By Carolyn L. Kusinski, PHD
We are the only ones who can balance ourselves. Family, friends, colleagues, mentors, and leading lights can set frameworks, give feedback, share insights, and do some good old holding up the mirror for us—but at the end of the day, it’s on us.
It can feel vulnerable to be out of balance. When we’re off, we feel it viscerally–like walking on a log across a mountain stream or holding a lot of packages on an escalator. And we see the imbalance play out in our world. As we become alert to the risk of being off in this way, we pay attention with renewed interest.
Why? Because the many ways we experience being out of balance can be so unpleasant and consequential. They often contribute to unease and reactivity in our body and emotions, reduce skill and sensitivity in conversation, and especially for me, lead to retail over-spending and old eating habits. This is not how any of us want to spend our life resources. But it is a great signaling mechanism to pay attention.
I for one am not satisfied with reacting in those situations. I want to have that grace, skill, and sensitivity that alerts me to how I am doing in all the aspects of my life so I can adjust before I have to overcompensate or doubt myself.
The question of balance has been a theme in my work with the author and Taoist Lineage Holder Eva Wong. So when the invitation arose to create a workshop with her that offers time-tested and effective ways of understanding balance on a more subtle and natural level, I said yes!
Within wisdom traditions such as Taoism, certain principles, skills, and organizing frameworks are timeless and transcend culture and history. Life has always been complex.
The wish to have a good and thriving life for ourselves, our communities, society, and the Earth is a shared hearts’ wish that knows no limits within human history. And for those who aspire to build a lasting future, this wish propels us to look for more subtle and powerful ways to contribute to the overall equation of balance.
And we want a good life right now. A life where we can recognize both the pain and vulnerability and the joy we feel—and know how to respond in a balanced way. A life in which the excitement, possibilities, challenging interactions, new ideas, relationships, and results of our hard work, all come into harmony to offer us opportunities to create the present and our path forward. We want to refine and master life. We can’t wait for it to happen on its own.
This workshop presents a practical, potent, and relevant set of principles, tools and practices we can do right now. It addresses the space and capacity within us that we can control—our consciousness.
We will enter our consciousness with skillful intention and learn to shift and rebalance from within by practicing Playful Awareness and Empathic Awareness. These practices are rarely offered and are a true gift from Eva and her lineage.
Nature balances in ways we cannot control. Society and governments balance is ways we can contribute to but not as directly as we may wish. Within our personal sphere of influence, we can balance from the strength of dynamic engagement between our inner and outer worlds. This dynamic opens us up into fresh air and new possibilities.
You are warmly invited to explore with Eva and me.
