I completely agree with this. Everything is from the inside out. It doesn’t work for you to look to the external world and compare your life to others to decide if you are living in balance. One of the metaphors I have used with my coaching clients is a teeter totter. They talk about balance, and the visual metaphor in my mind is them standing right in the middle of the teeter totter, trying to keep it perfectly balanced at all times. Quad muscles are working hard, core is engaged, eyes are shooting back and forth constantly to see if they are keeping it level. While this may sound like an awesome work out — it is not a sustainable way to live. The over-emphasis on attaining balance creates exhaustion and there is so much focus on trying to keep things balanced that they fail to focus on the things themselves! So — look inside, listen to your body — when things feel off — why? What do you want in that moment? All the while, keeping in mind that we are hard wired for discontent, so at a certain point, shifting your attention to what you are grateful for brings the joy that so many of us crave. Final thought on this for me — maybe it is less about balance and more about holistic integration — whatever that means for each of us.