Finding a balance between working and having fun is one of the hardest things to do for most people I know. Often, what makes us choose one over the other is guilt, the root of all evil. Truly, it’s difficult to find balance in any aspect of life. Stop and ask yourself if you see your life as balanced. Do you spend endless hours working to support your family, or cleaning to impress your friends? Perhaps instead you care only about your needs, and instead use every available opportunity to have fun, regardless of the consequences.
Living a balanced life is important not just for your mind, but for your body as well. Perhaps you have been feeling stressed, irritable, anxious? Emotions such as these that result from inner imbalances can often lead to negative physical or outward manifestations. You might notice this as depression, lack of sleep, neglect of your nutritional needs and the interruption of other bodily system functions. When these symptoms appear, you react with more feelings of stress and irritability. You can see how stopping the cycle by finding some balance is important.
Making time for both work and play is as easy as setting boundaries and sticking to them. Not so easy, you say? Try this. Write down on a sheet of paper the tasks you absolutely MUST accomplish for the day. Add an equal number of fun and/or extracurricular activities. At first glance you may think there isn’t enough time in the day to do it all, but this only means your priorities may need to be revisited. Use this method for at least a couple weeks and see if you don’t start to feel more whole inside, a sign you’re giving equal time to all aspects of your life.
Creating balance with your thoughts and spiritual habits is equally important, because it’s difficult to feel truly balanced unless all aspects of your life are in order. Once you’ve made some progress in balancing work and play, consider how much attention you give to nurturing your mind and spirit. Do you set aside time to read, learn and explore? Do you have a daily or weekly spiritual practice? You may not think these things are crucial, but making them a priority quickly helps you realize what you were missing without them.
Here’s a quick and easy way to create balance both mentally and spiritually: set aside 15-30 minutes daily to nurture yourself from within. Spend a few minutes reading first thing in the morning, and again before bed at night. Try to choose reading material that uplifts your spirit and soothes your mind, or at least material that leans more toward the positive than negative.
After you finish your reading session, spend just a few minutes breathing slowly and tuning in to your spiritual center. Direct your attention to the center of your chest, or slightly lower to your abdomen. You may not notice anything right away, but over time you should notice a sensation of fullness, aliveness or connection in those areas, as well as a greater sense of peace that seeps into every other aspect of your life.
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