BALANCE

We all play many roles: parent, sibling, child, friend, spouse, employee or employer, citizen. To spend too much time in one role means we neglect another, so we need to always be mindful of balance. As we play our various roles, we simultaneously pursue a variety of goals: family, relationships, career, finances, spirituality, health, recreation, personal development. Here too balance and prioritization are called for to avoid neglecting important areas of our life.

Our lives are filled with the need for balance, and the first step in achieving it is to become aware of this fact. Here are examples of other areas in which we can fine tune our lives with greater balance:

a) getting what we want versus getting what we need,

b) work versus play,

c) open-mindedness versus gullibility (don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out),

d) time spent with others and time spent alone (time alone with your thoughts is needed to review what's working and what's not),

e) give and take in relationships (be sure to balance what people need from you with what you need for yourself),

f) the fun of spending time with people you have lots in common with versus the learning opportunities that come from spending time with those who are completely unlike you,

g) being humorous versus being serious, and

h) acting logically and rationally versus being spontaneous and willing to follow your intuition.

So you see, there are many areas of our life that need balance, and Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.