Balance - in your day and in your life

I have a handout by an anonymous author. It's a helpful guideline that I like to use that contains seven easy tips, which are:

Do something for yourself

Do something for someone else

Do something you want to do

Do something you don't want to do

Do something mental

Do something physical

Say a prayer of gratitude

Balance can be a trickier concept that it sounds. You may be a very giving person who does lots for others, but doesn't do enough for yourself to have a satisfactory life. An example of that might be that you have been giving lots of time to help your struggling sister care for her kids, but can't find enough time for you to take a walk, see a movie or do something for you.

I use an example of a battery for monitoring your inner "charge".

We need to keep our monitoring needle on neutral. When you're giving to others, but not giving to yourself, your needle starts going into the yellow zone, and if we still don't give ourselves what we need, our needle goes into the red zone. You are really depleted then, and can't really help anyone including yourself.

The answer to recharging your battery is to identify at least five things that charge your battery. Your list will, of course, be different from mine. Mine include hanging out with my loved ones, gardening, a long bath, chatting with friends and walking. When I need to charge my battery, I need to discipline myself to do those things I've identified till I'm recharged.

Then I can give to others again.

Or you may be a person who pays alot of attention to your own needs, but doesn't find ways to give to others. Your life might be pretty together, but you aren't helping anyone else. Either way is out of balance - Find your balance and you will be a happier person.