Mind. Body. Soul.
The power of Balance
Balance exists everywhere in nature: fire and water; men and women; day and night. Within us, there exist 3 elements: mind, body and soul. These 3 elements must be in good, working condition to achieve balance which leads to higher levels of well-being and productivity.
The problem today
Mind: Our education system today overemphasises on learning technical knowledge by memorising large chunks of information but independent rational thought is given much less emphasis. In most schools, we learn about concepts that we are probably not going to use in our work, unless our work is specialised as in the case of engineering or healthcare. The examinations only train students to be book-smart, but may not actually train students to think for themselves.
Other aspects of education such as financial education and the inculcation of good values as well as character, are heavily neglected that they almost do not exist. This severely limits the breadth of what our students are learning today so we need to broaden our scope of teaching to be more holistic.
Body: The rise of social media such as instagram and snapchat has allowed the sharing of images and videos to be convenient. This proliferation of information sharing has also created a “show-off” culture overtime in which some celebrities use these social media platform to showcase their lives and their bodies to gain popularity.
Over time, societal trends have evolved to placing too much importance on our appearance, causing an unhealthy habit of comparing ourselves to celebrities who may seem to enjoy a better live than us or have a more muscular/beautiful body than us. This obsession with image may lead to lowered self-esteem and perhaps even depression, if not handled well.
While it is acceptable to pursue a life you want or to improve how you look, there is no need to compare ourselves to others because you are worthy enough so you do not require society’s validation. We should also evolve as a race to expand our definition of what a healthy body means: not just one that appears good, but also one that is fit, one that is more durable or less susceptible to illnesses.
Soul: The advancement of science and technology has resulted in most people forgetting about the spiritual aspect of our lifes. Most working adults worl hard every day to earn money but become stressed out, so they spend the money to enjoy life, only to find themselves working even harder and the cycle repeats. Is this kind of life purposeful? Is this the life you want to live?
If your work matches your passion or your vision in life, then yes, that’s the life you should live because you will feel a sense of fulfillment and work does not feel like work anymore. If you are unsure about what’s your purpose in life, then no, you are simply working to survive, not working to live.
The problem does not lie with you but it lies on our development as a species, in which logic and science have again and again proven to be successful concepts for progress. But as we chase after the progress on the outside, we have neglected the progress within.
To understand our purpose in life and what our soul stand for, we need to achieve inner peace and to connect to the greater beings. Some use religion to do this (be it Christianity, Buddhism, Islam or other religions) while others meditate to calm their minds. Perhaps you may not believe in spirituality but please do not close the door before you see what’s outside: an open-mind always bring new possibilities.
As with nature, we as human beings also need to continually improve and grow as a species because we are part of nature afterall. It is with balance in our mind, body and soul that we can make progress towards a better live.
