Posts Tagged ‘balanced living’

I think of health and wellness through a simple lens…what am I giving and receiving that nourishes me, what am I giving and receiving that depletes me? I need people, activities, and ways of being that fill my cup to be greater than those that might deplete me. I have never been great at math (with the exception of a grade 12 math course that I aced for some unknown reason!)  Our optimal health – in mind, body, heart, and spirit – requires some math, or requires attention on the ratio of choices, time and attention that we give to the things and choices that ultimately are in service to our highest possible health, well-being and fulfillment in all areas of our life.

For example, here are some of the questions I ask myself on a regular basis…

Do I eat a healthy diet? Is the percentage of good, nutritious food that feeds my body greater than the junk I might choose to put into it? For example, do I drink more green smoothies and less white wine?

Do I move my body regularly? Do I choose to get up, move around, go for a walk, stretch, do yoga… enough to gain the benefits of regular exercise in relation to the hours I sit at my desk?

Do I book regular date nights with my husband to create enough time and space to listen attentively, relax together, dance in the living room such that it balances all the time we are on as parents to our two young sons, running two businesses, and keeping up with the demands and responsibilities of daily life?

Have I nurtured what feeds my soul? In the past month? The past week? The past 24 hours?

What questions do you need and/or want to ask yourself as check-ins regarding how you are filling your own cup?

How does your health and wellness math add up?

“When we persevere with the help of a gentle discipline, we slowly come to hear the still, small voice and to feel the delicate breeze, and so to come to know the presence of Love.” ~ Henri Nouwen

If you think of self-care as a practice, a path for returning to yourself over and over again to reflect, replenish and renew…what shifts for you?  How we think about self-care impacts our capacity to nourish this aspect of our health and wellness.

If self-care is exciting, gentle, rewarding, compassionate, non-judgemental, guilt free, necessary, vital…how does this support you to give more permission to nurturing this calling from within?

What do you need to make your self-care a priority? Something at the top of your ”to do” list versus at the bottom (we all know that we don’t get to things at the bottom of our “to do” list)?  

Try this: for one week, each and every day, book self-care dates – put them in your calendar just as you would an important appointment with a client, a dentist appointment, lunch with a friend, make your self-care real by putting it in time.   Notice how you feel honouring these dates with yourself…allow them to be fun, inspiring, nourishing times, opportunities to relax and renew.

What are you going to do (or not do) during your self-care dates?  Share your ideas here.  I am going to my daytimer now to do this same exercise…writing in my journal at Beddis Beach is going in my calendar right now.  Have fun!

I recently started a discussion thread on LinkedIn – within the Work-Life Balance group.  I asked what some of the challenges leaders experience as they strive for Work-Life Balance.  A wide range of thoughtful responses/discussion flowed from this question, including challenging the term work-life balance.  Some offered work-life blend and work-life integration as terms.  How do you refer to the continuum and juggling of your personal, family and work realities?  In addition to what you call it, what are some of your favourite tips for achieving or tending to this important part of your overall quality of life?

Your life balance coach, Lynda

We just returned from our family vacation – we spent a week camping on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, BC – where we walked along the shores of Long Beach each day.  Long Beach is a sacred place on the planet - old growth forest lines the miles of white sand beach, waves bring brave surfers to shore, the eye can see distant horizon, broken only by spotted islands off shore,an eagle flew by just inches off the sand after collecting debris for her nest, and within this pristine place, there is hardly another soul around.  During my morning run along the tidal flats, I saw seven other human beings as I moved my body four kilometers over wet sand.  I stopped along the way to stretch, breath, give thanks for the beauty and peacefulness of this place.  I watched the rhythm of the tides, going in and out twice a day – thinking to myself that all of nature has its own natural rhythm – high and low tides, night and day, the changing seasons, living and dying…and that we all have our own rhythms – our ways of being, the pace we choose to live our lives, our cycles of sleep, rest, and activity, the ways we love, the ways we ebb and flow between caring for ourselves and serving others, our inhale and exhale, the pause between them – all of this and more is our own unique natural rhythm.   The more self aware we are of our natural rhythm – the more we can structure our daily lives to honour this rhythm – like the tide, it can simply be, can happen with the power of a universal energy (gravity, etc.) supporting the way. 

Reflections:  What is your natural rhythm?  How do you honour this rhythm in how you choose to live and organize your daily life?  What changes might you make to honour your natural rhythm even more?

Peace, Lynda

If you like what you see/read/experience in this blog, feel welcome to subscribe to my free bi-weekly e-newsletter, Creative Wellness Tips and Tools, which always includes a feature article ranging in topics related to personal growth, wellness, balanced living and healthy workplaces – visit www.creativewellnessworks.com for easy sign-up – receive your free copy of the Top 10 Tips for Balanced Living when you subscribe.  Thanks and be well, Lynda