A couple of years ago, I was going through a particularly tumultuous time in my life. Everything was in upheaval – my relationship, my job, my family, my health, even where I was living. I felt completely off-kilter. Searching for help, I came across a very simple exercise for assessing and creating internal balance. The exercise starts with the premise that each of us has mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs that should be addressed on a regular basis. 

Mental Needs

I started the exercise by listing out activities that I was already doing that met my mental needs. This one was easy. At the time, I had a job in research and education. I’m a part-time University instructor. I read various online news sources very day. I listen to NPR in the car. Mental needs were being met.

Emotional Needs

Due to the upheaval I was going through, I was meeting my emotional needs in earnest. I was reading self-help books, doing exercises like “creating internal balance” and journaling several times a day. Emotional needs were being met.

Physical Needs

Yikes. I’ve never liked to exercise. In fact, I’ve always hated it.  At the time, the only exercise I regularly got was when push mowing my acre of land. Granted, that’s exercise. But it was sporadic, and I hated it. “Loathed” is a better word.  And in the fall and winter months, I did little in the way of meeting my physical needs.

Spiritual Needs

At the time, I had nothing. Nada. Zilch. I couldn’t think of a single thing that I did, regularly or irregularly, to meet my spiritual needs.

Filling in the Gaps

It was obvious what I needed to do. I needed to add physical and spiritual activity into my daily routine. Lots of activities came to mind for the physical but at the time, I was absolutely stumped with spiritual. Then, it hit me – I’d try yoga! I was 38 years old; I’d known about yoga but had never tried it. I knew it was supposed to have a spiritual component to it, though. But I was worried - not only did I hate exercise, I hated exercising in front of people. So, I picked up Patricia Walden’s DVD “Yoga for Beginners” and started my journey towards balance.

Also, I made a list of activities that I would do each and every day to meet all four needs. On Monday I would listen to some favorite songs in the car (emotional), read my newspapers (mental), and do some yoga (physical and spiritual).  On Tuesday, I’d visit an art museum during lunch (mental and spiritual), and take a walk in nature with my son (physical, spiritual, emotional). I got up just a little bit early every morning to meditate at dawn and write in my journal (spiritual and emotional). I really liked combining several needs into one activity. After a few weeks of this kind of daily planning, the balance of activities became second nature.

Two Years Later

Two years later, I am an avid hiker. I love spending time with friends and loved ones in nature (emotional, spiritual and physical – a great combo!). My spiritual side is now at least as strong as my mental. It just needed a little nurturing to really blossom. I’ve even become an astrologer!

I still practice yoga several times a week. Have you ever heard the saying, “the way you are on the mat is the way you are in real life”?  When I started yoga, I was surprisingly strong and flexible but my BALANCE was way off! It’s much better now, but if I have a morning when I’m having trouble with a balance pose, I always go back to this “creating internal balance” exercise and make sure I’m meeting all of my needs.

Give It a Try!

How balanced are you? Do you regularly meet your emotional, physical, mental and spiritual needs? If not, experiment with some new activities. And, it’s important to make it fun! I knew I wasn’t going to be a runner, but I was open to trying yoga and hiking. Also, you don’t have to have an equal amount of activities in each area. You will likely be stronger in one or two of the four. That’s ok. Just don’t ignore the others altogether. You owe it to yourself to nourish every part of you.

Jennifer
Astrologer, Educator &
Founder of FemCentral, the Virtual Institute for Women