Tune ups

It’s that time of year to get outside and do all those things that spring calls for. It’s a great time to tune up the mower and car; an ideal time to do lots of work around the house and get things back in order again. Because I had some challenges with my snow blower this past winter, I’m very cognizant of the importance of keeping my car and mower all tuned up so they run at their top performance during the summer. As my family can tell you, I’m no mechanic (someday I’ll share the story of the car with no oil – it does not have a happy ending), but I know enough to understand that the combination of fuel and oxygen, together with the spark from a sparkplug are key elements in making anengine run well, or not at all. Getting that spark to fire in time with the appropriate relative position to the piston is vital to an engine running smoothly.

Mechanics call this “timing,” and it seems that even Mother Nature may have her timing messed up this year. Maybe she’s in need of a tune up. All through the month of April she’s provided us with all the rain we can handle, and more, but she knows better than any of us that everything needs balance. The land needs water AND warm sun to help everything grow. Maybe she just had a bad month. I guess that happens to all of us.

That’s why it’s important to keep our own input of fuels in balance. Whether we’re talking about our physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health, we need to stay conscious of the inputs and outputs. Just like a gas engine, if we’re getting the proper inputs, in the right balance, we’ll run smooth and our exhaust will be cleaner than it would be if, for example, there was a problem with the oil. With our physical self, there are very visual and practical signs if our inputs are out of whack. We feel tired, we gain or lose weight, we run out of breath sooner then we used to.

Emotional, spiritual, and mental health are just as important, but less visual to the human eye as well as being less obvious to our own mental faculties. The inherent challenge with self-acknowledgement of being emotionally, mentally, or spiritually out of alignment is that if you are out of balance, then your ability to recognize it is compromised.

Which leads to the question of who is your mechanic? Who is the person that you talk to when it’s time for your emotional 50,000 mile check up? Ask yourself, who provides you your complementary spiritual warranty? Maybe it’s time for some routine maintenance with your confidant, your best friend, that person that you know will always be there for you. Tell them what’s going on with your engine, then open up the hood and let them take a look. It’s probably just a “timing” issue. I know the spark is still firing!