At my first real job, there was a partner in the firm who was having an affair way before there was the Internet. The mistress would mail him letters and our receptionist would carefully open each letter, make copies for everyone in the office, distribute them in our mailboxes, put the letter back in the envelope, and deliver it to the cheating partner.
Should I have?

1. Told the receptionist to stop this immediately.
2. Tell the wife of the partner
3. Make popcorn because this was a great novella!

Yes, stopping the behavior would have been the proper thing to do, but I chose “c” because why the hell not? I didn’t like the man. However, if this happened today, I would respond differently because living a balanced life means there are no lines separating your beliefs, your integrity, and your character.

For most of my life, I lived highly compartmentalized. I was one person when I was with my friends, a different person at work, and yet another person with my family. I didn’t even realize I was at least three different people on any given day, and none of them was me. They all contained fragments of me, hidden beneath my attempts to be something I was not. It’s this kind of fragmentation that chokes the spirit. It took me a long time to realize that even though a lot of people choose to live this way, I don’t have to.

When I wrote my first book, Exit Strategy; Thinking Outside the Box that was the only thing I did. I didn’t volunteer at the homeless shelter, I didn’t have dinner parties, or participate in social media. I wrote and edited and wrote and edited until it was done. My life was highly unbalanced, and it was extremely effective. However, during this highly unbalanced success, I continued to attempt to accomplish inner balance, meaning every thought, action, project, and dream, everything flowed together and in the same direction. All aspects of my life were in sync. The sense of purpose was startlingly clear. I realized then that when I’m living in complete congruence, complete alignment, and complete balance, no part of me is conflicting with any other part of me. There is no disagreement. No disturbance. No imitation.

Being Balanced is godly.

Although simple to articulate, there is nothing simple or easy about becoming a balanced human being. Yet, accomplishing inner balance is the foundation of why we pursue a spiritual path. We cannot be truly healthy if we are out of alignment. We cannot be truly honest with others or ourselves if our head and heart exist as two separate forces within us. We cannot ever know what a fulfilled life is about if we are always compromising our intuition and inner guidance for fear of the consequences. We can never consider ourselves truly honest people if we live a life of continual compromise and self-betrayal.

What would it mean to live an inner-balanced life? Self-esteem would be rooted in personal integrity. Intuitive guidance would work in harmony with our intellectual and emotional resources. The field of life would be engaged on multiple levels, acknowledging the continual operation between the physical and mystical realms. Physical laws govern the physical life and mystical laws govern the soul’s journey. The connecting bridge is inner balance.

Of course, we’re not the same person in every situation all the time. We’re not binary, single-function amoebas. We manifest and express ourselves differently according to what is appropriate to the events surrounding us. That’s pretty natural. What is not natural is to change who we are; manipulating ourselves in order to fit some kind of mold of what is or isn’t right.

I strive every day for there to be no discernible difference between the person I am when I am working and when I am playing. Everything ideally is completely integrated between my heart, mind, body, and soul. No division between my purpose and my life path. My desires and dreams and my contribution to the world are one and the same. This is what it means to me to be completely and radically balanced.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Creating a Meaningful Life.