A good friend once explained to me that life is like a flower with several petals, material, affective, mental and spiritual.  A balanced life is one in which we strive to live in each level or petal without attachment or excess in any one, but with moderation and detachment.  For me, a balanced life also implies gently and harmoniously following the path to the Soul and not living in mere outer or ego based reality.  In other words, in order to be balanced, I think it is essential to find and follow our own unique path of evolution with sincerity, responsibility, joy and humour! 
What gives my life balance is all of this and the close guidance of my Guru and guide who keeps me in line and gives me gentle and loving reminders when I go astray.

We may choose some elements of our path, but who is the real guide?  The outer or 'self-chosen' elements of my path have been all of life's experiences, but more specifically I began exploring the breath as a tool for unfolding to the inner path in 1985.  For many years, I did many personal development workshops which helped develop my profession as a psychotherapist.  I began practicing Kriya Yoga (www.kriya.org) in 1988 and these two techniques have been the only constant in a life of constant change.  I have also been receiving guidance from an extraordinary person, here in France, Hervé Bartos since 1999 (whose books are forthcoming in English).  His western, macrocosmic, masculine (active) approach to evolution complements nicely my Eastern, microcosmic, feminine (passive) path.  These elements of the outer path have gradually led me to discover that the real guide is the indwelling soul, our part of the Divine, who, when we listen to it and follow it, provides all of the lessons and insights we need for our evolution in consciousness.

Fear which I believe is the core of all of our negative emotions and is due to perceiving ourselves as separate from the Divine.

That would be really good timing since I'm just about to buy a ticket to India to attend the World Congress for Psychology and Spirituality http://www.worldcongressps2008.org/ and a nice long meditation retreat.