Five Ways To Find Balance & Ease When Life Overwhelms You

1. Pause

Sit down, close your eyes. Listen to the sounds around you —better yet, listen to the silence from which all sounds arise. Breathe deeply and evenly for three to five breaths. From a relaxed place inside yourself everything will be more enjoyable.

2. Focus

Keep your gaze where you want it. Yes, there will be times when you go haywire or get off in the weeds. Forgive yourself, then come back to your task. Be steady enough to stay on track, but not too rigid. If you force it, you won’t be able to roll with the flow.

3. Wrap

Tangle yourself up in something so fully that you forget the clock. Enmesh yourself in it until it becomes a part of who you are and the space of separation disappears. Wrapped up in something you love, you will never feel lonely or without purpose.

4. Press 

Push into something supportive: a person, a place, a rock or tree. It doesn’t have to be nature. It might be music or conversation over a delicious meal. The point is, let yourself be supported; only then can you move in unimaginable ways.

5. Stretch

Learn to reach between who you were and who you are becoming. The in between place—who you are now—is filled with the radical stretch of leaping between the past and the future. It’s often uncomfortable. Accept that and leap anyways.

Photo Credit & Location

All photos taken along the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park by my husband, Aaron Cassebeer. You can check out more of his work on his Tumblr account!