Tag: balance

Posted on September 29, 2009 in mind and body

Photo by Bikes by the Sea

The following post was inspired by Finding the Balance of Mind and Body at Home @ Simple Mom. 

I love biking. I love how I can glide down a moderate hill, pierce the air, and feel free.  When I’m riding, even if it’s just around the block, my face softens and all the tension and ridiculousness of the day fades away. I’m not a serious biker; I do it for the timeless fun and nostalgia. 

When I first learned to ride, I was awkward and hesitant (and wishing I was in the back of a tandem beach cruiser).  Everything needed to be in sync- steering, pedaling, posture, weight distribution- and while I’d master one thing, I’d lose another. Inevitably, I’d wobble and fall.  

I think it’s safe to say that most of us struggle to find balance.  If you don’t, I applaud you. But if you’re anything like me, an all-or-nothing type, then losing your balance is commonplace. Your career is fulfilling but your home is in disarray.  Your relationships are deep and meaningful but you’re struggling to stay afloat financially. We hear it all the time: “Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride.” Well, that’s assuming that you’re on the bike.  But when you’ve fallen off, how do you pick yourself back up and move forward?

The Wheel of Life (printable pdf) is an excellent tool to assess where you are right now and where you want to be.  I would invite you to join me in completing this exercise:

• Imagine that the center point of the circle is the least desirable place to be and that the outside of the circle is the most desirable place.  
• For each category listed on the lines (you may wish to change or add some categories based on your values), mark a dot on the line that indicates where you are right now.  The closer you place your dot to the perimeter of the circle, the more content you are with this aspect of your life.
• When you have drawn a dot on each line, connect the dots.  How does your wheel look?  Which dots are closest to the center? Where is your wheel most warped? Most importantly, could you ride on it? 

Ultimately, the Wheel of Life exercise helps to identify those areas of your life that need attention.  Right now, mine are physical activity (I created this category), home environment, and spirituality.  Once you have identified these areas, what 3 specific things are you going to do to improve these areas of your life? Now here’s the hard part: Go do them!

Falling is a part of life. It’s normal and healthy. Adjusting and picking ourselves up is normal and healthy too. My hope is that this post gives you the push to do what you need to do in order to have the life that you want to have. Enjoy the ride!

The Wheel of Life was taken from the Business Management forms at Sohnen-Moe Associates. 

Posted on September 25, 2009 in mind and body

Photo by Rennett Stowe

My husband recently emailed me the link to a New York Times op-ed entitled Facebook Exodus.  With it, he wrote in jest: “Maybe we are on the cutting edge of cool . . . it seems the coolest may be leaving Facebook. And we never even joined.”  

Yes, I’m one of those; I’ve resisted Facebook.  And yes, I’ve taken some heat for it.  At times, my ambivalence has left me feeling guilty (when my family posts pictures), but not guilty enough to add this online social network to my to-do list.  I’m already pulled in too many directions, and like many of you, I’m struggling to find the balance between connecting and disconnecting.  It’s just too easy to crack open my laptop and to have the world at my fingertips: Oh, I’ll just check this one thing. This one blog. This one online shop. This one . . . An hour later, I’m kicking myself for not having opened a book, the same one I’ve been trying to finish since July. 

This isn’t about Facebook. It’s about knowing where to draw the line and asking: Is how I’m choosing to spend my time really what I want?  

I am not suggesting that we completely unplug. Most of us wouldn’t want that. Instead, we’d like to reclaim the wasted hours. The bottom line is this: There are only 24 hours in a day, and last I checked, God isn’t adding an extra hour. Our challenge is to strike a balance that we can live with and to use our time well. We text, we tweet, we friend, we google, we even send virtual drinks. Let’s face it, we’re tweeting what’s for dinner, and we’ve invited Big Brother to sit at the table.  Is this really what we want?