How to regain balance in a chaotic world?

Alex Pepn
6 days ago
6 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

In today’s world, there's so much stimuli—one can be entertained forever without leaving bed. Podcasts, Netflix, social media, all competing for your attention, the most valuable resource. Every minute wasted = more ad revenue for someone else.

In this era of distraction, robotic soulless productivity, and financial pressures, the greatest gift we can give ourselves is our own time: ti

me alone to reflect, to integrate, and enjoy the present moment.

Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethics argues that the highest form of human happiness comes from the contemplative life—a concept taken up later in Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

"The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival."

Viewing the universe as a unified whole, accepting change as part of nature's cycles, and aligning one's actions with rational, cosmic order to achieve a meaningful existence.

Or in jobsite words:

GO BACK TO NATURE! EVERYTHING ELSE IS B.S.

Nature brings grounding, which opens the door to consciousness and leads to living in the present moment—a state of being where the chaotic world and thought control have very little influence on one's internal well-being.

Easier said than done though, no matter how many books you read or listen to. But by applying external factors that you can control, your internal engine will invariably change.

One of the earliest forms of psychology practiced by mystics around the world was to explain human nature through the 4 elements. This is a simplistic model, easy to make correspondences with, and it has practical applications available to everyone. The old world understood well that whatever was happening on the outside would mirror our inner being—thus the famous phrase

“as within, so without.”

This ancient model—seen in Greek, Sumerian, and mystical traditions—mirrors the outer world to our inner state.

Earth

Earth is associated with the physical body (including the 5 senses) and our material experience: money, possessions, food, shelter, structure, routine, the ability to get things done, and the willingness to wait to see them grow.

Signs of Earth Imbalance

NOT ENOUGH:

• Disconnected from your body, wandering mind

• Poor physical abilities, poor care for physical needs

• Poor routine, disorganization, inability to bring anything to completion

• Prefer living in fantasy over reality

TOO MUCH:

• Incapacity to visualize abstract concepts or take risks

• Body too heavy, chronic tension, poor flexibility

• Extreme resistance to change, can’t adapt to circumstances

• Excessive emphasis on material possessions Balancing Earth energies

To help balance this energy, do regular physical movement, get adequate rest, eat heavy nourishing food (nothing better than a good stew with root veggies), and pay attention to sensory pleasures while eating it (add wine to the gravy hihi). These are external factors that can be controlled easily. Then, around your life structure, organize your finances consciously without excess, keep your environment tidy, and create structure, starting by completing one task you left on the side burner for too long.

Walking barefoot and gardening (maybe both at the same time) is also extremely beneficial. Pay attention to the way plants feel and smell, allowing yourself the rediscovery of sensory pleasures. Finally, you can meditate on your root chakra (base of the spine), adopting a stable posture and moving your awareness into it.

Water

Water is the embodiment of emotions and the root of all intuitive knowledge.

This goes back as far as the ancient Sumerians, where the Abzu (deep underground waters) was the residence of the deity presiding over divine knowledge. Water is also the element that gave birth to all things, so this is the element of artistic creation.

Signs of Water Imbalance

NOT ENOUGH:

• Dry skin, dehydrated often, expressionless voice

• Emotional numbness—you hardly feel joy or sadness

• Disconnection with others' emotions—you can understand but don’t feel

• No creative expression; the work you produce is sterile

TOO MUCH:

• Your body holds excess fluid, might feel bloated

• You’re emotionally overwhelmed, caught in tides you can’t control

• No emotional boundaries—other people's feelings become yours

• You can’t express yourself in projects cohesively as you’re steered from one emotion to another Balancing Water energies

To help balance this element, simply allow yourself to live your emotions without the need to fix them or go into deep rabbit holes of the overreactive mind. Treat them like passengers: acknowledge them, name them, claim them “I am angry right now” like when a subordinate did the exact opposite of what you took 15 minutes to explain. Let your emotions fully express themselves instead of shoving them back down. Allow yourself to cry, shake from fear, or clap your hands in joy.

Set some boundaries, emotional or physical, not by being selfish but to acknowledge your self-worth. It is okay to say NO. Energetic vampires tend to prey endlessly on these kinds of individuals.

For the intuitive part, meditate and start distinguishing genuine intuition from the chatter of the mind. When the insight appears instantly, that’s your subconscious; when you get there by thinking, it’s noise. Dancing, immersing yourself in water, journaling your emotions, and doing things to please your inner child without shame (like painting like a 5-year-old) are all simple methods to bring back water into your life.

Fire

Fire is the pure essence of life, the will to get things done with passion and enthusiasm, and the agent of transformation, from which chaos can be turned into order. It gives the power to push through anything through sheer will alone, but too much for too long also leads to burnout and/or aggression.

Signs of Fire Imbalance

NOT ENOUGH:

• You’re a slob, energy levels low, getting out of bed is a struggle

• Passivity without motivation or passion

• Lack of presence in social interactions/groups

• You just let things happen to you and accept it as your fate

TOO MUCH:

• Need for constant productivity—the idea of being still is repulsive

• Aggressive competition, intense presence, pushy

• Difficulty sleeping, chronic tension

• Irritability, easy to put in intense anger

• Collaboration and relationships are difficult to impossible Balancing Fire energies

To create a healthy relationship with anger instead of being destructive is a must. Anger means something needs to be addressed and acted upon, sometimes it’s to take action in your life (like moving away from a person), and other times you just interacted with an asshole and a few rounds on a punching bag will be enough to burn through frustration without destruction. In any case, always ask yourself why I’m angered; sometimes the answer might be surprising, as what deranges us the most are often our own reflection or repressed emotions.

To balance the fire element, high-intensity physical training is as important as allowing your body time to rest. Aim your fire at actions you want, not what society wants. When you accomplish your genuine desires, everything flows more easily. You can meditate on your solar plexus, trying to focus your awareness at the center of your body and ask yourself: What are your passions? If you could do anything, what would it be? Then work toward that authentic goal.

Air

Air element is related to the mind and capacity to express oneself with vision, imagination, and concise speech. It is the seat of the mind, thinking, and sometimes overanalysing.

Signs of Air Imbalance

NOT ENOUGH:

• Your mind is clouded by mental fog and confusion

• Poor breathing, physical stance that restricts air movement in your lungs

• Difficulty to communicate, poor understanding and communication

• No imagination or ideas

TOO MUCH:

• Common headaches, often from too much thinking

• Mental chatter never stops, always stuck in the past or future

• Emotional disconnection from too much thinking/analysis

• Difficulties sleeping Balancing Air energies

A better Air balance starts by training your mind first, through visualisation exercises or simply being in the awareness of the present moment. And it can be as simple as focusing on the feeling of warm air on your arm while driving on a sunny day with the window down. Or something more drastic: the cold plunge. This one sucks so much that your mind has nowhere to go and 100% of your awareness is focused on how cold it is. Another good one is to practice Yoga Nidra, a practice of bringing your awareness to each part of your body one by one.

To declutter your mind, take notes—every time my mind wanders to a special thing I need to bring on the jobsite the next day, I write it down. Then you don’t stress anymore about forgetting it. Focus on a single task at a time. Breaking your day into working blocks of 20-30 minutes and dedicating a task to each one is another good one.