YogaParent: Living/Parenting on a Balanced Set of Tires is Enjoyable

Humans are designed to be self-healing. I believe that a thriving body has vigor that can overcome anything and can enjoy happiness in life’s simple pleasures. As a parent, I feel life’s simple pleasures (kids’ expressions, funny thoughts, etc) are available to me. Though, I am not always in a state of giving and receiving.

A few months ago, I found a list of Yogic States of Healing: balance, thankfulness, love, and compassion. I began writing these four words on my every To Do List. I thought of each state as often as possible. I even ranked my ability to stay in each of the states, naturally. Balance was the toughest for me. Compassion was the easiest. Love and Thanks became my meat and potatoes. Balance has eluded me most of my life. It seemed that I could accept good but not bad; other extremes were similarly difficult to accept: happy/sad, easy/difficult, etc.

I focused more on BALANCE. I first created consistency at living with good intent. Then, I found a way to be passionate about living. These two efforts have given my life balance.

Living with good intent feels like half of the battle/struggle toward balance. With good intent, I know where I stand. Wishing myself and others well was getting me out the door and on a decent parenting path. However, I felt like “being good,” was a good thing to do. I was modeling good behavior for the sake of preserving goodness. I needed an identifiable source of passion beyond, “Doing the right thing.”

Ultimately, my discontent was the imbalance of my connection to Earth: my passion for giving love and empowering others. I felt passionate or overburdened with no steady outlet. The flip and flop was exhausting. I learned that the exhaustion was a result of being out of balance.

Lately, I have been balancing from the identification of creative outlets for my passion: parenting, writing, public speaking. This has made a huge difference in my ability to steady my family in times of crisis. When one of my boys has an emotional “blow-out,” I am as reassuring as a fully stocked pit crew.
Living with a balanced set of tires allows me and my family to ride over the peaks and valleys. We actually enjoy the peace of a nicely laid road. Joy feels real; the kids seem more content and loving. As we hit a pothole or bump, we recover with less energy and time lost. We are on our way.

Do you get my gist? Is a balanced set of tires the best means for enjoying the road? Or do you think that is a waste of effort/upkeep. Do you think we are better-off thriving without the certainty of good traction? Please, leave us re-"marks" or imprints of tread; comment. The 3 Keys Project

Christy Camp, RYTT