Be in Balance

I love the quote for today’s blog, which is the last in this month’s joy habit series of being in balance.  In this month's first blog post, you may recall that I referenced the seven aspects that make up your life experience as suggested by the Oola approach.  To recap, the 7 F’s are Faith, Family, Friend, Fun, Fitness, Finance and Field.  I’ve chosen Field as my last and most important topic for life balance because we need your talents now more than ever! You see, we’re embarking upon a new time, accelerated in great part due to the pandemic.  What I am witnessing is the abundance of possibility that is being created amidst the chaos of the past year.  And it’s an exciting new era that will require a new mind and the collective pooling of our talents. I’ve been reading a great deal about this shift that has been predicted for some time and, like always for me, I discovered a great book on my bookshelf that I had forgotten about and had not made time to read.  Spirit told me this was the time.  The book is called Jump Time by Jean Houston.

To continue this month’s joy habit of being in balance in order to live a more joyful life, today’s offering will examine the attention you give to the aspect of fitness in your daily life. But it’s about more than just your physical body.  Yes, physically you want your body to be fit so that you have better health, strength, and stamina as you age.  Developing a good overall fitness practice that keeps your body moving and your heart pumping will not only help maintain optimal physical health, but it will also help reduce mental stress and anxiety. No surprise there.  And lots of good evidence to support that fact. But I see fitness in a more holistic way. I would include nutritional fitness in the category of life balance.  And I am a true example of the benefit of getting this aspect of your life in check.  Here’s my story.

In last week’s blog, I referenced an interesting approach for January’s joy habit of being in balance that was created by the founders of Oola Life.  I especially like their contemporary approach for segmenting the various aspects of the whole into seven distinct parts that they call Faith, Fun, Fitness, Family, Friends, Finance and Field. Even if you have used other terms to define and group the various components of your life, you can likely find a place for all your aspects in these 7 F’s. Because the use of alliteration makes these easy to remember, I prefer to use these but feel free to use whatever grouping you are accustomed to. The objective is to examine all the parts of the whole and determine which ones are in sync and which ones are out of balance.  Then work towards bringing them all into alignment. When you do, you’ll experience a greater sense of peace so that you can remember the joy that you were always meant to feel.

I’ve dedicated the first month of 2021 to the joy habit of balance.  For as I see it, being in balance is one of the best states that will enable you to not just survive these next few challenging months, but to actually come out stronger on the other side. Here’s why. When all the various aspects of your life are balanced, you’ll feel less stress, have better clarity, and actually will accomplish more of what’s really important in your life. On the other hand, when you’re not living in balance (and your body and soul will know it), you’ll feel overwhelmed, anxious, and remorseful about the neglect of some aspects of your life – all toxic emotions that rob you of your joy. Today’s blog will provide you with some resources to help you examine your current life and what areas you may want to work on in 2021.