By Michael Goddart
Equilibrium is dynamic balance, a spiritual center that you can live in and learn to return to again and again. Being in a state of equilibrium is wonderful. It enriches your life and helps you feel good, and supports your health.
What are the characteristics of equilibrium? Here are five key ones.
• Quiescent ego
• Even temperament
• Grateful contentment
• Healthy independence
• Balanced desires
Quiescence is a state of repose, being tranquil. When your ego is quiescent, it isn’t raging for something it “needs” desperately. When your ego is quiescent, it isn’t inflated, self-justifying, self-pitying, or wallowing in injury. It isn’t driving you to take action or say things that aren’t in your best interest. Being unaware of your ego, letting it ride roughshod, is self-defeating, knocking you about in dys-ease. The antidote to ego is humility—welcome, revitalizing oxygen.
When your temperament is even, you are not anxious or angry, negatively critical, upset, leery, or fearful. Your instincts are accessible, and you’re open to inner promptings. You realize that most people are entirely run by their minds and have no control over what they say and do. People who are run by their lower minds do say and write things that are unkind, hurtful, mindless, destructive. Their actions can readily set off your reactions, which can be angry, fearful, or one of their myriad expressions, such as annoyance and worry.
Have you ever felt or thought that you have everything this moment that you need? One aspect of wise, clear thinking is no mistaking where you think or hope you’re going for where you are now. With acceptance comes contentment. You may yearn to understand what you could do with the rest of your life, but embrace the perfection of who you are now and the intention to take each next step in your life as consciously as possible. Acceptance is a key element of consciously living in reality. Acceptance is not resignation. It’s being here, now, rather than allowing yourself to be run by envy or disappointment. Grateful contentment is a feeling of ease, of peace, of everything in its own time.
Regardless of your circumstances, if you attain periods of grateful contentment, more and more, in your state of equilibrium, you will cherish these simple, luxurious feelings.
When you are able to live in a state of healthy independence, your life is not ruled by attachments. You realize that everything is ultimately temporary. People must leave your life, and at times that can be unexpected. You are not the center of the solar system, with everyone revolving around you. You have a great storehouse of resourcefulness that you can access to enable your life to proceed well without unhealthy neediness that inhibits your growth.
When your desires are not inflated or squelched down, you are aware of them and moving at the right time and speed toward realizing them in a way that serves your growth and unfolding. We are desire machines—the mind is constantly spewing out desires. You can learn to be aware of how your desires want to drive you, and you can mentally detach from them, as well as you can, and make mental adjustments that balance your urges and put them in perspective.
Being the driver of your desires creates more space for gratitude. By cultivating mental detachment from your desires, you can more readily be present in an expansive now in which you can experience healthy independence and grateful contentment.
Wisdom and equilibrium go hand in hand. Being in equilibrium is an optimal state in which you can best access your power and develop your potential. You more readily enjoy a positive, confident attitude because when you are in equilibrium that comes naturally. You can more easily deal with and rise above distractions. Being in equilibrium and learning how to achieve and return to it is a necessary adjunct to mastering wisdom. It facilitates the accessing and growth of wisdom.
The more you realize and embody the five characteristics of equilibrium, the more you reduce stress. Tomes can be written on the benefits of reducing stress. Some doctors believe that stress is the root of all diseases. Some spiritual masters say that ego is the root of all disease. Stress and ego are intrinsically linked. This is because when we think then feel that people and things have to be a certain way, and they’re not—we stress.
If you think you need to get three things done before you leave your home and you rush to get them done, that likely creates stress. You are letting yourself be run by a belief that is undermining your health and state of mind. Why not pause and ask yourself if you can let go of one or two of the things until the right time after you return? It’s not the end of the world if, for instance, dishes remain in the sink filled with water until you can attend to them in a good frame of mind. It’s important to notice what feels good, what feels right. Value your equilibrium. That is being wise. That is helping to prepare the field of your spiritual foundation.
When your ego is not quiescent, your mind is on fire. To master increasingly challenging times, a spiritual foundation can be a vital resource. Contributing to and being in touch with your spiritual foundation can greatly assist you in gaining wisdom and mastering it daily. With a good spiritual foundation, you can more readily be drawn to your spiritual center and empower it each time you return to it.
Your spiritual center is the state of mind in which you are most calm, grounded, centered, relaxed, detached, harmonious, open, present, and on purpose. When you’re at your spiritual center, you are least anxious, frustrated, scattered, agitated, tense, fearful, and focused on the future. Also, you are in some degree of control of your mind instead of your mind pulling you every which way by uncontrollable ego, greed, attachment, lust, and anger. Thus, your attention is centered. Your thoughts are not agitated. Until you are a saint, however, your mind can pull you every which way—usually away from your spiritual center.
Your actual, present spiritual center is the seat of your soul. It’s a little above and between and behind your eyebrows. It’s not a physical place. It is where your awareness is. When many people forget something, and they are trying to remember, their fingertips automatically go to touch that place. Think of your spiritual center as the power and light arising from and energizing your spiritual foundation.
Good positive character is the ballast upon which the foundation of spirituality is built. They go hand in hand. Good positive thoughts are the outcome of a vital spiritual foundation. And yet, you are not your thoughts. If you’ve not pondered this and embraced it, now is a good time to entertain this key concept of spiritual growth.
You are the soul, that immortal particle of love energy and knowing that is connected to LoveSource, simply another name for God. The soul is being dominated by the mind until, through your spiritual progress, you master the mind, and then it becomes your best friend. For now, the more you access and act from your aquifer of consciousness, the less likely you are to do things that do not serve you and are simply unwise.
Your kindness, love, intuition, and giving are what build your spiritual foundation. Giving is being of service to people, giving money to honest, worthy charitable causes, and giving kindness and goodness to struggling souls—like yourself—with whom you come in contact. Learning to live from your spiritual center, in equilibrium, in your highest state of knowledge, is a way of life you will love more and more. In these times, more than ever in our crazy world, to lead our best lives, we need to strive to achieve equilibrium, and that will enable us to live in a new now.
