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The best and safest thing is to keep
a balance in your
life, acknowledge
the great powers around us and in us.
If you can do
that, and live that way,
you are really a wise person.
Euripides
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Weakness and strength are necessary for balance. No
one or nothing is only
weak or only strong. But some of us overlook our weaknesses, and
even
deny
that we have them. That can be dangerous, because denying there
is
a weakness
is in itself a weakness. Likewise, accepting that we have
weaknesses becomes
a strength. And by the same token, overestimating
strength is a weakness. You should not be blinded by your strengths.
The feeling of strength is not the same as having strength. Neither should
you ignore your weaknesses. Know them well, too.
Joseph M. Marshall III
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Learning not to grapple with every little thing
that comes along
is quite a struggle for many of us. The eggs are too runny;
the coffee is not hot enough; the
clothes don’t fit exactly perfectly. Some of us have so fashioned our lives around perfecting the
details
of the small stuff that we never catch a glimpse of the bigger
picture. We so distract our lives with details and convincing
ourselves that
everything matters that we live out of harmony and out of
balance.
Anne Wilson Schaef
Meditations for Living in Balance |
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Living in
balance and purity is the highest good for you and the earth.
Deepak
Chopra
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We in the West don't think much in terms of balance,
and
obviously we should. Even the very thought of an
exquisite union and
balance of all our forces, both
physical and mental, has a gentle, hopeful
ring
to it. . . . All of us must find a bridge between our
physical and
spiritual parts. When that balance is
achieved, what a happy comfort
for ourselves!
Edward J. Lavin
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We can be sure that the greatest hope for maintaining
equilibrium
in the face of any situation rests within ourselves.
Francis Braceland
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The cost of
success will be too high if
you choose not to lead a balanced life.
Linda
Stryker
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As I
grew up, I had no real examples of balance. My family was constantly
in a state of imbalance, and I learned that as a norm--we were all just
waiting for the next terrible thing to come along and throw our world out
of whack. It wasn't just that I wasn't able to be balanced; rather,
I had
no idea what balance was or what it felt like. As I've grown up,
though,
I've come to learn that much of what I've seen as problems is actually
simply
a question of me focusing too much on one or two negative things rather
than
allowing them to be part of a greater whole, a whole that is in a healthy
balance as I focus also on the positive and the healthy. This
doesn't mean
that I ignore the bad or pretend it doesn't exist. It simply means
that I give
the bad its due, just as I give the good its due--and no more than its
due.
tom walsh
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Life is often messy,
uncertain, and unpredictable. Sometimes it's a string
of troubles that seem to never end. That's normal. Ups and
downs
are normal. Being ill on occasion is normal. Feeling peaceful
and happy
are normal. Occasional low-energy days are normal. According
to Chinese
medicine, it is accepted as natural that we fluctuate from being in
balance
to being out of balance. Peace of mind comes from not attaching a
great
deal of significance to either state. We simply note our moods and
physical states and gently move toward balance as best we can,
accepting it all as part of the flow of life.
Charlotte Davis Kasl
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Balance
in your life between work and your personal life is
very
important. Without balance, you eventually burn out,
negatively
affecting your
performance at work.
Byron Pulsifer |
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Are you
balanced? Do you share your time, your energy,
your life, as much
with yourself as you do with those
around you?. . . . Know your limits.
You are one of the
most important people you need to look after and love.
Balance your time, your energy, your life with those
around you. You'll be able
to give more freely and joyfully
as a result, and you'll be more open to the
gifts of
the universe. It's not wrong to give to others.
But it's okay to say yes to ourselves, too.
Melody
Beattie
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Fortunate indeed are the people who take exactly
the right measure of themselves and hold a just balance between
what they can acquire and what they can use.
Peter Latham
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Balance, peace, and joy are the fruit of a
successful life. It starts with recognizing your talents and finding ways to serve
others by using them.
Thomas Kinkade |
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Live a balanced life--learn some and
think some and draw and paint and sing and
dance and play and work every day some.
Robert
Fulghum
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Sameness is not always balancing.
unattributed
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Balance is
the perfect state of still water.
