Relaxation Tip of the Week
Connect with the World Around You

Take time to be with nature, people, music, and children. Even in the city, noticing the seasonal changes of the sky or watching people's faces can be a good harmonizer.

(from Ten Strategies for Mastering Stress, by Joel Levey and Michelle Levey)

Balance in Nature
by Bryan Brewer, Producer, Self-Guided.com

This coming Friday is the first day of Spring -- the vernal equinox -- in the northern hemisphere. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some warmer weather and longer days.

Of course, warm weather and long days wouldn't mean anything without their opposites (cold weather and short days) to balance things out. It's part of the natural "dance of dualities" here on planet Earth.

The first day of spring is a good time to reflect on the balance in nature and the balance we seek in our lives as well. Just as there is balance between day and night, winter and summer, warmth and cold, there is also balance between work and play, solitude and togetherness, health and illness, sleep and wakefulness, and many other pairs of opposites.

As Joel and Michelle Levey say in their book Living in Balance: A Dynamic Approach for Creating Harmony and Wholeness in a Chaotic World:

" ...at our deepest core, we are connected and encoded in the most fundamental cyclic wisdom of the circadian rhythms that govern our waking and sleeping, our times of activity and rest, mental clarity and dullness. Thus our yearning for balance is completely natural, for our bodies seek only to live in harmony with the rhythms of the world around us."

At this time of year when the night and day are of equal length, I encourage you to connect with nature and reflect on your own yearning for balance in life. What lessons or insights can you gain from observing the natural balance in the world around you?

Bryan Brewer
Producer
Self-Guided.com
bryanb@self-guided.com

Sitting quietly
doing nothing
spring comes
and the grass grows
by itself.

-- Zen poem

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