Balancing Body, Mind and Spirit

This is a much discussed topic, or rather, sentence regarding the balance between mind, body and spirit. I find that most people do not go further than giving lip service to the need for the balance of these three aspects of ourselves. As it turns out, it is quite complicated to put into words that make clear the correlations between these aspects. So I’ll give it a go … please be kind as I try to find my way through this.

Many of our daily habits create a split between our mind, body and soul.

We workout with goals of building muscle or losing weight. We often eat to soothe stress or anxiety, or to “treat” ourselves, and to make matters even worse, our choice of food is often made based on convenience or price. This way of eating will leave us feeling tired, guilty, and less healthy, and we will burn out from so many workouts done without a more deeply meaningful purpose. Exercise will become a chore that we dread.

Wouldn’t we be better off to focus on generating health and well-being in all areas of our lives? If we are mindful of the interconnectedness between our mind, body and spirit as we move through our lives, we will generate better health and feel empowered by doing so. Life will become fun again knowing that we are taking holistic steps to improve ourselves.  

The good news is that when we make conscious, healthy decisions about food, we simultaneously increase our immune system, health and energy.

A well-fed body impacts our exercise; we have more energy and endurance which enables us to build more strength and power. The proper nutrients affect our hormones which in turn, affect our mood; other nutrients determine and positively impact brain function, and the list continues. 

Food and exercise impact the body so completely that in turn, it impacts how we feel about ourselves. Our mood and outlook on life become more positive. We are happier, more creative, and think more clearly with a well nourished, exercised and oxygenated body. It is well documented that a healthy diet positively impacts test scores in school. We are smarter, and more confident. We can learn and expand in all our capacities. We see greater possibilities for ourselves and feel confident enough to pursue them. And when we do, this builds our self-trust and confidence even more!

This becomes an expanding, never-ending spiral of growth and opportunities fueled by the holistic, synergistic interconnection of our mind, body and spirit. The balance created by this interconnection is critical to our well-being because it removes stress and lifts us out of managing illness, depression and survival. 

We move into thriving, which comes with a few benefits that we are all meant to have and enjoy because they are our birthright. We now have the time and curiosity to explore the bigger questions in life such as why we are here or what is our purpose. This is the stage where we move from being self-centric to a transpersonal state in which we are aware of a bigger picture. We become increasingly interested in serving the greater good; we help others while living with an awareness of our impact on the planet. We are alive to so much more of life! We begin to explore our relationship with Spirit and Soul. Life takes on greater meaning and depth. Everything becomes more expansive in our lives and possibilities abound. This is truly a sign of balance in mind, body and spirit and is a highly sought after state or place to be in our life. Many people spend years trying to connect with this and never achieve it. 

I submit that one of the major keys that is missing for many, and why they stay in some degree of struggle with life, is that they are not able to achieve a balance of mind, body and spirit. You don’t just do this once; balance can be tricky and is in constant need of monitoring. This is most easily done by paying attention to how we feel. If we are at ease, relatively happy and healthy and we are showing up to meet our obligations with grace and maybe even joy, this is most certainly indicative of the balance of mind, body and spirit. A constant awareness (monitoring) and rebalancing is a lifestyle that needs to be maintained to optimize our life experience. This is living with great intention and purpose.

Our future and our experience of life is either limited or exponentialized by our daily choices. How do you approach this challenging dilemma? Please feel free to sound off in the comments below and let us know what results you are getting as well as what you are finding that helps you maintain your balance. 

May we all be at peace, may we all be healthy, may we all be happy, may we all know and experience the love that we truly are.