Living A Balanced Life, Ⅰ
The Correct Way of Life: Lost... & Never To Be Found?
One of the oldest, most studied and revered medical texts in the entire world is The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine. It starts out by addressing the indispensable key to health and healing: Balance.
To explain, this classic text is a long discourse between two special individuals exploring important concepts in health, healing, life and medicine. The inquirer is the Emperor of China, Huang Di, who was chosen by his people to become their leader due to his kindness, wisdom, honesty and compassion. His doctor, Qi Bo, answers his many questions, providing much needed insight into the secrets of health.
It starts out:
“During his reign, Huang Di had discussions concerning medicine, health, lifestyle, nutrition, Taoist cosmology with his ministers, including Qi Bo, and others. Their first conversation began with Huang Di asking:
“I’ve heard that in the days of old everyone lived one hundred years without showing the usual signs of aging. In our time, however, people age prematurely, living only fifty years. Is this due to a change in the environment, or is it because people have lost the correct way of life?”
Qi Bo replied, “In the past, people practiced the Way of Life.
They understood the principle of balance as represented by the transformations of the energies of the universe.
They formulated exercises to promote energy flow (Qi flow) to harmonize themselves with the universe.
They ate a balanced diet at regular times, arose and retired at regular hours, avoided over stressing their bodies and minds, and refrained from overindulgence of all kinds.
They maintained well-being of body and mind; thus, it is not surprising that they lived over one hundred years (without any signs of aging).”
Is the idea of living a balanced life, especially in our modern culture, seem absurd to you?
There seems to be so much chaos that can appear as a regular part of everyday life. Between working on your career, being stuck in traffic, trying to keep your family life functional and harmonized, worrying about what is in your food [other than food!], finances, politics and more… Is this an era when life is just too complex and living a balanced life is just a fantasy?
Perhaps to some, perhaps even you, the answer might be “yes”.
Yet, the benefits of living a balanced life are so important and necessary for the cultivation of true health, that striving after such a “fantasy”, at least in my opinion, is a very worthy goal! The way I see it, is that the chaos of life may interfere with our overall goals, but really “isn’t something much better than nothing”?
In my humble opinion, anything that I can do to help slow down the process of aging, reduce stress, find greater happiness, harmony, fulfillment and contentment in life is time and energy well-spent! Even if I fall short of attaining “balance”, achieving some version of it is well worth the effort.
What do you think?
Is striving to live a balanced life in our modern times worth it? Do you think that even if you fall short of “balance”, that your quality of life is improved regardless, even if you don’t attain the ultimate goal? Would you share your thoughts in the comment section below before reading the next section of the article?
Up Next: How Can You Achieve a More Balanced Life?
Before we dive into the different components and aspects of living a balanced life, it seems important and relevant to note that perhaps the most important concept of all is not about what you put in your life, but rather it’s about what you leave out.