Life can be overwhelming when there is hardly time to do meaningful things after a full workday and when the day happens in fast forward mode. Sadly, this is our current reality, and it is important to save ourselves from the devastating effects of a wasted life. Such “destructive” life dynamic causes emotional, then mental and then physical stress which affects our overall health. The first step to regain and maintain our health is to find balance in our lives and for that we need awareness that something needs to change. Next, we need to explore ways to bring us closer to balance such as being strict about the hours we put into work. It might sound obvious but if we want anything to change, we need to act, otherwise the only thing that will change is your health for the worst.
Often, what ends up happening is that we procrastinate for solutions and unfortunately life does not stop for us. Life continues passing by and we sadly see it go by unlived or lived with no quality. What a waste! A life with no quality is stressful and we know what this does to our mental, emotional, and physically wellbeing.
We need to realize that only we can fix this lack of balance problem. We are absolutely a hundred percent responsible for adding quality to our lives. We need to be pro active and make time to create balance. This should leave enough time for self care which includes but is not limited to: spending quality time with our partners, family and friends, taking a nice long bath, reading a book or watching a movie, cooking a nice meal or going out to our favorite restaurant, going out for walks breathing fresh air, meditating, listening to music, going to the theater, riding a bike, exercise, in other words, invest time in what you love the most with whomever makes your heart sing.
Most of us have heard the word meditation and, at least for me, for the longest time it intimidated me because it sounded so complicated and reserved for more advanced spiritual human beings. Today I have learned that meditation is any practice that focuses on one thing only, clears the mind from bombarding thoughts and helps relax the body. Some examples for meditating are breathing techniques, mindfulness, starring at a candle, progressive muscle relaxation, movement meditation, visualization, body scan, etc. As you can see, it is not only about sitting quietly and still which for most of us the thought of it triggers uneasiness because we are so used to a nonstop life. Staying quiet and still can feel as a punishment to most people. We no longer know what to do with ourselves when we are not doing something.
We do not need to make big changes or do big things like long expensive trips to stay healthy…little does it, but it is imperative to act. Making a priority list of important things in your life is a way to organize your head and decide where you want to allocate your heart and energy. Where and how you decide to invest your time will be reflected in your overall wellbeing because mind, body and soul are interconnected. They transfer back and forth what quality energy you have inside; if your energy is balanced and positive you will enjoy health, happiness, and peace and the opposite applies as well.
This technological era has developed a short attention span. Everything happens quickly. Our reward needs to happen instantaneously because we suffer from “instant gratification syndrome”. We have lost our ability to wait; patience is a thing of the past. If something takes too long or it is not easy, we automatically discard it. We will then look for a fast and easy alternative from the million of options that are at our disposal which only exacerbates the “syndrome”. Again, little does it and little by little gets you to your goal except it will take time, effort, sacrifice, and patience. This is the reason why conventional medicine is much more popular than natural medicine because it cures symptoms quickly, but it does not necessarily get to the root of the problem. One small simple thing we can learn that would be a huge achievement in pro of our wellbeing is to learn to be still physically and mentally. Slowing down gives us the chance to dive inwards for some introspection. I found this on Wikipedia about the meaning of Introspection: “is the examination of one’s own conscious thoughts and feelings. It is closely related to human self reflection and self discovery, and it is contrasted with external observation.” Whenever we stand still away from the distracting noise of life, we can practice introspection. This practice is the key to finding our balance because we build self awareness which brings us a step closer to finding self motivation, consequently finding freedom and peace.
It does not matter if we take baby steps on our path to balance as long as we take that first and most important step towards our betterment because it is the hardest one to take. The satisfying feeling we will get from these first steps will motivate us to continue down the path. You will know when you have attained the desired balance once you feel peace…that is your guiding light and compass in life. Little does it. Little by little.
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