The Bridge between East and West: A Balanced Road to Prosperity
Troy W. Norris, Institute for Well Balance for Positive Welfare
What does it really mean to live a happy life? Ask the West and you might hear about joy, excitement, productivity, and the thrill of accomplishment. Ask in the east, the answers often lean towards inner calm, satisfaction, compassion, harmony with others. At first glance, these visions of happiness may seem in contrast. One is outside, active and energetic, while the other is inside, reflexive and calm. But both carry fragments of truth, and we need to balance and bridge both perspectives to truly flourish. The Wellbalance model provides a way to integrate these traditions, revealing that true welfare is not to choose one path over the other, but to live in a rhythm that holds both.
Western tradition: Happiness as excitement
Western psychology and culture often equate happiness with positive feelings of high awakening. Words like joy, pride, confidence, excitement, and vitality define “good life.” In this view, happiness is something to be pursued and is an award for effort and achievement. It is often measured at milestones such as graduation, promotion, adventure, new possessions, and achievements.
Such high energy experiences spark growth and momentum. They push us to set goals, take action and discover our capabilities. They make us feel alive, stimulate creativity in our minds and bring enthusiasm to our relationships. When we are achieved with excitement, we are tall, dreaming, and advance the world.
But, unchecked, this version of happiness tires us out and empty us. Constant stimulation without rest puts burnout at risk. Joy can be difficult to maintain when time cannot balance due to reflection, recovery, and rest. Achieving can bring meaning and success, but in many cases we want more.
Eastern tradition: Happiness as inner peace
The Eastern philosophy of happiness offers a complementary view. Instead of chasing external achievements, many Eastern spiritual and cultural traditions focus on fostering a balance, compassion and an inner state of being. Content isn’t about reaching out for more, but you can’t see it in evaluating what’s already there. Harmony with yourself and kindness towards others are seen as a pathway to deep fulfillment.
These practices are quiet, but powerful and deep. Meditation, reflection, and mindful awareness asks to release effort and rest in the peace of being instead. A connection of gratitude and compassion through gentle acceptance and care, not excitement and stimulation. In this tradition, happiness is stable, permanent and resilient.
But just as the excitement of peace leads to burnout, unengaged tranquility can fall into stagnation. Too many retreats from the world leave us isolated or purposeless. We may find inner peace with little outward influence on others.
Mindful presence builds bridges between the east and west
We thrive as humans when we can move between these states of existence and feel in fluidity and natural rhythms, not only stimulation or calm. We can act, create, engage and connect to feel happy, proud, and alive. And we need to rest, reflect, charge and recover to feel calm, safe and satisfied. These two extreme bridges are mindful practices such as taste, reflecting, and being to become more conscious and genuinely connected to ourselves, each other, and the world around us.
This intermediate state – Mindful Bridge – allows the joy of high energy in the West and the contemplative peace in the East to not only coexist but also strengthen one another. Being mindful, grateful and present, we learn how to flow between being and being, between excitement and tranquility.
A prosperous life does not require the same dose of joy, calmness and mindfulness every day. It is just the ability to cycle through them over time. The more you recognize and enable this rhythm between states, the more resilient and fulfilling it will be.
The spiritual community is hoping for happiness
As humans, we are deeply social and our community, especially spiritual, plays a major role in our happiness. A shared community of faith or practice offers a bond rooted in more than casual connections. They give us a sense of belonging based on shared beliefs, values ​​and traditions. These connections are important. Research consistently shows that people embedded in strong communities live longer, recover more quickly from illness, and report higher levels of life satisfaction.
The spiritual community offers meaning and purpose beyond the self. They invite us to contribute through service, generosity, or care for others, and remind us that our lives are important not only for the love and support we have achieved, but also for the love and support we give. Festivals and holidays create opportunities to taste, reflect and celebrate together. Regular practices such as prayer, meditation, and communal diet slow us down and pin us to mindfulness and gratitude.
Perhaps most importantly, our community is carrying us through the storms of life. When illness, loss, or crisis arises, these shared bonds become lifelines. Food is cooked, prayers are offered, visits are made, experiences are shared. Such a support network translates difficulties into shared resilience. This is not just about strengthening relationships, but all aspects of happiness. Belonging to a community of shared beliefs and interests strengthens our minds with curiosity and encouragement, and our bodies pay attention to our compassionate feelings, and our sense of purpose, in a collective sense of our sense of purpose.
Living in the rhythm of prosperity
To prosper, one must embrace both joy and peace, and make mindfulness a bridge between them. Real happiness is not a fixed state, but a living rhythm, moving gracefully between excitement, consciousness and rest. Western traditions remind us of embrace of vitality and growth. Eastern traditions remind us of calm and caring. Bridging into mindful practices, these together create a more complete and resilient life.
The spiritual community deepens and maintains this rhythm by celebrating and blessinging fun milestones, securing us with reflection and meaning, and embracing us with caution in times of hardship and sorrow. By weaving individual practices in collective bonds, we build strong, soft, and intimately interconnected lives.
Prosperity is not a solo performance, it is a symphony. Blends and balances of energy and rest, self, presence with others, and to the West and East. True prosperity requires living in this rhythm, celebrating the entire range of human experience, knowing that each note, whether joyous or calm, active or reflexive, has its place in the harmony of a well-lived life.
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About the author:
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Troy W. Norris is a Harvard-trained scientist, published researcher, and founder of the Wellbalance Institute. A certified life, health and wellness coach, Troy has created a wealthy model to bring science-backed happiness practices to people’s lives, relationships and workplaces. His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and published at major conferences. He developed a well balance method, finding my own path from burnouts and breakdowns to fulfillment and prosperity. |
He is the author of A wealthy way: Discover the foundations for a prosperous life.
Source: Spiritual Media Blog – www.spiritualmediablog.com
