Achieving balance

My daily life is fairly regimented. I go to bed and wake up at the same time, seven days a week. I’ve installed various habits: daily meditation, sunlight exposure, physical activity, mindful eating, etc. During the week, work governs a large portion of my day. It can be draining going through life feeling like I am fulfilling one obligation after another. This is why it’s good to have breaks. It’s nice to take time off and leave my usual environment and routine.

My old method was to go completely off the rails during vacations. While that may be fun at the moment, there’s hell to pay on the back end when I try to get back to my routine. I have learned to achieve a balance between my normal regimen at home and a more relaxed routine without embracing every vice and abandoning core habits.

For anyone asking how I’ve managed to achieve balance, I would say, first and foremost, it is a change in mindset. The first real changes occurred during and immediately after my experience at 40 Years of Zen. I have continued meditative practices to effect change in my life. I’m using advanced forms of meditation instead of the typical approach of “quieting the mind and focusing on the breath.” If you are interested in changing any aspect of your life, a good place to start is your mind and thoughts.