How To Add More Balance To Your Life
I don’t know about you, but I find that as I become ‘more mature’, I need to have more balance in my life to appreciate the joys and pains of growing old.
Whether it’s in my work life or home life, eating healthy and eating what makes me happy, doing stuff for others without neglecting myself, etc., everything always works better and goes more smoothly when I’ve got balance and peace of mind.
Or, the frenetic digital world, the ever-growing realization that injustices must be recognized, that throws me off-kilter – it doesn’t matter what the cause, I know I need balance to live a happy and healthy life. For me, everything in this world comes down to finding the proper balance.
Find Proper Balance
I’m the first to admit, achieving balance isn’t the easiest thing. No matter how often I have to redirect my attention, I’ve found all, or a combination of some of these five ways have never failed to bring me peace of mind, and get me moving in the right direction.
- Prioritize
Prioritizing and scheduling can be a great practice to start introducing more of a sense of balance to your life. We all have busy lives and long to-do lists; the only way we’ll ever get everything done and find balance in our lives is by prioritizing what needs to be done when and scheduling our days. The tricky part to this is deciding just what is important; in some cases, your work may take priority, but in others family or friends may take priority over your work on your to-do list. Only you can decide what’s important and what should be prioritized in your schedule when. - Set Goals
Setting both long-term and short-term goals can prove to be incredibly helpful in achieving a balance in your life. It helps you keep your sights on what you want and what’s important, avoiding too much straying from your path. The short-term goals help you to track your progress as you work to achieve your long-term goals, and help you stay on track. - Be specific in your schedule and review it
If to achieve more balance, your goals were to, say, spend more time watching cooking shows, you’re more likely to complete it by saying “watch The Barefoot Contessa and Iron Chef every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 5,” then if you say “watch cooking shows at least twice a week.” Don’t set yourself up for failure. Once you’ve completed your schedule and are sure that you’re specific in the goals you want to achieve and the steps necessary to get there, you should review your schedule. This is an incredibly important step allowing you to reflect on your goals and priorities to ensure everything is as you need it. - Find an accountability buddy
An accountability buddy is someone that holds you accountable for the goals you’ve made, the priorities you’ve set, and the things you’ve said you’ve wanted to do and accomplish. It’s easier to find balance and stick to your goals and schedule when you have someone to be accountable to. Your relationship with your accountability buddy should be interactive and mutual. If you’re not pulling your weight or you carrying more than your load, you could be hurting yourself more than you’re helping. This is the one that takes the most work for me. I’ve no trouble in finding an accountability buddy, it’s about the criticism that comes with it, that almost ended my relationship with one of my best friends – from junior school. Be forewarned, make sure your accountability buddy is just that – not a judge and jury type of person. - Always keep the process in mind
Life isn’t just about what you achieve and what you get, it’s about the journey, the process. To achieve a proper balance, you need to always keep in mind that it’s more the process than the potential achievement. For example, you can make your goal to win a Nobel prize in literature, or you can make it to be paid to write for your career. The latter is a more achievable goal that focuses on the process and journey more than the achievement or prize at the end.
Everyone needs balance to live a happy and healthy life. Finding the proper balance in your life can be difficult, but it’s not impossible and it’s well worth the effort.
My hope is that these five ways have helped to point you on the right path toward achieving a balance in your life.
“Next to love, balance is the most important thing.” – John Wooden.
Meditation is a habit that may come easily to some. I have been meditating for over five years, but there were many days I found myself slipping. These days, not so much, not since I’ve printed out and put on my vision board over my desk these Positive Mindset graphics from Alice Seba at Publish for Prosperity. You can get these graphics at no cost here.
If you’re interested in revitalizing your life through meditation and would like to learn a virtually risk-free, and cost-effective practice, that people of all ages can do with a little patience and guidance and that will serve you for the rest of your life, I would love to connect with you. You can connect with me here.
I’m Donna SLam, who loves to blog about how meditation brings self-compassion, peace of mind, and clarity to my life and others by sharing tips and strategies to live a fulling and purposeful life. I enjoy championing others to lead a healthy and happy life through meditation, walking, self-development, and spending time with loved ones.
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