BALANCE IN OUR LIVES (ISSUE 168) MARCH 3, 2015

By Diane Gold

Balance in our lives seems like a “played out” expression, verbal hype that marketers, coaches or therapists (sometimes hard to tell them apart until we look at their wall) use to lure us into buying their coaching programs. But the reason so many people seek out the programs (like warriorsofweight-consulting), even if advertising leads us to them, is that many of us don’t have a system that works.

THE BALANCE FORMULA

I believe that we each need some sort of balance formula, a set of categories within our systematic approach to living our best life. For me, today, I have included:
1)   body-mind rest and renewal, without which we are not good to ourselves or others;
2)   support and love from family and friends, without which we stagnate;
3)   a satisfying way to be creative, without which we leave our artist untapped;
4)   a satisfying way to self-sustain, without which we are less productive (please note that not everyone needs to have a job or career; some choose to trade services; others choose adventures other than the regular work model);

5)   something spiritually rooting, without which we look for a root;

6)   non-chemical, non-polluting nutrition, which means without plastic and metal leaching from cookware and dishware, which means no genetic modification in the seeds, which means no type of food that causes global depletion (such as methane run off from livestock, dead zones from overfishing, soil depletion and desertification of land from animal grazing in dairy farms or cattle ranches) which leaves us with organic plant-based food;
7)   ethics, music, art, without which we are not whole human beings;
8)   joyful physical activity, without which we do not stimulate our body’s systems to stay healthy.

Which ones of mine are yours?

PLEASE NOTE

This formula does not include shelter and clothing, although these are quite necessary. It also does include something spiritual which does include self-esteem and other things that do not have to do with our physical nature. It is a general outline.

Suffice it to say there is no one right way or best way. I prefer this way, you prefer that way, she prefers a completely different way and he prefers a combination of yours and hers. The idea is to have one, or, at least, think about developing one. It’s handy, not too tough to create and comes in, oh, so handy, on a daily basis.

We may have heard someone say,

“I’m missing something,”

or

“I feel like there’s a hole inside me.”

Even the expression,

“I have to get myself together,”

means a gathering of behaviors, reactions and choices so that we more clearly live our best vision of and for ourselves and others at that point in time and onward.

We all feel, at least, a little as if we have to make some adjustment at one time or other. It’s part of the process we go through where we reshuffle ourselves to become more (here comes the word again) in balance, where we make personal changes to become more supportive of our goals and ourselves.

THE WHEEL OF BALANCE

We can almost think of the formula as a wheel of balance with each category a spoke. What I would put in as the categories that we need to balance life are these. As I said before, each of us may differ; although, we, humans, are not all that different and most of us would include these in our list.

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS: OUR ACTION STEP

Now that we have an infrastructure, a framework, an outline from which to work; we can decide what to keep, what to add, what to omit. So let’s self-evaluate, slowly, consistently and on a continual basis. Once we get ourselves in balance, we change. And we actually do change daily. So, it would make sense to go through this process frequently to see whether the balance in our lives required major or minor tailoring.

A good example might be for us to look at an aircraft in the wind. Whether it’s a hang glider or a jet, as the wind changes, which it does continually, the pilot makes changes to accommodate it, from mini-changes all the way up to rerouting or not flying.

This adjustment is something we should look at daily. It will serve us well.

CONCLUSION

The balance in our lives is really a process. It’s not one place we obtain and stay. As with the wind, there are always new goals, new conditions, new feelings, new advantages, new obstacles for which or from which to adapt.

Whether we compromise to accommodate a loved one or change a spiritual outlook or activity; it is important to include the entire assortment. In the meantime while each person is figuring out balance in our lives, the outline above is a starting point.

ANOTHER NOTE

I always say I am a better editor than I am a writer. In seeing the balance in our lives wheel, above, I immediately began to edit it. But, when we put too many things in, we get lost in the weeds.

So this is good for now. I’m sure tomorrow, I will see something new because I will be new. And so will you.

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Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution and habit replacement, certified in Whole-Foods Plant-Based Nutrition.

She believes that small, consistent changes in our lives mount to ever improving quality of life improvements. She says,

“If we are consistent and relaxed, we will make ourselves more fluid, more powerful, more meaningful, more healthy than the day before.

“We each look at life from a different perspective. Most of us require similar things, though: love from other people, creativity, productivity, music, art, fitness and a way to make some sort of difference. We each decide how to balance ourselves.

“And, then, there’s the great opportunity. We can make changes at any time. As we feel the need, we change to support our own balance.

“In the meantime, let us all take good care of ourselves, because we are so worth it!”