Man : Balanced Life

Balance  is defined as: :

i. a means of judging or deciding : 

ii. a counterbalancing weight, force, or influence : 

iii. mental and emotional steadiness.

Finding balance does not come from giving equal parts to all things. Unless of course, you decide that you want to just give a little tiny, exhausted bit of yourself to everything and never do anything with real, commitment, zest and intention.

When you are living with balance in your life, you are living with peace and harmony every day. Balance comes in physical forms, emotional forms, and a spiritual form. Being in balance may mean something different to each individual. ... This is part of our emotional balance.

Handling the various elements in your life is an arduous task. It needs a lot of coordination, meddling and sometime enforcement so as the life can be more meaning and balanced.

Physical, mental and spiritual need to be in synergise to each other, if not the end result would be catastrophic.

The elements in life that require the most balancing can be divided into two categories:

·      internal and

·      external

Oftentimes, people focus on one more than the other

Mere focusing on external things– work, relationships, and activities and paying little attention to what is going on inside your heart and mind is not the best in life.

On the other hand, you may find that you spend so much time being self reflective that you sometimes misses out on the experience of living.

Living a balanced life means determining what is most important to you and expending your time and energy accordingly.

There ought to be fairly balanced between the two:

1) Internal (Mind, Heart, Health)

Mind: Challenging yourself intellectually vs. creating opportunities for your mind to rest

Heart: Giving love vs. receiving love

Health: Eating, drinking, exercising properly vs. resting and treating yourself

2) External (Work, Social, Family, Fun)

Work: Pushing yourself to achieve goals vs. seeing the bigger picture and enjoying the ride

Social: Satisfying your social desires vs. taking time for yourself

Family: Fulfilling your familial responsibilities vs. creating healthy boundaries

         Fun: Allocating time for things you enjoy doing vs. making sure you don’t overdo it

Both are actually positive; but taken to an extreme, the positive can end up being detrimental.

Its helpful to check yourself if your life is balanced. If you feel it is unaligned, and you feel uneasy about it. Take steps to realigned it.

Introspect Your Life

Acknowledge:	Microscope your life, your state of mind, and how you’re feeling.  Be honest with yourself and notice the areas of your life that you’re neglecting.
Examine:	Your inclination:  internal or external focus,  or if there are areas within each category that you would like to be more balanced.
Set Goals:	Look at the outline to help you to balance your life.  Make a list.
Plan Tasks:	Make a list of daily, weekly, and   monthly tasks that you will need to do to achieve each of these goals.
Reflect:	The most important thing you’ve accomplished in the past.  Your handling of your fears, doubts, anxieties, worries, and negative self.
Prepare:	Obstacles that keep you from sticking to your plan. (i.e. fears, worries, doubts, negative self talk etc.)  Specify the obstacles. Make a list.
Empower:	Be kind to yourself.  Balance won’t feel good if you’re cruel to yourself in creating it!
Connect:	Keep yourself supported, motivated, and focused.  Sharing your inner process with someone.
Plan:	It takes time and effort to overcome your habitual patterns and create new ones.

Five fundamentals of life.

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony." - Thomas Merton.

Happiness can only be achieved if there is a balance between the physical, the mental, the spiritual and the social/emotional. However, intensity does help on occasion.

A.      Physical	1.    Exercise	Get sufficient exercise. Regular push ups, sit-ups, crunches, jogging or walking are examples.  Unless you are disabled in which case you can learn a modified exercise regimen.
	2.    Rest	Get sufficient rest. About eight hours of sleep helps the body repair itself.  You may personally need more or less, as sleep requirements vary between people.
	3.    Diet	Eat healthier.  Look online and find the food pyramid, then try balancing your caloric intake with your exercise.   There are several competing food pyramids, so pick one or two because following all of them would be too hard.
	4.    Relaxing	Find time to relax.  Just lie down and think about what you did before you started relaxing.  Think positive thoughts or take up a relaxing hobby like sitting or sleeping.
	5.    Hobby	Pick a hobby that you enjoy.  Hobbies can counter daily stress.  Unless the hobby is stressful, like base-jumping or self-mutilation.  You could try collecting model trains or postage stamps.

B.      Mental	1.    Set Goals	Plan out your day, and set goals.  But don't stress out if you don't accomplish everything just the way you planned.   Remain flexible and try different approaches to your goals. .  Unreasonable goals are harder and will probably just lead to disappointment.
	2.Positive mindset	Write but keep it positive. No negative thoughts.  If you have negative thoughts, do not write them down.   Find someone you can vent negative thoughts to -- pretending to be happy all the time will do no good for you in the long run.
	3. Develop Talent	Find out and develop your talents.  Go out and do activities to find what you like.
	4.  Journal	Keep a diary or journal.  This would be a good place to write things.  But remember, no negative thoughts.
	5.      Read	Read.  Try classics books.  If you are not fond of those, try the newspaper, a fantasy novel, bibliography, or mystery. There's something for everyone- check out your local library to test the waters.

C.   Spiritual	1.    Pray	Pray effectively or meditate to be at peace with your inner self.
	2.    Connect with Nature	Communicate with nature.  Go outside, hike, go camping, or have fishing trip.  You may find yourself doing most of the talking.
	3.    Religious Study	Study the religious book, to be connected and understand your belief

D.      Social/ Emotional	1.   Deed	Do a good deed for other people.
	2.  Connect with Nature	Communicate with nature.  Go outside, hike, go camping, or have fishing trip.  You may find yourself doing most of the talking.
	3. Interrelationship	Cooperate with other people that you meet
	4.    Listen	Listen to other people.  There is difference between just hearing the words and actually paying attention and listening to them.
	5.    Cooperation’s	Synergize mutually advantageous compatibility of elements, resources or efforts

 

E.       Material	1.    Education	Get a good education.  To get a good self-supporting job, master the skills necessary for your advancement.  That way you will not be dependent upon anyone else.
	2. Job Satisfaction	The job has to be the one you love.   "Love it or leave it."
	3.    Happiness	Money is not that important.  Happiness is the most important thing. Remember people on Forbes 100 are no happier than average people.

Remember :

Be yourself. Disregard gossip, bias and judgmental attitudes

 Life is too short to be living with regrets. Let go of your anger and lighten your emotion

Spread L.O.V.E

o       L-Listen more, talk less;

o       O-Overlook mistakes & shortcomings;

o       V-Value what you have;

o       E-Express your appreciation.