Inspiration Can Affect Everything

The universe takes and gives everything you didn’t know you needed. These prompts are an invitation to step inside yourself and explore what balance means to you. Rupi Kaur

Balance is important in my life. When I get out of balance I can tell.

Rupi Kaur's Balance Writing Prompts - Becoming more self-aware has shown me _____________.

That action is good for my soul. Staying positive will keep me feeling serene. That good self-care is important for me to do every day. That if I start to dip into depression, I am not laughing enough.

Being stuck in trauma, grief, and loss may mean I am not walking through it, but rather trying to go around. I need to do things that I enjoy. Work needs to be balanced with fun. My mother would tell a story with the lesson to work hard and play hard.

She said, the Creator was walking through the woods and saw two of the people lying under a maple tree with their mouths open. The syrup was flowing slowly into their mouths and their stomach was getting big. The Creator tapped each of the trees and said, "Fat and lazy, Fat and lazy."

As soon as those trees were tapped the sap water poured out and on the people. After that year it takes 40-50 gallons of sap water to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.

She would tell us as kids and then she told our children this story. Then when my son was watching cartoons on Saturday she said, "Don't you be fat and lazy Pat Seitz" He said it was grandma who helped him to work hard and play hard.

Rupi Kaur's Balance Writing Prompts - Make a list of affirmations to keep you motivated during tough times.

I achieve my dreams.

I practice good self-care.

I keep up a good spiritual practice.

I read and write daily.

I rise with the sunrise and go to bed at night to get 7-8 hours of sleep most nights.

Rupi Kaur's Balance Writing Prompts - Write about a time you felt inspired by someone else's lifestyle.

In my 20s I met a woman married to the town drunk where I was living. She was happy with good energy and always smiling. I thought for sure she had to be lying! She wasn't. She honestly did not take his life as a reflection of her as I did with my husband at the time.

She was so supportive and had such good things to say that I kept going back to see her as I thought she would have to show her true colors at some point. Instead what it did was help me to be more like her.

I moved and years later I saw her at a wayside rest. Just as pleasant and happy as when I last saw her, several years before. I asked about her husband and she said, "Oh, he's good." She was as good a role model for me as she was on day one, when I first met her.

I learned that I could live with active alcoholism if I needed to. That I could be okay no matter what anyone else was doing or had going on. I needed to pay attention to my self-care and recovery, not anyone else's.

That was exactly what I needed to see to learn that it didn't matter what the other person was doing as long as I took care of my side of the street and I have happily done just that ever since.

She is one of the many people who have left me inspired after having met them.