Harmony versus Balance

Let’s talk about harmony versus balance.

So, I want you to think about the word balance. And when you think about that word, what comes up for you? What do you feel, or what do you experience in your body when you hear the word balance? What does that represent to you? How does it feel to you when you think about balance? Is it something that you feel like you are capable of? Do you find that you have some resistance to balance? What does the word balance represent to you in your life?

Now I want you to think about the word harmony and what does harmony feel like to you? How does harmony feel to you? Does it feel different than balance or the same? Can you tell me the way that it feels different?

Do you notice any difference between balance and harmony? Can you feel a difference in that? Does it bring in any kind of shift for you or a different kind of awareness? Is one feel of a higher frequency or lower frequency, or do they both feel pretty equal?

I’m going to just share with you what my observation throughout life has been and why I want to just create this discernment from my personal experience. It might not be true for you, but I wonder if it is. So, most of my life, up until about 10-15 years ago when I discovered kind of this difference, I always struggled to be balanced.

I was struggling to have balance in my home life. I was struggling to balance my children. I was challenged by creating balance in their day-to-day lives, balance in my personal life versus my business. It always felt like a challenge, and I would find that in my nature, I would naturally have resistance to the word balance. I would feel like with balance, if I did something a little bit this way, that I had to hurry and fix it or readjust to make it equal in a little bit that way. So, my goal was always that I had to be right exactly even … it reminded me of kind of like a balance beam. And so, if I’m on a balance beam and my arm goes a little bit up, then I very likely will fall unless I hurry and counterbalance that the other way.

And so, it felt like in creating balance in my life – for me personally – it felt like it was a lot of work. It took a lot of energy. It felt as though it was something I was always having to have a constant awareness, a constant mindfulness, and a constant redirection of energy. Anytime I just got a little bit off center – and for me, in my own life, I have a tendency to put a lot of attention in something … and then I like to put a lot of attention on something else – and I can have a tendency to get passionate and excited about something and get that energy moving … and then when that shifts, then I feel like, okay, now I can move into something else. So, I always felt like I was defeated before I ever started. I struggled with not feeling good enough. I struggled with feeling like I couldn’t achieve or attain the goals that I wanted to because balance was so challenging for me. And I really pushed against that. I had a lot of resistance towards it.

And one day my Spirit said to me, “It’s not balance you’re after, it’s harmony.”

It’s not balance. Hmmm.

You see the people outside of me said balance … the teachers, the classes I was taking, the books I was reading, the energy I was observing … everything said balance. And so, when my Spirit said, “it’s not balance you’re after, it’s harmony,” then I had to really think about, well, “What is harmony?” And what does harmony mean to me? And how does harmony feel? And as soon as I heard the word harmony – just hearing that word was like, “That feels good.” Harmony. Yes.

Balance felt restrictive. Balance felt controlled. Balance felt like constant effort.

Harmony. Harmony felt like flow. Harmony felt like flexibility. Harmony felt like gentleness.

Spirit gave me the vision of a band. So, when you have a band … you have a guitarist and you have a singer and you have a bass and you have drums and you have keyboards, let’s say … and with harmony, when the drums and the guitar are playing together, then just the two of them could be in harmony. And then if you added in the singer, that could still stay in harmony. And then maybe the singer drops off and the keyboards come in and they could still be having harmony. And when all of the instruments are being played and the music is playing everything, all of that can be in harmony. And when they fall out, when they pull away, you can also have harmony.

So that was the first image I got. And I was like, I get that. I get that. It doesn’t always have to be on. It does not always have to be like right here centered, where every little movement has to be counterbalanced. There can be ebbs and flows. There can be breaks, there can be starts and stops. And so that was the first image I got. Then as I started to kind of ask more and bring more of that attention towards harmony, I also was guided to harmony showing up in different ways.

Like, when some of us that are going out of town, or you’re going to take off early for the weekend … Let’s say that instead of working eight hours a day, you may work 10 hours a day for those five days. And so, you’re putting a lot of energy into your work during those five days. So, you’ve got 50 hours in instead of your regular 40 … but then that allows you to take Monday off. And so, then you’re off Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and you have that energy. There’s a flow of energy, even though you put a lot in on the front end, then the harmony comes in because now I’ve got that energy to kind of, again, bring it into harmony. It’s coming and it’s going, it’s ebbing and it’s flowing. But it’s not that as soon as I take this step, I have to take that step to not be out-of-balance.

And so I wondered if this concept is something that might be helpful for you … thinking about music and thinking about how you can have harmony with a variety of different instruments playing or not playing, and they’re still harmonizing … and your life could have harmony, even though maybe you’re working one day and then you’re not, or you’re spending a lot of time in relationship and then maybe you’re not; or you’re working on six hours of sleep one day, and maybe it’s 10 hours the next.

What I feel like is that sometimes we have a tendency to be so structured and feel like we have to do every single thing we do equally, and we pay such detailed attention to that … that there isn’t a lot of room for play, for Spirit to come in and create flow. And in balance, what it feels like to me anyway, is a lot of control. It feels like I’m needing to control the situation … where harmony to me feels like I’m flowing. I’m trusting the process. I’m allowing Spirit to come in. I’m allowing the space for guidance, for inspiration, for passion, for synchronicities. But with balance, it feels limited.

You may have a different experience with all of this … and I’m not here to say you’re doing something wrong. I’m just here to create an opportunity that might expand your mind … might expand the way that you see things. Remember, that when we get into harmony, we allow Spirit to guide us. We allow space for our intuition. We allow opportunity for connection. We allow the universe to line up for us and synchronicities to happen because we’re in the flow – and it doesn’t mean we’re not making plans … it doesn’t mean we’re not organized … it doesn’t mean we’re not structured – but we’re structured with availability, with openness, with possibility versus being so hard and fast and set on it has to be this way.

So, for me, I look at harmony and I focus on harmony and that’s what feels right for me.

For all of you, you might find a different experience, and it’s not right or wrong … I just wanted to throw an idea out there and let’s just see how it might feel to you.

So, I hope that brings a little thing to ponder into your mind and maybe help you to see the world in a little bit different way with that word Harmony vs. Balance.

I look forward to seeing how it shifts your attention, even just a little bit. Leave me a comment below and let me know how that all feels for you when you consider it.