I’d like to say that a life in balance is essential. In a way like Yin and Yang, but a little bit more.

Yin and Yang is the balance between two things, light and darkness, man and woman, black and white. And when there is a balance it is good. And bad when the balance is not there.

That is how I see us people as well, but as I see it, there are more than two things that needs to be balanced. This is my view:

Me in the middle is the sum of all surrounding parts. Those parts are:

• Body
• Mind
• Soul
• Heart

The body is the physical, food, sleep, movement.

The soul is our innate universal or spiritual part of our me.

The heart is the centre of our emotions.

The thought is the part of you where your consciousness exists.

Now, I would not in any way close the door to possible more parts of our self, but these four parts is the ones I see and experience at the moment.

Like the good in the balance between yin and yang, I see that we need balance between these four parts of ourselves to feel as good as possible and be the best version of you.

When I use the word balance, I realize that it is easy to believe that I mean equal parts of all four parts. One part body, one part soul, one part heart and one part thought. Or dividing time equal among the four parts, one hour physical training, one hour love and happiness, one hour reflection and one hour spiritual awareness. But I do not believe that the human balance works that way. And add to that, that each and every one of us are unique. (Despite that we are all unique, I believe we are more alike than different – my view…)

Besides, I believe that balance within each part is important. The balance between activity and rest. Between exercise and recovery. No matter if it is physical exercise and recovery or mental or intellectual. And the same goes for our feelings when intense feelings needs to emotional recovery and that the spirutal and inre voice needs the mind to quiet down for a while. To listen to your inre voice and gut feeling instead of only the intellectual reasoning.

How your balance looks, I cannot say, or what you assign to each of the four parts. But your picture of how you are built and what you need to do to ensure your balance between the different parts, is, according to me, the right way for you.

To some, an unbalance between the four parts can be about not adhering to one of the part, or focusing only on one part. Let’s say all focus is put in the physical health. Excercis is good, food habits are good, you get enough sleep. Perhaps the work out is well balanced between motion, strength and flexibility. Food might be well balanced between protein, fibre, carbohydrates with every vitamin and mineral available along with enough liquid to stay hydrated. But if you focus too much time and energy on the physical at the cost of thoughts, emotions and the inre self, you might not feel as great as you expect.

What’s it like for you?

What do you do today to ensure a balance between the four different parts of you?