Everything goes towards balance
Sometimes, it feels like everything around us is constantly looking for balance in everything, trying to make everything not too much or too little.
In our lives, all choices have cons and pros. We tend to choose the option that goes more towards a healthy balance. And if we make the wrong choice for whatever reason, we might feel discomfort that eventually makes us work towards a new decision to find a better balance. Of course, the more critical a decision is, the more attention a choice needs. If a wrong decision is made, another one can be done to find a better balance. It demands discipline, focus, and a good mental state to deal with the downside of the chosen option, which is inevitable.
Our health is also looking for a balance. If we eat too little, we might have health issues if we overeat, the same. If we exercise too little is inadequate, over-exercising can also be harmful. Sleeping not enough affects life badly; too much is also not ideal. This list could keep going.
Another example is the brain when receiving external stimulation. Medicine and recreational drugs are consumed so people feel better. When consumed, the brain usually produces more serotonin, dopamine, among other neurotransmitters that give a nice, pleasurable feeling. The brain always works to maintain a balanced natural state for the individual. When it receives medicine, alcohol, or whatever it is that pushes away from the middle of the balance, it starts working to reach its natural state again. During this work to put the balance in the middle, as it was too much on the “good” side (pleasure feeling), it goes back towards the middle of the balance, reaching the “bad” side (unpleasure like a hangover or anxiety) proportionally before finally reaching the middle of the balance. Some people, physiologically, need external help (medicine) to reach the middle of the balance. A book that describes this in much more detail is Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke.
Also, in nature, when we analyze the species, ecosystems, and everything around, it looks like everything is pushing to put the balance in the middle. Ecological balance (or balance of nature) is frequently used to explain how different species coexist to maintain a balanced ecosystem.
One word that can be related to this article is homeostasis, which is a self-regulating process that maintains stability or balance. According to the dictionary:
the ability or tendency of a living organism, cell, or group to keep the conditions inside it the same despite any changes in the conditions around it, or this state of internal balance
Maybe because of the “universe homeostasis” (where it seems like everything is pushing towards the middle with inevitable changes in the balance for both sides), decisions have almost always pros and cons, from less relevant to big ones. If you think about your last decision, no matter what it was, can you identify the pros and cons? Have you realized that you tend to choose the option that will make the balance stay as close to the middle as possible? And are you conscious that the non-chosen option(s) also had bad sides?
