Finding Balance

The universe takes and gives everything you didn’t know you needed. These prompts are an invitation to step inside of yourself and explore what balance means to you. Rupi Kaur

Balance to me means making sure I am getting what I need for my mental health, bodily health, mind as a lifelong learner, and my spiritual health being most important as it makes the job for the other areas easier.

Rupi Kaur’s Balance Writing Prompts — What are you looking forward to?

Watching my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even great-great-grandchildren grow into strong, resilient, happy, joyous adults with families of their own.

There are struggles in life. We all have them. What is important is going through them to get to the other side.

In looking forward to watching all of the above, it is important to realize I may not live to see all of that, and I recognize I need to experience what I can and know that anyone can die at any time. I will continue to ‘live one day at a time’ and enjoy family and friends until my end is here.

Rupi Kaur’s Balance Writing Prompts — In the future, I’d love to learn _______________.

Several years ago I decided that it is important to be a lifelong learner. Since then I have been focused on learning something new every year.

At a retreat last year, we had an experience with paint sticks and watercolor painting. It was fun and I plan to do more of that this year as I came home and promptly ordered the paint sticks.

In my life to this point, I have learned a small amount of the Ojibwe language. I would like to get to fluent. Probably not in my lifetime, however, there is definite room for improvement. And it depends on how long I live and not getting dementia.

A friend of mine who died recently sang with a group regularly. She just died in her 90s. I am going to look into that as she told me one time that it is more about broadening her interests, even though she wasn’t the best singer.

Rupi Kaur’s Balance Writing Prompts — A time I didn’t follow the traditional path but blazed my own was _______________________.

As a young child, our family went to the Catholic church. My grandma and grandpa were Catholic. Many of my relatives on both sides of the family were Christian.

When I got into recovery our Native American people had only in 1978 received religious freedom. Before that, it was illegal to practice traditional culture ways or Native American religion. Midewiwin or the Native American Church ways.

My favorite example is smudging. My first experience with smudging was with hippies back in the 60s. The hippies said, “It cleans your aura, man!” Native American people could not use what at one time was considered religious practice or part of ceremony.

After religious freedom, I considered Midewiwin, and after my sister went through the lodge, she suggested I go next. I felt like I already had what appeared to be talked about in the ceremony she was in. I was there to support her.

Of course, it took a long time to trust that there would be no consequences for practicing the old ways. It started slow. Some of the old ways were effected by Christian ways, even though the people didn’t think it would be.

My choice at this time is to not participate formally in either Christianity or Mediwiwin. I am okay with belief in Creator/Giizheymanidoo or Kind and Loving Spirit or God as love. That makes it easy to turn my will and life over to the care of God as I understand God.

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First published by Mercury Press