Hey Ya’ll lets be real about this living a balanced life. First of all we cannot do anything without God. You must know that from the start. The breath you are breathing is not yours, its on loan. Secondly, you are not what you see in the mirror. At best its a house you live in that was built by your mother and father in a natural sense. Thirdly, the way we behave is a product of what we have experienced in life and what we think we know. Which ain’t a whole lot in the scheme of life. I am a reader. Sometime I just want to consume know and understand everything from all the books I read. it’s not going to happen.
I said that to say that life is a journey and process that feels slow. I am going to use myself to demonstrate how this works. Ok, right now I am in my sixties and decided to really pay attention to how I am spending my life and everything that pertains to life. Lets examine my physical health as an example. In my formative years I was not so present or aware of how I ate and the lack of exercise effected my life. Now I am trying to get it together. I am present; believe me when it comes to how I feel when I eat and move this aged body. Looking at my body sometimes expecting it to whip in shape just cause I eat right and exercise. It does not work like that I am finding. It takes time to get a solid foot hold on putting your body in shape; especially if it has not been a practice through out your life. Those fat cell are resistant to change. Discipline and diligence will be needed to notice lasting change. You never arrive. Meaning you do life day by day. Stay in today, do the best you can and get up and do it again tomorrow if you get the opportunity (wake up). sound simple. It really is that simple.
Les,
Very sound advice indeed in your article.
I have learned the very hard way over several decades that mind/body balance and managing expectations are key in achieving work/life balance. Stress can be a serious factor.
The human physiology has not evolved to match the pace at which we live today and the technology available to us. Gadgets (or “Gadget” programs) for fitness are a fad, cost money and supply relatively little value. They espouse the quick and easy because that is what sells. Diet programs are the same.
The following 4 basics are suggested for starters. They can be efficiently achieved but not quickly and for many not easily. But they are monumentally worth the investment. Like many other challenges they require management and synchrony with the other elements of our life.
1. Realign a long walk with problem solving and family time to have a clear horizon and put mind and body in synchrony. Our bodies still require moderate exercise to function because we have not yet evolved out of your “Hunter/Gatherer/Fight/Flight” physiology.
2. Develop habits that permit the subliminal mind to work while the body rests as least 7 hours a day with sleep.
3. The human body needs a mix of lean meat and vegetables. The artificial junk clogs us up and wears us down.
4. Manage expectations – those others have for us and those we have for ourselves. We are sensitive and vulnerable creatures, designed in a complex and vastly varying ways. The pace of life these days requires cultivation of expectation management and everyone must evolve their own unique form of that art.
Ken Larson
“Rosecoveredglasses”