Finding Balance in Your Life

What does life balance really mean? What would a balanced life look like to us? And most importantly, how do we go about achieving it in the midst of our crazy schedules?

Martin Seligman, in his very popular book Authentic Happiness argues that authentic happiness is derived from three major sets of experiences in life, namely experiencing pleasantness regularly (the pleasant life), experiencing a high level of engagement in satisfying activities (the engaged life), and experiencing a sense of connectedness to a greater whole (the meaningful life).

Balance in life contributes significantly to subjective well-being. Balance contributes to subjective well-being because of the satisfaction limit that people can derive from a single life domain. People have to be involved in multiple domains to satisfy the full spectrum of human development needs. Different life domains tend to focus on different human developmental needs. More specifically, balance contributes to subjective well-being because subjective well-being can only be attained when both survival and growth needs are met. High levels of subjective well-being cannot be attained with satisfaction of basic needs or growth needs alone. Both needs have to be met to induce subjective well-being.

Balanced living means considering all aspects of your life: relationships, work, fitness and health, and emotional well-being.

While focusing on a healthy lifestyle by exercising and eating right, balanced living means protecting your mental and emotional health, too.

These are steps you can take to change what isn't working and get back some control and balance in your life. And once you start seeing results you'll be better equipped to maintain that new found equilibrium. The key is not to try to change everything at once, but to make small adjustments over time to determine what works for you. Eventually you will have a whole new set of positive life habits and you'll never look back!

•  Balanced Living: Making Time to Eat Right

The right diet will keep your body healthy, give you energy, and boost your spirits. Healthy food can be delicious, and it's fun learning new recipes and healthy combinations.

• Balanced Living: Making Time to Exercise

Exercise isn't something you should force yourself to do, or you won't be likely to stick with. Do something that you like and look forward to doing, instead of another chore that you'll be tempted to skip. Remember that exercise plays a huge role in stress reduction, so make time and motivate yourself for exercise.

• Balanced Emotional Health

The emotional dimension is not just about your feelings, but also emotional presence and how comfortable you are with your emotions. Your emotional wellness includes how well you cope with the challenges of life as well as how productively you can share your strong emotions with others. Coping with stress, having a sense of mental balance, and your own journey to personal discovery all contribute to your emotional dimension.

Taking care of your emotional wellbeing is considered of utmost importance.

• Balances Spiritual Health

Spirituality has now been identified globally as an important aspect for providing answers to many questions related to health and happiness.

The spiritual dimension relates directly to how you find meaning or purpose in life as well as what guides you on your journey toward wholeness. The spiritual dimension focuses on your values and how your actions reflect these.

Balanced spiritual health is what helps you to live in the present and be grateful for everything you have.

• Balanced Environmental Health
  

Environmental wellness is enjoying good health by occupying pleasant, stimulating environments that support wellbeing; trying to live in harmony with nature by understanding the impact of your actions on nature; and taking initiative to protect your personal environment and the world around you.

•  Balanced Intellectual Health

Intellectual wellness is engaging in creative, stimulating mental activities (academic and otherwise), striving for personal growth and a willingness to seek out and use new information, making sound decisions and thinking critically, openness to new ideas; motivation to master new skills; a sense of creativity, and curiosity.

Just as you want your body to be healthy, so should you stimulate and exercise your brain.

• Balanced Social Life

From being comfortable enough with yourself, to engaging with others in healthy ways, social wellness is a significant part of whole living. Connecting with others helps you establish relationships, work well with colleagues, and find the emotional support you need to live a healthy, fulfilling life. Forming intimate relationships that are based on mutual respect as well as supportive boundaries are also an important component. Social wellness allows you to be successful in so many other aspects of your life because you are nurtured and loved by others.

• Balanced Occupational Health

This dimension helps to reflect your ability to perform a task well, problem solve, develop tactical competencies and seek personal fulfilment. Occupational wellness is creating personal satisfaction and enrichment in one's life through work, seeking opportunities to grow professionally and to be fulfilled in your "job" whatever that may be, preparing and making use of your gifts, skills, and talents in order to gain purpose, happiness, and enrichment in your life.

Some strategies to implement in your weekly routine:

• Turn it off - Disconnect in the weekend. Put the phone down and turn off the computer. Give your work brain a rest. Bonus: Spend the extra time actually interacting with your family and friends!

• Hit the gym or plan a fun activity - go for a hike, bike ride, or play a game of golf or tennis. Engage in physical activity every day for 30 minutes. Use stairs instead of the elevator or escalator and walk whenever possible. Also, very important! -- Maintain a regular sleep schedule and get between 7-9 hours of sleep each night.

• Minimize negativity- Minimize the negative influences around you. Try to avoid toxic people (complainers, whiners, poor attitudes.) Surround yourself with positive, supportive, can-do people whenever possible

• Spend time alone - this is crucial for lowering stress, increasing happiness and encouraging creativity. Some things to try; meditating, writing, sketching, doing some yoga or simply sitting quietly for a few minutes each day and do absolutely nothing.

• Relationships do matter - Set aside quality time with your family and friends. Don't just sit in front of the television, really connect and pay attention to those you care about. Make a date with your significant other, have coffee with a friend.

• Treat yourself- Book a facial or a massage. It doesn't need to be costly; a glass of wine, your favourite coffee or tea, a delightfully scented candle or beautiful flowers will make a huge impact.

• Explore the world - Take a walk and pay attention to what's going on around you. Be mindful. Take a new route, visit a new town or try being a tourist in your own. Attend a local performance, play amateur photographer.

• Expand your awareness - Take a class, learn to paint or try something new that you've always wanted to learn. Read a book that sparks your interest or try listening to uplifting music. Find what interests you.

• Remember fun - Laugh, joke, play, find your sense of humour. Nothing makes the feel better as fast as a good old-fashioned belly laugh.

We have discovered that maintaining a healthy life balance is not only essential for happiness and well-being; it can be a tremendous boost to your productivity and career or business success as well. A well-balanced person has a far greater ability to focus their attention and energy on attaining their goals, taking productive actions and moving forward in a meaningful way.

Start incorporating these changes into your routine today and see the difference!

Love and light,

Sophie and Ellie xx

Sources:

Lifehack.com

Forbes.com

Jillconyers.com

M. Seligman (2002) Authentic happiness

M. Joseph Sirgy & Jiyun Wu (2009) The Pleasant Life, the Engaged Life, and the Meaningful Life: What about the Balanced Life? In Journal of Happiness Studies

(1) (PDF) Measuring Spiritual Health: Spiritual Health assessment Scale (SHAS). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281450541_Measuring_Spiritual_Health_Spiritual_Health_assessment_Scale_SHAS [accessed Nov 11 2019].