Create a Balanced Lifestyle and Begin Living a Happier, Healthier and Enriched Life

Are you living a balanced life?

Many people are not. Their lives are horribly out of balance and their quality of life is being severely compromised as a result. Some people do not even know what a balanced life looks like or how having one will improve their sense of well-being and inner happiness. They have become so stuck within their imbalanced lifestyle that they are not aware of how grave their situation is until a major crisis occurs and they are forced to take a good look at the choices they have been making.

What is balance?

Having a balanced lifestyle means that you are putting enough time and attention into the different areas of your life in order to feel a sense of satisfaction, happiness and fulfillment. Major areas of your life include:

- Career

- Family & Friends

- Significant Other/Romance

- Health

- Money

- Personal/Spiritual Growth

- Physical Environment

A good way to determine the level of balance in your life is to rate your satisfaction and happiness in each of these areas on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being low and 10 being high). A person with a happy and balanced lifestyle will rate each area somewhere between an 8 and 10.

If your life is imbalanced then you may have some areas rated between 8 and 10, and others that are much lower. To create balance, you need to give the areas with a lower score much more time and attention than you have been.

Imagine for a moment that your life is like a car and that each tire represents a specific area of your life. Now imagine that one of the tires is beginning to lose air. You can drive on that tire for some time with no problems, but then one day you will discover (and rather uncomfortably) that it has gone flat. You will constantly feel the thud, thud, thud of the tire trying to make its way down the road, AND if you don't stop, you will eventually wear the tire right out, and driving becomes impossible.

Perhaps that tire represents the area of 'health' in your life. Attention needs to be given to the tire (your health). It has to be repaired and air needs to be put back into it before you can be on your way, unless of course you have a spare in the back of your trunk, and you can fix the problem quickly by just replacing it (ie. you just drink more coffee and eat more sugar to keep you going through the day, and just take another pain killer or antacid when the headache and stomachache get too bad). The old flat tire gets thrown back in the trunk (and living a healthy lifestyle gets put on the backburner).

If you don't get the tire fixed right away (begin living a healthier lifestyle), it will begin to drain even more energy from you, because you know that you have to get it fixed, but don't. As time goes on, and you still haven't done anything to fix the tire, your spare will eventually get a flat as well (because you can only drink more coffee and medicate your problems for so long). This time, there is no spare tire in the trunk to help you out and you are stuck along the road of life without a vehicle to get you anywhere.

My question as a coach is: "Where in your life do you need to put more attention (air in the tire), and if it already has gone flat, what can you do to repair it?"

- Do the exercise stated above and determine which areas need more of your time and attention in order for you to feel happier.

- Become very clear about how the situation is now. Describe in detail each area of your life. Perhaps you rated 'Career, an 8, and 'Family & Friends" a 4. By describing in detail what the '8' in Career looks and feels like, and what the '4' in Family & Friends looks and feels like, you will begin to get a better understanding of what needs to be changed in order to feel more fulfilled and happy.

- Now, create a long term vision for each area. Write in detail how an 8 to 10 would look and feel.

- You are now ready to create a plan that you can begin to implement. Chose one area at a time and determine your own Goals/Intentions that you'd like to develop.

- Outline your Action Steps for each Goal.

- Design your own time-table for completing each Goal.

- If all of this seems too overwhelming to do by yourself, then ask friends and family for help, or hire a coach.

Creating balance in your life is essential if you want to live a healthy, happy and enriched life. Remember, you are your own life's author, the one who is in control, and it is your responsibility to make the conscious choices to make it be the kind of life you want. Balance can be created. Just take one small step at a time and before you know it, you will have it.

"Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so."

Belva Davis

©Cheri Baumann, Life Strategist, Personal Development Coach & trainer with My Private Coach, Personus Coaching & Training, and the University of British Columbia. Her mission is to help people create vibrant, happy and authentic lives. Her coaching style is quiet, with an intuitive strength that promotes self-discovery and positive change in an accepting and playful atmosphere.

You can get more information about Cheri at http://www.MyPrivateCoach.com/cbaumann and contact her for a complimentary coaching session at either cheri@myprivatecoach.com or cbaumann@telus.net .

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