Balance

Balance is something we take for granted until we become unbalanced. We see it in the physical world especially as people age. Some of my favorite yoga exercises involve balance, but now that I’m older I find it more difficult to stay in a balanced position.

Mental balance is also importance, and once again, we take it for granted until we become mentally unbalanced. This phrase, mentally unbalanced, prompts images of psychopaths who go on a killing spree or commit some other heinous crime, but mental imbalance can come in much milder forms. These milder forms are not necessarily evil or even bad, but simply a mental state in which our focus has shifted too far in one direction. Obsessive compulsive disorders can occur when someone focuses too much attention on one particular thing — or even one particular person.

Spiritual imbalance can also occur in our lives. This can happen when we place too much of our focus on certain rules and doctrines, or when we become enamored by one particular form of religion, or one particular religious leader, to the exclusion of all others.