Let that be our model.
It remains quiet within and is not disturbed on the surface.
Confucius
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Balance will
never be attained once and for all. That's just the
way life is. That is the human condition. We can either accept
it or keep trying to live in illusion. . . . The most balancing thing
we can do for ourselves is accept the joy of feeling balanced
when we do, recognizing that the balancing and rebalancing of
ourselves is an ongoing process that offers us
a minute-by-minute opportunity.
Anne Wilson Schaef
Meditations for Living in Balance |
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The Amish love the
Sunshine and Shadow quilt pattern. It shows
two sides--the dark and light, spirit and form--and the challenge of
bringing the two into a larger unity. It's not a choice between
extremes: conformity or freedom, discipline or imagination,
acceptance or doubt, humility or a raging ego. It's a
balancing act that includes opposites.
Sue Bender
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To strike the right balance in life is one of the supreme essentials of all
successful living. We must work, for we must have bread. We require
other things than bread. They are not only valuable, comfortable, but
necessary. It is a dumb, stolid being, however, who does not realize
that life consists of more than these. They spell mere existence, not
abundance, fullness of life. We can become so absorbed in making a
living that we have no time for living. To be capable and efficient in
one's work is a splendid thing; but efficiency can be made a great
mechanical device that robs life of far more than it returns it.
A nation can become so possessed, and even obsessed, with the idea
of power and grandeur through efficiency and organization, that it
becomes a great machine and robs its people of the finer fruits of life
that spring from a wisely subordinated and coordinated individuality.
Here again it is the wise balance that determines all.
Ralph Waldo Trine
"The Higher Powers of Mind and Spirit" |
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We all need
balance in our lives. Very few of us would survive an
existence that is totally filled with fear, doubts, and negativity.
Just
as rain nurtures beautiful green grass and sunlight can kindle a sense
of warmth and inner peace, so challenges can compel us to seek for
a greater understanding--engendering new beliefs and ideas about life.
Happy times can provide for pleasant memories to relive during the
difficult experiences, and, like old friends, good memories can fill the
void when we mistakenly feel like everything joyous has abandoned us.
John Marks
Templeton
Worldwide
Laws of Life |
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We need to
find the "middle way" in our own lives. It is the art of
finding balance. Reflecting upon our lives, we soon discover what
serves us well--nurturing calmness, ease, and simplicity. We also
discover what it is that leads to entanglement, confusion, distress, and
anxiety. Wisdom is being able to discern the difference, then
knowing
what we need to nurture and what we need to learn to let go.
Christina
Feldman
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The
Balanced Self
Wilferd
A. Peterson
The man
walks out on the high wire over empty space, sways above the
breathless crowd, defies the law of gravity. . . .
The
successful living of a life can be compared to walking across
a high wire.
The
indispensable quality needed is balance.
The
balanced self is the well-integrated self. A harmonious
combination of all the constructive elements of personality
makes the self whole.
The
balanced self practices moderation, avoids extremes, follows
the maxim "Not anything too much."
The
balanced self meets the challenges of life with
equanimity. It is neither exalted by success nor
dejected by failure. It meets despair with hope and
climbs the heights with humility.
The
balanced self maintains mental equilibrium. It has ideals
without illusions. It separates fact from fancy.
It keep a level head.
The
balanced self is mature. It considers everything from a
grown-up viewpoint balanced by a child's simplicity.
The
balanced self balances dreams with action. It uses the
power of inner thought to inspire outer achievement. And
it uses action to stimulate further dreams.
The
balanced self guards against quick emotional reactions.
It does not jump to impulsive conclusions. It delays
action until it has had time, calmly and fairly, to balance
all the factors involved.
The
balanced self is resilient; it is flexible to change.
Like a tree in the wind, it bends without breaking.
The
balanced self knows the error of constant effort. It
renews itself through prayer and relaxation, that it may apply
a higher impact of energy and creative power to the task at
hand.
The
balanced self lives a balanced life. It balances work
and play, love and worship.
