Balance
“The part can never be well unless the whole is well” Plato in his dialogue Charmides.
Balance, balance, balance. A term with great power and meaning, one that is shown as the ultimate fix to everything. But the simple truth is, what is balance? And how can we achieve it?
Within holistic health we focus on the dynamic balance of physical, mental/emotional and spiritual well-being, coming together in harmony to create optimal health. It can be helpful to breakdown each of these areas:
Physical - nutrition, movement, sleep
Mental/emotional - managing stress, cultivating emotional intelligence and fostering resilience
Spiritual - personal meaning, purpose and connecting with nature
But more often than not, I find that the whole being is greater than the sum of its parts. Putting this idea into practice, let's say that you are struggling with an imbalance in your life, maybe it's presenting as stress, and you begin prioritizing 7hrs of sleep at night (physical). You feel more rested, but you still feel the tugging stress at the end of the day. Now let's also incorporate the habit of meditation with our feet firmly planted in the ground at the end of the day (mental/emotional and spiritual). This is where the magic happens, because as we compound new ideas and habits within our daily lives it creates a certain kind of synergy or the complementing benefits of parts working together.
From a Scientific standpoint, compared to singular parts, systems naturally have feedback loops, whether they are stabilizing or amplifying, that work to self-regulate, adapt, and maintain homeostasis (balance). When we are hit with stimulus, in this case more work stress, our bodies react. Our nervous system becomes stressed and signals the brain which begins to send the signals to increase adrenaline and cortisol production, and up goes the heart rate. To finish the feedback loop, the brain will detect this and signal the system to stop the production of stress hormones, enabling the body to return to balance. Notice how the singular parts are not well until the whole is. Unfortunately, this feedback loop over and over is what creates chronic stress, as the brain no longer turns off the stress hormones, becoming stuck in the heightened fight or flight state, this becomes too much for the body, physically manifesting as burnout. Chronic stress causes a wide variety of physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual imbalances and damage, making long-term resilience and root cause resolution strategies critical.
True healing requires looking at the big picture, the whole you, rather than focusing on one specific symptom. It's understanding the interconnectedness of our complex beings, much like how our different body systems influence one another.
Thank you for reading :) I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic!
