How to attain life balance

A life review begins with an honest assessment of the core areas: your work, home environment, family and friends, spirituality, physical health, recreation and financial health.

by Ada Porat — 

Search for “life balance” on Google and you will find more than 98 million references. This is one hot topic!

But is life balance even possible in modern society? Amid the material wealth of the industrialized world, the struggle for balanced living has reached pandemic proportions. Never before in history have we had so much and enjoyed so little.

We are bombarded with information and the constant pressure of trying to keep up. So much to do, so little time! Clearly, our lives are over-segmented and off-balance — and we pay the price with less satisfaction and happiness.

To restore balance, we need to first examine the places where things are out of balance. A life review is a great place to start. By reviewing each core area, we can clean out what no longer serves us and start nurturing the neglected aspects of our lives again. This allows us to step off the treadmill of chaotic living into a life filled with meaning and purpose.

A life review begins with an honest assessment of the core areas: your work, home environment, family and friends, spirituality, physical health, recreation and financial health. Ask yourself what the three most stressful or unsatisfying aspects are in each of these areas and jot them down.

You also need to know what you want your life to look like. In other words, what is your vision for your life and what does life balance look like for you? Identify three aspects that you value or would like more of in each of the core areas.

By doing this simple exercise, you will quickly discover which areas are in need of balance in your life — these tend to be the areas where it hurts to look. You can add more balance to your life by eliminating even just one stressful activity or by adding more of something you truly enjoy.

We also need to learn to say “no.” So often, I find that people say “yes” out of misplaced obligation or politeness, when what they really want to do is say “no.” By saying no to what we do not need or want more of, we create space for more of what we do want.

There are many different interpretations of what life balance looks like. For some of us, an unbalanced checkbook is just fine, while for others it violates their very existence. Each of us must clarify what we need to feel balanced and then start working toward that goal.

Ada Porat is a certified life balance coach and holistic health practitioner with extensive international teaching and clinical experience. She integrates body-mind-spirit techniques into teleclasses and workshops on topics of life balance, personal development and spiritual ascension. 602-283-4628 or www.adaporat.com.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 25, Number 1, February/March 2006.