Ecosystems and Balance

Living with Each Other

Photography: Katja Jensen ~ Mountain Musings

Sometimes life is out of balance. If you observe the macro and the micro, there is one constant the importance of balance. Living your existence while balancing your existence with the existence of others, balancing the ecosystem. There is ecosystem upon ecosystem, and each ecosystem both exists within its own and within the whole. You yourself live in multiple ecosystems, your body is an ecosystem, your relationships are ecosystems.

They exist both independently and in the larger cosmos. You are an independent ecosystem, living in existence with a larger ecosystem. When I hear the story of the web of life, this is what I think of, not an esoteric concept, but this. Attacking or changing an ecosystem has consequences. Those consequences may affect you now or may affect you later.

We must each learn to balance our own ecosystems while we interact with the larger systems. This requires maintaining our sovereignty personally and energetically as we interact with others. It requires maturity to look to the needs of the community as well as our own. It also requires presence and understanding, a willingness to be independent and a team member. Owning your truths, and living your power or personal sovereignty, and participating constructively with the whole, requires balance. The balance of interests; and to do this with grace requires the effort of being present.

It means developing a healthy ego and spiritual life. It means owning what has not yet healed through observing the interactions of daily life that trigger you. It is quite a commitment and act of self-care to stay balanced.

To locate authentic leaders, look for authentic traits and truthfulness. We live in this world of mirages. So, explore ways to learn to differentiate between the person and their image. Ask yourself, has this person done their work? Do they scapegoat or do they respectfully and honestly reflect on affects? Watch their actions, not their words. The same is true with yourself, watch your actions, for over time your actions will define your character.

We are living in an age where there is information everywhere, but not discernment or wisdom. We must develop this ourselves. More than anything today, it is key to know yourself and develop energetic boundaries to walk your path developing calmness while walking chaos.

A boat floats because of the theory of buoyancy, if you displace the buoyancy or let water inside, the boat will eventually sink. So will you. Just as the people you surround yourself with influence your life, the quality of your thoughts and actions also play a key role in shaping your well-being.

Over time you must rest and reset, otherwise you become what you no longer monitor. Stop monitoring your stress, you become stressed out. Stop paying attention to your negative thoughts, you become negative. Pay attention to yourself, and know that both evil and good exists, both within you and the larger cosmos. What you become is what you feed. Being a well regulated and authentic human requires self-knowing. You have to invest in yourself and do the work. You are the work.

The less personal work you do the more likely your ego is out of balance, requiring the need to feel self-important. The medicine for this is authentic connection to yourself, which includes self-respect and acknowledging and developing your relationship to an aspect of the Divine, whether that be a practice or a connection to higher self.

Be careful of a mind that is in constant comparison of self to the other including your own, that is a sign of disconnection. As someone who has seen the financial lives of others for decades, people are rarely what they project. Projections are there to please others not yourself and will disconnect you from your authenticity. What is the point of life, if you cannot live authentically, then who precisely are you living for?

An aspect of my authenticity is that I value community, freedom, and personal sovereignty. To balance those and act in ways that support those ideals, it helps to develop skills that allow me to balance self-interest with community interest.

Somewhere along the way, community interest has become less valued than self-interest, which leads to a society out of balance with itself. What affects the one affects all, as we live in ecosystems. Returning to balanced systems, in which decisions and actions are measured by their effects on both the current ecosystem and future generations ecosystems, it is essential for achieving a happier and more fulfilling future. The fable of pure independence from one another is a mirage. We are entangled with each other.

So let’s each take action in some way to create a connected and sustainable ecosystem for us all to live and prosper. Won’t you remember your power, how even one action might affect the future in ways not considered?

It starts with us, all of it, with all of us developing our inner ecosystems while observing and monitoring how our actions affects the whole. It requires us to value good character over bountiful finances; it requires us to live our principles. For we live in a herd of people, and as a member of the herd one action affects the whole.

Namaste’

L Kay Smith'

© L Kay Smith 2026

Used with Permission