BHASKAR JYOTI BORAH To be successful we need to maintain a ‘balance’ in the various spheres of our lives. We need to maintain ou...
To be successful we
need to maintain a ‘balance’ in the various spheres of our lives. We need to
maintain our balance in terms of actions relating to self improvements,
relationships, health, financial achievement, career advancement, social
development etc. Imbalance in any of these may create obstacles in our progress
sooner or later. Therefore it is of immense importance to maintain a balance in
all these areas based on our priority. Balance is life whereas imbalance is
death. Balance constitutes life and imbalance destroys it. Balance strengthens
life but imbalance weakens it. Balance facilitates expansion, growth, energy,
confidence, excellence, success, peace and happiness. Imbalance creates fear,
anxiety, worry, stress, disease, poor performance, lack of confidence and
failure. Balance is the answer not only to life but also to nature and also the
universe. The universe maintains perfect balance and because of that only, life
becomes possible for existence. Similarly in our daily life also balance is
required to be maintained for a happy, harmonious and healthy living. If we
fail to maintain the balance, we need to pay the cost for it.
Now a day, there has
been a growing tendency in everyone i.e. to do whatever they like; whatever
they like to do they like it in doing ‘in excess’. It is very good to focus in
our area of interest but at the same time we can’t ignore our rest of the
priorities. It is prosperity that we require in abundance in our life, but
prosperity in only one area of our priority and poverty in other areas of priority
will ultimately lead to our downfall. We must accept a holistic view of life. For
instance, we believe in hard work to achieve something; we are working very
hard in business, service or other professions but it doesn’t mean that we must
ignore health, relationship, enjoyment, and study for self improvement or
formation of good habits. We must maintain our balance in all the areas of our
life otherwise the imbalance will bring its own consequences. If you neglect
your health one day will come when you will have to repent. You will be unable
to enjoy your life properly because of poor health conditions. If you ignore
relationship today, a day will come when you will lose the necessary love and
affections in your life. If you have no fun, entertainment, enjoyment and
celebration in your life, perhaps you will become a ‘living machine’. Therefore
we need to value the balance in the areas which are fundamental for our
existence. The imbalance in those areas will amount equal to death in any point
of time in our lives. That’s why we need to understand it properly that,
“Balance is life, and imbalance is death.”
1.
Balance of food:
To maintain good
health, balance in food habits is very important. We need to maintain the
balance of vitamins, necessary minerals and nutrients in our food. We need to
have a good understanding of the food that we take. We must possess the
knowledge regarding which are the food items beneficial to us and which are the
food items that injure us. We must always try to keep us fit and healthy. Health
is 70% diet. We are what we eat. We need to give up wrong food habits for a
healthy living. We must not overeat and always take our food on time. We must
diversify our food intake. Our food menu must include variations. We must drink
at least 4 litres of water during the day.
2.
Balance of actions:
Balance of actions
implies regular hours of work. First of all we must be able to determine our
working capacity. On the basis of our capacity to work, we must develop the
habit of following a daily routine. We must include all our activities which
are essential for us to perform on a daily basis. We must practice it earnestly
every single day. This will lead to efficiency and it will make our efforts
spontaneous. Life will become easy going. We will be able to find time for
everything that we want to prioritize. Therefore it necessitates proper
discipline, sincerity, punctuality, integrity and perseverance. We have to
maintain regularity to maintain balance of actions.
3.
Balance of thoughts:
Unnecessary thought
disturbs us a lot. Thoughts of fear, anxiety, problems and failure create an
imbalanced state of mind. But positive thoughts create a balanced state of
mind. It is the quality of thoughts that determines the quality of the mind.
Therefore we must not entertain opposite thoughts. Opposite thoughts will pull
us in opposite directions. It will not allow us to expand and grow. We will
remain in the same position. Therefore, we must have proper goals in our life.
Our thoughts must revolve around our goals. We must never allow thoughts which
are contrary to our beliefs and goals.
4.
Balance of words:
We must also learn to balance our words and actions.
Whatever we speak must have its own value. We mustn’t speak in vain. Our words
and deeds must be balanced. When we do that, we become more trustworthy. People
will place more trust upon us. When we can win the faith of people, success
heralds us. People are power. People are important in not only in trade or
business, service or devotion but also in waging war or spreading humanity. Our
words determine our actions. Our actions in turn directly or indirectly
influence our own self, our family, our society and the people. Therefore we
must maintain balance in our words and deeds.
5.
