Creating Balance In Your Life

We all need balance in our lives. If we put all our attention on only one or two things it leaves us lacking in many other areas. If we vary our activities and interest it helps to fulfill our many needs for achievement, recognition, creative expression, spiritual growth and emotional support. Then when one area is not go so well we can lean on the other parts.
Some of the areas we can develop in life are as follows:

Family and Friends.
We are naturally social animals. We need to feel connected and involved with other people. Having strong relationships helps to create an emotional buffer against hard times and stress.

Personal Time.
Everyone needs quite time alone. Time for yourself allows you to reflect on your relationships, your career path, your financial status, your health, and the overall direction of you life.It also allows you to just slow down and take a breath. But remember to have fun in personal time too.

Work
Work outside and inside the home provides a sense of productivity and achievement most people need to feel good about themselves. Participating in professional associations is one way to enhance the quality of you work.

Community Involvement
Pursuing a political cause or helping people with special needs allow you to give something back to the community. There are many ways to get involved in your community and helping others may have a unique payoff. It may help you put your own life in perspective.

Spiritual Involvement
Whether you define it as belief in a higher power, connection to the earth, or simply a moral consistency in what you think, feel and do, spirituality can provide a sense of meaning and purpose in your life beyond your own self. It also provides you with a sence of support outside of the physical world.

Fitness
Many forms of exercise can provide stress management benefits. It releases pleasure-producing hormones, strengthens and relaxes muscles and give you more energy. It can also improve the way you look and feel about yourself.

Food
Balanced meals provide the energy you need to meet the day's physical challenges. Eating a variety of healthy food such as protein, vegetables, fruits and grains helps both our body and mind function much better. Limit caffeine, a stimulant that increases the stress response, and sugar, whose quick energy fix backfires making you more tired and irritable. Eat small meals several times a day.

Pets Keep You In The Pink
They purr, sing, hop, dance, or wag their tails with uncontional joy. Pets can often be the saving grace in face of stress. In fact, they may even lower you blood pressure or decrease your number of doctor visits. They provide us with both emotional connection and a sense of purpose. The unconditional love they give cannot not be mimmicked by any other relationship.

Fun
Don't feel guilty about having fun. Just enjoy yourself. You can justify having fun for fun's sake. It doesn't matter what you choose for fun as long as you enjoy it. It might be puzzels, sports, crafts, cooking, writing or any other acitivity you like to spend time doing. Give yourself permission to just let go and have fun. Bringing humor into stressfull times can also help to balance out your life. Lighten things up and you will feel lighter.

I hope that some of these suggestions will help you to find better balance in your life. Play with some new ideas and activities and see where it might take you.

Men and Women are that they might have joy and happiness.


Adapted from Rapid Eye Technology Life Skills Manual.