In chiropractic we talk a lot of balance: balance to the nervous system, balance to the spine, balance to the body in general, and my thoughts today have been around finding balance throughout our lives. As a species, we are currently trying to find a way to live in balance with the earth. In our home life we know that balancing work and play makes us happier and healthier. As individuals most of us recognize that a balance between exercise, good nutrition and relaxation will help our bodies cope with stress and fend off sickness with more ease. The more I look around, the more I see that addressing the root causes of many problems today lies in finding a way to balance the areas of our lives that for some reason or another have fallen into disproportion.

This idea of “returning balance” to our lives, can be quite overwhelming and too broad to comprehend. So, instead of trying to change the world through restoring balance, why don’t we change the world through choosing one small, incremental change, that we can realistically make in our day to day lives. Barbara Kingsolver spoke eloquently of this on MPR this weekend, take a listen if you have a chance. So, I came up with some examples. Why not pick the area that is of most concern to you right now, and make on of these or one of your own changes for the month – they are very do-able, I promise:

Environment
• Buy 10 cloth napkins and use them at mealtimes instead of paper.
• Put one of those cloth napkins in your purse/bag for restaurant use.
• Keep 3 cloth bags in your car for the grocery store or any store that would give you a bag.
• Buy one pound of food grown locally (within 100 miles) each week.
• Ride your bike or walk to anyplace within 3 miles of your house.

Exercise
• Park at the farthest spot away from the store and walk to the door.
• Take a walk each night with your family, partner, or alone – it’s beautiful outside!
• Bike or walk to anyplace within 3 miles of your house (counts for two changes!).
• Take the stairs, not the elevator.

Diet
• Have at least 2 pieces of fresh fruit each day – it’s the season for it!
• Switch to things sweetened without High Fructose Corn Syrup – regular sugar is better and honey is even better than that.
• Carry a bag of trail mix with you. Snack on the mix instead of cookies, candies or crackers.
• Add lemon, lime, or cucumber slices to water and commit to drinking more each day.

Hopefully you get the picture. Find the area in your life that is most out of balance and make one small change this month. Continue it next month, and the month after. After it becomes habit, think about another change – but not until then!

Happy balancing!