Finding balance in your life…
Balance is something that lots of folks strive for. But what does it actually mean to you? It’s different for each of us, but that fact sometimes gets lost.
Did you ever play the game “Statue” in your neighborhood? I remember lots of long summer evenings doing this. It was an exhilarating challenge to run around and then, when the whistle blew, to freeze. Anyone who moved or fell over was “out.” More often than not, it was next to impossible to hold the pose you were caught in.
And have you ever seen the old-fashioned balance scales? The purchase of fruits, vegetables or meat on one side was counterbalanced with lead weights on the other side. When it balanced, both sides became level with one another, and the scale ceased moving.
Notice that both of these examples require stillness, stasis, no movement.
Many equate work/life balance with an even split (50/50) of activities for work and those for home. But it’s seldom that simple. And what’s difficult to grasp is hard to add to your life.
So, to discover what balance might mean to you, let’s try a short exercise.
Balance and You
- Ask yourself what balance means to you. Just let yourself think about it for a minute or so.
- Next, quickly jot down the first five to ten words you think of when you think of balance.
- Now, reflect on times that you’ve experienced balance in your life.
- Write down three times when you have felt balanced.
- Describe the situations or activities that helped you feel balanced.
- How do these descriptions match the words you listed?
- What do you discover?
Balance and Energy
I approach balance from the vantage point of energy. We have both feminine and masculine energy, or yin and yang, within us. Masculine energy is usually associated with logic, work and taking action. Feminine energy is equated with creativity, intuition, nurturance, and compassion.
The goal of reaching balanced energy is to observe yourself and notice when you are involved with only one kind of energy in your life. For example, are you thinking about work continually? Driving yourself to do more, succeed more? Or do you spend most of your time engaged in creative daydreaming, nesting, and thinking about how you relate in significant relationships?
To achieve balance, you need to build a bridge, joining these two poles. As you combine work activities with self-expression and exploration, you are both creating and doing, dreaming and acting. In this way, you develop balance by integrating both masculine and feminine energy.
I invite you to objectively observe yourself as you move through your day, noticing where and how you integrate these energies. How does that feel different from the ways you generally move through your day?
And for more help, check this out…
Setting and maintaining boundaries is a skill that makes everything else in your life possible. And it’s a difficult challenge for lots of smart, motivated people. People like you.
“Your Secret Power: How to Honor Your Time and Claim Your Space with Boundaries” gently steers you to a more profound understanding of where and how your boundary-setting efforts get short-circuited. Not only that, but it helps you establish the boundaries you need to unlock the door to your freedom. Boundary-setting is a skill that’s learnable, doable and definitely within your reach. And the strategies, tips and exercises in “Your Secret Power” help you discover how to:
- Set and maintain boundaries to enhance your productivity and, yes, make more money;
- Recharge your energy so you have the time and freedom to do what you value and what you’d like to do in your life; and
- Learn how to say no, which opens the door to your next big Yes.
Ready to start using boundaries to maximize your time and energy? Click the link below to learn more about this transformative time tool and the bonuses that come with it:
Speak Your Mind