“You can have it all, but you just can‘t have it all at once” — Oprah Winfrey.

Did you ever wonder, why in the modern world, we are getting more pleasure, things, tasks, and work well into the night, and wonder how we survived, and for how long? Yet, thousands of years ago, as human beings, we go to sleep after sunset, and wake up when the sun rises. We managed to live our lives as we fill the days with longer hours, more work, and us wanting more rest too. Is our body, mind or spirit crying out .. enough is enough!

Prakriti or nature has these 3 components call Gunas. The birds understood Gunas, and follow their daily activities according to it. When they wake up in the morning, they sing their heart out, chirping away. They are in the Sattva gunas, when “the fire is ignited”. Then close to mid day, they are in the rajas gunas, like “spreading the fire into motion” and Actively seek food to feed themselves. Then when the sunset comes, they are in Tamas gunas or passive state, getting ready to rest.

This should be how we humans should live. Starting with a welcoming heart in the morning, do our prayer, meditate, or enjoy a cup of coffee. Then work when we are suppose to work, rest when we are suppose to rest, or spend time with family and friends. But we don’t really follow what nature intended for us. In the modern world we can extend the day with artificial light, electricities and electronics. We are having a longer Rajas, or active state, working well into the night. We are pushing the Tamas, further into the night, resting later and later. Our body and life is being pushed into our unnatural gunas, which messes up our body clock.

At anytime, 3 components exist in all things and being in the world. But one component is more predominant than the other. Sattva is that element of Prakriti which is of the nature of pleasure, has character such as goodness, constructiveness, and harmoniousness. Rajas is the principle of activity, this is the guna which makes things move from one state to another state. Rajas has the character of passion, activeness, and confusion. If the ignition of fire is termed as “Sattva”, Rajas is the spreading of fire. Tamas is the principle of passivity. Tamas has characters of darkness, destructiveness, and chaos.

Life balance starts with following nature and Gunas. Treating each day, with appropriate amounts of focus, energy, and time for each Gunas. Having too much of each will tip the balance. Keeping the Prakriti and Gunas in mind will help us realize how much of a gap we have, and will help us manage our days better and be more as nature intended.