A Balanced Life

We have two opposing forces between which we live our life. One is emotion and the other is reason. We often ponder which is an appropriate response to conditions around us but no matter which we select there are times when we question the correctness of our choices. Life is like a pendulum swinging back and forth between emotion and reason and when we are at one end we often consider if we should be a the other.

Some of us are more disposed to emotional responses while others of us spend more of our energy reasoning. Also, there are times we envy those who spent more time at the opposite pole than we. However, which is correct emotion or reason and is it simply a matter of who we are?

The answer is that extremes are rarely correct and we may be better served when we use emotions and reason together instead of separately. On a deeper level we have our emotions; they are our motivation supplying the creative energy in our life. However, we have developed the capacity to reason our behavior so it may be expressed constructively in all situations. When we use emotion without reason we risk losing our direction and when we employ reason without emotion we risk losing our compassion.

Often emotions frequently pull us in one direction or the other. Reason may from time to time cause us to change our direction but no matter the direction it should always help us to proceed constructively. So long as we are in flesh and bone, emotions are best enfolded in reason. Emotions must be experienced and reason is the indispensable means of expression in our daily affairs.

Let us imagine we are like an automobile and our emotions would be our engine. However if we wished to go anywhere we would need to use the rest of the machine, or reason to propel the vehicle in the desired direction. The engine without the rest of the machinery would be as useless as the car without the engine. A balanced life is ruled neither by reason nor emotion but is the expression of both.

We have become so accustomed to using either reason or emotion we have forgotten they are best used together. When we become unbalanced, leaning too much in one direction or the other, illness will result. The balance between our emotions and reason will result in a balanced body. We cannot embrace excesses and expect a healthy body to result.  Let us feel deeply but think how we may express these feelings in a constructive manner.

May God bless you, envelope you in His tender loving kindness, and grant you the wisdom to express this in your daily affairs.