photo by Green Wellie



Are you Balanced? Do you feel motivated yet relaxed? Intelligent with a sense of humor?
Confident yet humble? Not sure? Me neither. While I was pondering these questions I did a little research to find out what how this whole balancing thing works and where it came from? Apparently it depends on a couple of things.
This is what I came up with for us humans:

• We try to work to hard, but (Don’t want to die of a Heart attack)
• We want to find time to play, but (Don’t want to be a narcissist)
• We feel it’s important to develop some kind of spiritual side, but ( Don’t want to be a fanatic)
• We struggle to exercise our body everyday when we have time, but ( Don’t want to be an egomaniac)
• We study and learn new things to exercise the mind, but (Don’t want to be a know-it-all)

Besides the list above which points to things humans do, what about what humans are? Psychologist, Carl Jung, studied the human from this perspective. He looked at the human being’s duality- the parts of him (or her) that were introverted (emotions and feelings), and the extroverted parts (asserting and acting). When these two “male” and female” parts of ourselves are working in harmony, Jung would find us to be suitably “normal” or balanced.


But what about nature? Think of the 4 major elements: fire, wind, earth, and water – when these are in balance, a noticeable harmony will be felt. Early Greek Philosophers believed that all matter was comprised of these 4 “roots”.
Each element was connected to a specific God:


Earth-Hera, Air-Zeus, Water- Persephone, and Fire-Hades


With each God claiming a certain degree of power, there was no overwhelming force in nature (kind of a checks and balances of Mother Earth). In this way harmony reigns.


Hera was the first Greek Goddess. So I guess that makes her like “mother earth”. If she were living in the modern world I imagine she would be the epitome of the 60’s earth mom – Long straight hair, rosy cheeks with a penchant for hugging- humans as well as trees. She would definitely be a subscriber to the Be Like Nature blog.


Zeus was Hera’s husband-the story goes that the lovely Hera was not all enamored with Zeus, so he resorted to a little manipulation and tried appealing to her nurturing side…He actually turned himself into a bird during the winter; so then Hera takes the bird to her body to warm the poor freezing animal. Zeus takes this opportunity to overtake Hera physically, and have his way with her. She married him out of shame. So this is the life of a Goddess?


Persephone was known as Queen of the Underworld. Persephone must have been quite the looker because all the men and women of the day were attracted to her – especially this Hades character. In fact, Hades, selfish cad that he was, wanted her all to himself. So one fine day when she was out and about picking flowers, minding her own business, on the open plain – the ground split open like the mouth of Jaws and Hades snatched her. What is it with these so-called Gods?! By the way, Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Hera-seems like everybody’s related to each other. Zeus is also Hades (he’s next) brother. I think I hear the sounds of bangos playing…

We all know who Hades is right? The King of the Underworld, the Dark side of ourselves (the devil made you do it), the Lord of the Dead, etc. Nuff’ said.


The Greek’s way of putting such distasteful Gods in such lofty positions is kind of sad – especially sad for the poor Goddesses that they forced themselves on.


I much prefer the Chinese philosophy of harmony and their representation of balancing the elements of the earth. In the Chinese philosophy of the Tao, yin/yang represents the four elements. Earth and water (yin) combined to nurture and nourish. A sense of comfort is attained and these 2 forces together create a fertile place from which to grow. Air and Fire (yang) combine to fuel energy and reach out. Passion ignites action so that dreams can be realized. It is easy to see why the yin/yang combination has been embraced by Western civilization.

The Japanese philosophy of Zen is equally civilized. When you are one with what ever you are focusing on (zen fireflies dancing in the night for instance), you are balanced. And recognizing this nature of oneness allows our defensive reactions to lessen. Instead we are left with simply being in the moment. When you see that high and low, light and dark, good and bad, etc. – are the same, you are on the right track. The following story illustrates the harmonious effect and balance that can be attained in the Zen philosophy:

It Will Pass
A student went to his meditation teacher and said, “My meditation is horrible! I feel so distracted, or my legs ache, or I’m constantly falling asleep. It’s just horrible!” “It will pass,” the teacher said matter-of-factly.
A week later, the student came back to his teacher. “My meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware, so peaceful, so alive! It’s just wonderful!’
“It will pass,”
the teacher replied matter-of-factly.

In conclusion, embrace a philosophy that works for you – that restores the balance in your body and in your world. Life can dole out some pretty heavy stuff sometimes, and it helps to have something to believe in. If you don’t like the philosophies mentioned in this post, find your own-or make one up. If you discover a really cool one share it with me-or with others. Remember the law of attraction is always working-what you give, you get. Your generous creativity will be rewarded in an unexpected way at an unexpected time. A zen gift is sometimes difficult to recognize. But as long as your heart and mind are open, you have an excellent chance of receiving it. Then you will be one step closer to harmony. Till next time….

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Kim McGinnis, Be Like Nature