Achieving Balance: Three Essential Elements to Living Life to Your FULL Potential!

In last weeks blog I discussed creating awareness. This week's blog explores balance and how it can lead to living a fuller life.

Living life to your full potential begins when you are Confident in YOURself, completely and consciously Aware of YOURself, and achieving Balance in every aspect of YOUR life.

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”

Balance – A stable mental or psychological state; emotional stability. To have equality between contrasting, opposing, or interacting elements.

Balanced - To bring into or maintain a state of equilibrium; mental and emotional steadiness.

On Balance - Taking everything into consideration; all in all.

Synonyms - Equilibrium, Poise, and Stasis

Equilibrium is a stable state of balance.

Poise is composure: calm self-assured dignity, especially in dealing with social situations.

Stasis is a motionless state: a state in which there is neither motion nor development, often resulting from opposing forces balancing each other.

Fulfillment is about living a life that is valued, purposeful, and thriving. Balance is about choosing a life that you desire and creating it through action. When it comes to balance it is about managing priorities in your life. Align activities and relationships to move forward. Feel empowered, not held to circumstances or others expectations or demands. Choose life, don’t react to it. Balance is not about everything having the same weight or being even. Life is dynamic not static. Constantly balancing. Some may not realize they need balance or it may not be a priority, instead the actions are taking priority. Being out of balance can make you feel stuck, powerless, and as if you are on an endless wheel.

"Peace begins with you by the actions you do every day and the way you live your life. Peace is a choice, and you promote peace wherever you go."

The ever elusive balance. Everyone wants it, but most of us are not sure how to get it. Balance has a different definition for everyone. What keeps one in balance may differ for someone else. What most fail to realize is what makes you feel balanced may change daily, weekly, monthly and so on. That is why you have to ask yourself some thought provoking questions and get REAL answers. Once you have the answers you will know what keeps you balanced, identify when you are out of balance and be properly equipped to course correct.

1. Identify - What does balance look like for you?
2. Recognize - When you are out of balance.
3. Take Action – Course correct to get back into balance.

“All happiness comes from one word, progress. We grow or we die. There is no other choice, and life’s problems and our relationships give us the biggest challenges to grow.”

Break down all areas in work and life. Health (including exercise, diet), relationships with others and self (social vs. alone time), Work (rest/play vs. work schedule), etc. Ask yourself questions. Do you make time for yourself, friends, and family? What does your schedule look like? Do you have a tendency to over commit? Is your life inundated with to do list? Think small with daily then expand your thinking into weeks, months, and so on.

Can you describe in detail what that would look like daily/weekly? If not, you may need to think about it more.

Emotions, health (aches, pains, other symptoms). Your body communicates to you, but you have to read the signs otherwise your body continues to create bigger signals.

You may be out of balance when you become exhausted. Exhaustion effects sleep, health, and can make you irritable. Which other symptoms do you experience?

Feelings: Aches and pains; Tension; Headache or Migraines; and Trouble Sleeping.

Emotions: Overwhelm; Depression; Anxiety; Worry or Fear; Irritation; Anger; and Doubt or Insecurity.

Look at the situation and restore flow and movement. Create action to address your issues and to get re-aligned and in control of your life. You have the power to decide and change.

Meditation and journaling are effective methods. Any action that helps you to feel rested and relaxed to allow you to release a specific feeling, emotion, or thought.

• Take time to relax your body and mind.
• Focus on your desires.
• Release pain and tension.
• Don’t overwhelm or overcommit yourself. Know when to say Yes and no.
• Release negativity (feelings, emotions, and thoughts).

Tips to find balance in all areas of your life:

• Listen to yourself – how you feel emotionally, mentally, physically.
• Choose wisely - in all areas of your life.
• Take time to focus and clear your mind (meditation, journaling).
• Slow down – take time for yourself before you become exhausted, stressed and irritable.
• Think and be healthy – This includes your mindset and action you take (exercise, eating well).
• Find your comfortable zone (in your skin, physical space, where you live, work, etc.).

• Find ways to celebrate your life.
• Surround yourself with positive people.

Align yourself from the inside out to find balance.

It is not always about taking big action. Small positive actions can be taken and will help move you forward and keep you motivated. It begins with the small actions and as you continue to apply those actions they multiply into larger actions that will create balance in your life.

The more you apply those actions the more consistent your balance will be. Everyone has good days and bad days, it’s how you identify and react to the bad days that will determine your balance. You can apply this to your professional and your personal life. Remember to take time for yourself. It all begins with you.

"There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized, and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally of course, there are times that cold, and cutting and empty, times when spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are."