The Beautiful Balance Edition of my Monthly Newsletters
Hi everyone and I really hope you are safe, happy & well?
As September unfolded and more of us travelled a little further through the vortex of change, there were increasingly more wobbles, more extreme reactions and many of us expressing a need for balance 🧘♀️. So in this edition, we are going to share resources, offer support, share ideas and suggestions around how you can find and maintain your personal balance.
As the Mighty Euripides stated “The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are indeed really wise”
Balance begins from within
So we all know and understand, in order to get to the place of balance, we need to do some internal work. So what I usually suggest when someone asks for advice on finding balance, is to start off by focussing on your 3 hobbies. Now this has what has worked well for me in my new life is embracing Ikigai and having three hobbies, which are:
🏃♀️ Hobby 1: One to keep you in shape
🎨 Hobby 2: One to keep you creative
💷 Hobby 3: One to make you money
Note that the balance can be achieved if you pursue physical activities, embark on creative adventures, and impact the world with purposeful missions.
Studies have shown that hobbies can make workers substantially better at their jobs and by spending time with your hobby, you can boost your workplace skills too – creativity, perspective, confidence. Read more here. So begin your journey with having these 3 hobbies.
Find pleasure in the simple things
So I have found that in life, sometimes we continuously search for the ‘big events’ to bring joy to our lives. However, you may actually find that simply taking a step back, and embracing those small moments could actually ground you, and assist with getting your moment of equilibrium.
For example, the simple moments like lighting lovely candles kind folks given as a gift, where the fragrance in the air is gentle and fresh yet so uplifting. Or that moment where you choose that special coffee directly from a special place in the world, allowing you to enjoy that cup that little bit more.
These small moments that we can easily see as mundane, but once you decide to spark your senses and become present – the ordinary moment, becomes more magical. When you decide to consciously embrace these small moments, you’ll find yourself naturally finding your balance.
Remember this: You cannot pour from an empty cup
Some of us have had the privilege to work with many people across many cultures, and in some instances, some of us have had the opportunities to lead teams. Leadership is a task that requires your energy and in order to give energy, you yourself need energy. Hence why I fully embrace the quote ‘you cannot pour from an empty cup’. It is so important to invest in your emotional and physical fitness in order to be the best you can be.
Over my career, I have learned that it is important to find a method of managing your emotions (as you will encounter them). I have found a few ways that I have utilized, in order to keep my emotions and mind in a good place.
😓The worry hour: It may surprise you but I think and worry a lot! So I have increased my productivity by scheduling a dedicated “worry hour” to focus on what is on my mind and what I do about it!
📂Self-esteem file: Building resilience with my “self-esteem file” a place where I collect all the positive, kind, and meaningful inputs I receive so I can revisit when I am low.
🙌Emojis can help you: Improve communication with emojis to convey emotional information quickly online and use it with your work team, family, friends, or partner. For example:
👯 I’ve got your back!
🌵 This is a prickly subject
👀 I see how hard you’re working
🙊 I don’t feel like talking yet
🧠 I’m stuck in my head
To get balanced, you need to get moving.
Remember when I mentioned before about the 3 hobbies – I have also found the importance of moving. As in physically staying fit and healthy. There are so many benefits that come along when you are physically fit. However, there are a few unexpected benefits of exercising – which could help you find that balance. These are:
⚡Bursts of energy
🎨Improve our creativity
🤐Help silence negative thoughts
🤝Can create new communities
💪Help us stay resilient
📝Sets us up for the day ahead
🤘Helps us realise how capable we are.
Gratitude + Balance
One of the focal points that have enabled me in finding my balance is having key approaches to being grateful each day, being positive and laughing more. These have increasingly become hugely more important for me.
I am ever so grateful for the life I live. To be able to enter into this new phase of my life where I am able to dedicate more time to devote to serving others has allowed me to become more balanced.
When you have the time, ensure that you take an inventory of your own life – so that you can also live a more balanced life.
Here are a few examples that I have implemented that has led me into a more balanced life.
– From working to make a living, to working to make a big difference
– From following an explicit direction, to charting a new course
– From juggling life & work to harmonising all that I do
– From engineering exercise around a work schedule to delighting in hours a day of fun fitness
– From being kind to all I Interact with to being kinder to myself as well
These are all elements of my life that have changed, that I am ever so grateful for. However, as most of you may understand and know – sometimes change can be quite tricky to embrace.
We need to stay strong on our course of balance and not waiver‼
Finding balance through change
Change is inevitable, but sometimes change can happen when we least expect it, and sometimes it really does shake our equilibrium. However, there were some active changes that I have had to make, in order to create more balance.
So sometimes, the change that happens is something that I have done. Which could be potentially cutting off something or someone that is no longer serving you. I find those that drain you with their obsessions or epicenters of regular panic are best to be managed to the sidelines, kindly, thoughtfully but definitively.
However, there is a point where change happens – and it is beyond your control. As you may know, change was the only constant over the past couple of years. There are a few approaches that can be useful for you, when change is approaching:
- Focus on what you can control and park in “worry later”
- Take time for yourself and really seek out the things you love doing and the people who bring energy and joy into your life
- Give yourself some credit‼ Give yourself a big self hug when you make progress and tackle another little mountain
- Remembering that the transitional phase is only temporary and it too shall pass
Always remember: Laughter is medicine
I know it may sound a little alien but really laughing is so good for us! I would insert a joke here, but some of you know that my joke-telling skills are not the greatest.
However, I am finding myself laughing more and more! It might be due to some interaction with family and friends as we traverse the vortex of change, but it feels good!
Studies have shown that laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity.
Add to this finding humour in our everyday living. I love this fun article from the New Yorker and exceptionally risqué graphics.
So possibly, your key to finding a balance may be – to simply have a laugh!
I hope this balance newsletter is beneficial and timely for you – let me know how your journey to attaining some balance is going. And of course, would love your inputs if you have any more pointers on finding the balance you would like to share today with our readers.
Stay safe, happy, well and in touch.
Warmest
Harriet.