How Balanced Is Your Life

"Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some."
- Robert Fulgham

Trying to live a balanced life, it is something each of try to do but can be difficult to achieve. A well balanced life is very much like the wheel of a bicycle. When perfectly round it rolls smoothly down the road.

An unbalanced wheel causes pain and slow movement.

We concentrate too much on one aspect of our life and the others fall into disrepair. Too much work and your family life suffers. Too much play time and your financial condition can weaken.

So much to look after.

Where is the center of your balance? Are you creating time for each area of your life? Is your life's wheel smooth and round or do certain areas need to be worked on? How do you even know?

Take a look at the diagram and imagine YOU in the center of the wheel. Each area of your life has a value. Again, imagine a series of numbers starting at one closest to you counting out to nine on the edges.

Is your spiritual life a two or possibly doing real well and could be considered an eight. Carefully consider each area of your life and place a value on the chart next to it. How closely do the numbers match?

If you connected the numbers, would they create a round circle or a very odd shaped pattern. Whatever you come up with, the intent is to help you start looking at your life and the area that might need attention.

I did not give you the number ten to use.

Ten is commonly associated with being perfect and as a person who is growing and understands what life is like will know we will never be perfect. We can be very good at things and strive for greatness, but balance is what we want in life.

Now when you have finished rating yourself, understand this is not a contest. It is a guide for you find out well your life is balanced. Look at those areas you marked low and begin to work on those areas first.

As you begin to bring balance back into your life, remember it is about the balance. Once you have achieved that, you can begin to increase your life from all all areas being a six to all areas being an eight.

Bring balance back into your life and experience a great life.

Stay inspired my friends!

Accumulation of Stuff

"What we do as individuals matters. It adds up." - Maurice Strong

It was closing in on 115 degrees Fahrenheit in Mesa, Arizona. A normal day for any hot desert location.

We were spending time attending to family matters. My wife, sister-in-law and a world of emotion surrounding our current task. With all that was going on, the intense heat was a mild distraction.

Even the search for any amount of shade under which one could parking the car was coming at a premium. If you find a bit of shade, it makes a huge difference and air conditioning continues to run at full blast trying to stay ahead of the searing heat.

Our time in Mesa was not a social visit in nature. We were handling my mother-in-law's care after her second husband passed away. Both were in their eighties at the time and Mom was in a nursing care facility.

So our task was to finish out the matters which one has during these times. It meant ensuring final arrangements were made, the home cleaned out and sold; the end of life things which each of us will go through eventually.

It reminded me of all the 'stuff' we accumulate in life.

The papers, the tools, the knick-knacks, mementos, and pictures we amass over our lifetime. There were the prescription bottles, clothes, and shoes which filled the cupboards and closets. Gardening tools and outdoor gnomes which spoke to an active life once roaming the grounds.

As we continued the process, I realized how little all of those material items mean. Their value was nothing compared to the life we have lived, or the love and goodness we had shared with others. All of us accumulate all of these things through out our life.

The good, the bad, and the ugly; yes, that was a reference to a Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. But we ourselves are also an accumulation of those things we have done with our life. We are not measured by our money or possessions, nor are we remembered for having the coolest car or the fanciest house.

The memory of me or you or anyone is based upon how we lived our life. It is based upon how we treated, loved, hated, or lifted others. And while none of us are perfect in our life's accumulation, what we can do now is strive to live it well.

Be a positive force in the lives of others and leave of memory of our life with people saying, "there lived a great person who did great things for others."

Stay inspired my friends!

Changing Inside

by Bansky

"Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives." - William James

Stay inspired my friends!

Wearing Overalls

"There are really only two dimensions to the concept of attitude -- you either behave as though you are a victim of circumstance, or you take full responsibility for your situation." - Richard Rudd

I believe it was Thomas Edision who said, "Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." A very appropriate quote when I hear people tell me nothing good ever comes their way.

Tough life to live when you view from a negative perspective.

Many times we fail to have good things happen in our life because we simply fail to put on those overalls and work to be in a position of opportunity. An author, albeit slightly odd in my opinion, Carlos Castaneda said, "The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same."

So yes, we work at being negative or work at being positive about our life. It is work we have to undertake either way. So why would we choose to be negative if it take work to accomplish either type of attitude.

Are you willing to fit into those overalls? Will you work to put yourself in a position of opportunity? Or are you simply going to work hard at the negative aspects of your life?

Stand on the side of the road watching or get in the flow of life.

You have the ability to make things happen in your life. You control the attitude and the happiness which emanates from within. Put on those overalls and work hard on a positive attitude. Let life offer more then you ever imagined.

Stay inspired my friends.