Balance maintains stillness and stillness maintains balance. They rely on each other like yin and yang and can never be separated. There is movement in stillness though. Yang within yin. Breathing and thought are two mechanisms that we shall use as examples. When a person is out of breath, their heart beats faster and the breathing is irregular. Yin and yang are imbalanced. In stillness, such as sleeping, or even sitting while awake, when the mind is disturbed, breathing patterns change due to the disturbing thoughts. When breathing is normal and regulated and the mind is calm, then there is a balance between the physical and mental. This is when stillness can be attained. In Daoism, stillness is sought for a multitude of reasons, mainly depending on the individual. Some of those reasons are health and longevity, spiritual awareness or enlightenment, or physical self awareness.
There is no longer a trend of people always being plugged in to a device. It is no longer happenstance, it is habit now. People don’t get up and look out their windows to check the weather, they look at the app on their phone or ipad. Being plugged in is just a part of everyday life now. This takes us out of balance. Sometimes, we need to unplug and detach from our online identities. Sometimes, we need to improve the health and maintenance of our physical selves. Sometimes, we need to recalibrate our lives to find our balance. Sometimes, we should quiet our minds and breathe; sit enjoyably in the beauty of stillness and find inner peace.