The
balanced self maintains the I AM of the spirit at the center
of self, in full command of its destiny.
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Life has already set it up by making indulgence in extremes self-policing.
When we swing too far to one end of the pendulum, we are forced in
the opposite direction. After experiencing both polarities, we extract the
best of both worlds and find a middle way that works.
Alan Cohen
The Tao Made Easy |
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To live in a harmonious balance of
commitments
and
pleasures is what I strive for.
Jane Rule |
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Balance (harmony) is
never static. One does not achieve a state of balance
that, once achieved, will stay that way forever. We may want to get
our bodies
in shape--and we can. Yet those bodies are a process, and being in
shape is
ongoing, not something one accomplishes and then moves on to bigger and
better
things. We may want to get our cars or our houses just the way we
want them,
and we can do that. And the balance we seek for our houses or cars
is fleeting
at best. Life is just like our checkbooks. We need to learn
the tools for bringing
them back into balance, for once we get them balanced, they will only have
a
possibility of staying that way if never use them again.
Living in harmony is an ongoing process.
Anne Wilson Schaef
Meditations for Living in Balance |
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Balance
in all things doesn't mean balance in your actions, but balance
within. When you are balanced and at one with yourself, your actions
will reflect your inner serenity. Stop giving yourself expectations
and
an ideal to live up to. Stop thinking of the outcome.
Surrender to your
instincts, your heart, and your faith. Doing what feels harmonious
with your true feelings is always the right decision.
Lacey M. |
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Your hand opens and
closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist
or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest
presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as
beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds' wings.
Rumi
The Essential Rumi |
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The
ingredients of both darkness and light are equally present in all of us. .
. .
The madness of this planet is largely a result of the human being's
difficulty in coming to virtuous balance with him- or herself.
Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat, Pray, Love |
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The major work of the world is not done by
geniuses. It is done
by ordinary people, with balance in their lives, who have
learned to work in an extraordinary manner.
Gordon B. Hinckley |
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There is no such thing
as work-life balance. Everything
worth fighting for unbalances your life.
Alain de Botton |
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When everything is in its right place within us,
we ourselves are in balance with the whole work of God.
Henri Frederic Amiel |
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It
seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two
conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all
hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great
openness to new ideas. Obviously those two modes of thought
are in some tension. But if you are able to exercise only
one of these modes, whichever one it is, you’re in deep trouble.
If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to
you. You never learn anything new. You become a crotchety
old person convinced that nonsense is ruling the world. (There is,
of course, much data to support you.) But every now and
then, maybe once in a hundred cases, a new idea turns out to be on
the mark, valid and wonderful. If you are too much in the habit of
being skeptical about everything, you are going to miss or resent
it, and either way you will be standing in the way of
understanding and progress.
On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and
have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot
distinguish the useful as from the worthless ones.
Carl Sagan |
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Balance is the key to my
serenity. I attain balance by listening to my
inner wisdom and to the wisdom of others. There is no situation in
which
I cannot find a point of balance. There is no circumstance in which
I
cannot find inner harmony. As I ask to be led into equilibrium and
clarity,
I will find that my answers come to me. I am wiser than I know, more
capable
of right action and attitudes than I yet believe. In every event, I
seek
the balance point of God's action through me.
Julia
Cameron |
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I believe we're
called to give our best to God; our work should be
done with gusto and
quality. But we're also called to lives of
balance, and when we
get out of balance, our work becomes
a legalistic
going-through-the-motions, not something filled with
heart. Our
work becomes more important than the people whom it's
intended
for. Our lives are guided by our heads and not our hearts.
Bob Welch |
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One of the things I find fascinating about
God’s creation is the
way he seems to temper the negative environmental
elements with
corresponding
positive ones. For
instance, without the nearly
ceaseless rains of the northwest,
no
incomparable green scenery
would greet the eye from all directions. And the snow that snuggles
atop Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. St.
Helens
would not exist if, at
lower elevations, there were no rain. . . .
God’s creative
style ensures
that something wonderful will offset
something less than wonderful.
In
everything God seems to be balanced.
Marilyn Meberg
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