The Big Picture

Ever since I started this blogging journey and gave my lifestyle a label (balanced or in search of balance) I’m constantly finding new ways to think about finding the fulcrum in the seesaw of life. Lately, I’ve been thinking about it in terms of The Big Picture.

Here’s how I see it: We try to make smart, healthy choices every day. We try to make them all day every day. But sometimes life makes it difficult for us to be as heroic as we’d like to be. Work gets hectic and your sneakers don’t see the light of day. You get sick or tired or are just sick and tired. You take a vacation. Thai food delivery exists.

It’s easy to get down on yourself when you’re not able to make the healthiest choices. But when you think about things in terms of The Big Picture, you realize that you don’t have to all of the time. In The Big Picture, or the larger scheme of things, it doesn’t make a difference. Your body and your overall health are not influenced by a single day. They’re not even influenced by a single week. It’s what you do over the long run that makes the difference in how you look and feel.

When I was working on The Yoga Body Diet last year, Ayurveda expert John Douillard explained a principle that I’ve since embraced. It’s called the 51 percent rule. As long as you make healthy choices more than half of the time, you’re on the right path. Sure, more is better, but you can feel good about doing the right things most of the time—and your body will benefit. (As you make more and more healthy choices, you’ll feel so good that you’ll continue making them because you want to keep feeling that way.) What’s more, The Big Picture and the 51 percent rule remind me that being healthy is not an all-or-nothing endeavor. That’s why I call a healthy life a balanced life: There’s room for everything in just the right amounts. Thinking about The Big Picture can help you ease up on yourself when you have a tough day or a tough week. If your overall lifestyle is aiming toward healthy, you’re going to be just fine.

The Big Picture can also help you make some decisions a little more easily. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how I sometimes have a difficult time deciding between a workout and something else, like dinner with friends. And just earlier this week I wanted to do it all in one day—I wanted to take an hour long walk, I wanted to take a yoga class, and I wanted to whip up a brand new recipe for dinner that I’d already purchased the ingredients to make. As I began to wrap up work, I realized that there was no time to do it all. I also realized that meeting deadlines all day had drained me of a lot of energy, and I needed to make a choice. Sure, this kind of choice is like deciding between a German chocolate and a red velvet cupcake, but I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret at missing out on whichever I didn’t choose. I remembered to consider The Big Picture. I took a moment and realized that as much as I wanted to unroll my mat, I really wanted to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather (I already feel like the days are numbered before we enter hibernation). Would my mind and body really suffer if I missed out on a few Sun Salutations and handstands? Probably not. I fit in a several mile-long walk and took my dogs to a dog park where they happily expended every last ounce of energy, leaving them only enough to walk home, eat, and sleep until the next day. I knew just how they felt. Still, I made the delicious (and nutritious!) new recipe and kicked back for the rest of the evening, knowing that I had done my body good.

The Big Picture is your secret weapon. It’s guilt’s arch nemesis. It’s perspective and a reality check. And you have my permission to use it any time you need.