How to find balance according to a shaman

It seems everyday I hear somebody talk about finding balance in their lives. In our fast-paced, social media driven lives, we often spend excess time on things that don't really serve us.

We spend too much time playing games, watching videos, working, or even exercising. We're all trying to figure out this thing called life but there is no owner's manual so we all go about it in our own way.

When I was younger, I spent too much time drinking and chasing girls. I thought that was the way to happiness. I just ended up feeling worse and worse about myself. It was because I wasn't focusing on the real issue: me.

The imbalances in my life were heavily weighed on pleasure

seeking and not in introspection, my emotions, and understanding who I was.

There are many resources out there on ways to create balance. Shaman, at least those from the Maker tradition, approach balance a bit differently. Here are two ways shaman find balance.

Self Healing

Shaman will use ancient techniques to find wounds from trauma in their energy and actively heal it often using the elements to help them. Once healed, they have access to more energy which they use to do their work.

Those wounds are places of stagnant energy are often linked to emotions. Left unhealed, we create areas in our energy in which we can't access because the energy is tied up. What's worse is that as we experience similar events in our lives, we add to these stagnant areas. We start to form reactions based on these unhealed parts of ourselves. The phrase, "pushing our buttons" comes to mind.

It is hard to find balance until you heal those parts of yourself. Then, we can act, not react when placed in stressful or emotional situations.

There are many techniques for self-healing. The recapitulation is very good and one I would recommend. I will write another post on that technique soon.

Addressing our Habits and Patterns

Similar to self-healing, shamans also tend to their patterns, habits, and behaviors. We, as humans, are creatures of habit. We like to sit in the same chairs at the same time. We take the same routes to work. We have particular ways of interacting with others in social situations.

These ways of being aren't necessarily bad, but they can cause us to fall out of balance easily. If you have a pattern or habit of always being the "helpful" one, you can quickly get overloaded with tasks and helping others while ignoring yourself. A pattern of working long hours can cause you to miss valuable time with your family and loved ones. Often, we are unaware of these behaviors. That makes it more difficult to break from them, if needed.

Balance is about allowing you to fully experience all aspects of yourself and your life without being drained of energy. By addressing your patterns, habits, and behaviors, you can more easily create news ways of acting in the world to create better balance.

Shamans will first observe their own daily patterns and habits. After identifying them, they will then actively change them. Create completely different or opposite ways of acting. Over time, this creates fluidity and allows them to move in whatever way is best to serve themselves or their community. It is that fluidity that allows them to make changes to find balance.

By healing our past wounds and stalking our patterns, habits, and behaviors shaman creates new ways of being which help them create balance. They intimately understand their own limitations and strengths and actively work to create the most effective and balanced lives they can.

You don't have to be a shaman to do the same. Find ways to start your self-healing journey. Identify your ways of acting in the world and figure out which ones serve you and which ones don't. It is a journey of introspection and self-discovery which can help you lead a more balanced life.