Balance of roles:
We have to play many
roles in our lives. We need to play the role of a son or daughter, role as a
family member, father or mother, role as a member of the society and the
country, role as a student, business man or employee or professional, role for
self improvement, role as a friend or colleague, role as a member of any
organisation or association etc. All these roles can be arranged on priority
basis. Every role has its own importance. If we ignore our role in one field,
we have to pay the price. Therefore we need to maintain the balance in our
roles. We must give due importance to every role. However I consider the role
for continuous self improvement as the topmost priority. If we do not develop
our selves we cannot help others. Secondly, the most important role is that as
a member of the family. It may be as a son or daughter, as a brother or sister,
as a father or mother, uncle or aunty whatsoever. My family facilitates my
surviving. I work from my family. Therefore the family environment will
determine my working environment. Peace in the family will bring more
development to myself and also to the other members. The Third priority I feel
is my job, profession, business or career that helps me to earn my livelihood.
We have to play our role here very sincerely and honestly. The role in this
field determines our material prosperity. Therefore it also necessitates self
improvement for better work and at the same time it is also a role we are
playing for the society, community and the country. The fourth priority should
be the society and service to the community. And the rest will come accordingly
depending upon our priority. However, self improvement is at the root of any
desired development either for the family, society or the country. We have to
become capable to contribute something otherwise there will be no possibility
for any kind of development by ourselves. We will become a burden on our own self,
family, society, community and the country as a whole.
6.
Balance in enjoyment:
This area requires
much importance if we are serious in achieving great things in our lives.
Enjoyment or celebration or fun is not a sin but not maintaining the balance
‘is’. Sometimes we loss ourselves in enjoyment or celebration to such extent that we forget to
maintain our balance in other important areas. What I believe is that enjoyment
or celebration should be a means for recreation. Enjoyment is not an end in itself.
Enjoyment and fun or pleasure if becomes our goal then we may loss everything
in our lives. Pleasure cannot be a goal. Pleasure is a means to rejuvenate
life. Celebration at the end of a successful completion of a work adds more
meaning to the work itself and the life as a whole. We must learn to enjoy when
we work. We must learn how to make our work more meaningful and to celebrate
with it. Then we can make happiness our companion in our endeavours and not at
the end of our journey. What I insist is that we must celebrate to make life
meaningful and beautiful but in a balanced manner. Otherwise our goals will
find their place in the dustbins.
7.
Balance of mind:
Whatever areas I have
mentioned above is only to maintain the main balance i.e. the balance of mind.
Without the balance of mind we can’t achieve worthy goals in our lives. If we
allow our emotions to rule us, we may become emotional fools. To control our
emotions, rationality is required. We must try to become rational in our lives.
We can maintain the balance of mind when we become rational. Our thoughts
therefore need proper vigil. We must take utmost care while entertaining any
thought. It is thoughts that become our words, words in turn become our actions and
repeated actions become our habits which control our character and destiny. We
must remain very conscious while undertaking any activity. No activity,
thought, role, words, relationship, enjoyment should be allowed to disturb our
balance of mind. We must train our mind in such a manner that our mental peace and freedom will never get disturbed .
8.
Balance in relationships:
Relationships are
vital for our existence. Man is therefore a social animal. We cannot live in
isolation. We need love, care and affection. We need company to celebrate, to
share, to endeavour and also to endure. Therefore we cannot ignore relationship.
Make a list of all the people who are important for you. Think about all of
them at least for some minutes every day. Think how you can show your love and
affection to them to make them feel how important they are for you. Think how
can you take proper care of them and help them to grow and shine in their
lives. Maintain balance in the relationship priority wise. If you maintain it,
you will never feel lonely. You will always be surrounded by love, affection
and necessary care.
9.
Cope with imbalance:
However hard we may
try to maintain balance in our lives there will arise conditions which will try
to disturb the balance perhaps every day. It never means that we will give up
our efforts. We have to fight with imbalance till the last moment of our life. We must not allow conditions to take power over us. Therefore we need to make ourselves powerful to such
extent that situations will bow down before us.
10.
Practice Balance everyday:
Like every other
practices we must also practice balance everyday to make it a part of our life. We need to practice balance while taking food, while sleeping, while working and while
enjoying. When situation demands we need to learn to stay with imbalance, but we have to come to our
original position as soon as the situation is over. We must never blame situations and problems. Problems are gift for self improvement. Overcome the
problems by remaining in balance and enjoy the freedom of life.