last post. In that time, my photographer son was arrested while on assignment to cover the protests, and I broke my left heel in several places in a freak accident with my little grandchild. More about those later. The point is that life as we know it can turn in a heartbeat, and in ways completely outside our control. We always have a choice, though, about how we respond. If anyone knows about unjust imprisonment, physical pain, or mental and emotional anguish, they would be His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet and the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa. The same could be said for the late Honorable John Lewis, Member of Congress representing the Fifth District of Georgia. Between them, these three icons of grace under extreme circumstances have experienced deep personal and community pain. Archbishop Tutu grew up poor in a segregated society. Childhood polio left him with an atrophied hand, a younger
Read more

Land Acknowledgments

Image
My husband and I own a home that stands on sacred and stolen land, land once home to indigenous wildlife and to indigenous peoples. The deer and coyotes we sometimes see in our neighborhood are descended from creatures who roamed here freely before the developers descended.  On our street, October 2020 I have not yet been able to determine exactly which First Peoples lived on the land where my home sits, but the Atfilati band of the Kalapuya (Tualatins) seasonally migrated to a nearby area to fish, hunt, and forage, and the Clowella Chinooks also made their home near mine. The Portland Metro area rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Tumwater, and Watlala Bands of Chinook, the Tualatin Kalapuya, the Molalla, and other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River.  Beginning with the first "settlers" in our area, the Native peoples here were nearly wiped out by disease. Territorial and, after 1859, federal policies such as boar
Read more

Weekend Edition: Holding Space for Humor

Image
These are dark and heavy times, to be sure, and there is much cause for weeping. I had a moment myself yesterday, after spending distanced time with a beloved small grandchild I cannot hug or hold. We all have griefs to bear. All the more reason, though, to keep space for humor in our lives and to look for it every day. Not to deny the pain or minimize its reality, but to strive for some balance. Here are some photographs of humor we've spotted on our recent walks in our neighborhood and elsewhere around Portland: Misspelling aside, I'd love to have this one in my yard. And for those who've forgotten Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks sketch, here it is again, complete with corny laugh track: Silly Walks This one is a repeat for this blog, but in case you missed it the first time: You probably know all about the plastic ponies hooked to the horse rings around old Portland neighborhoods. But have you seen this one? Here's one from my friend Ted, a
Read more