Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Spa Girl says it is all a matter of BALANCE

I stood in line for over an hour this week waiting to post Christmas cards and gifts to various parts of the world and reminded myself that my overall well-being is all a matter of balance--and of course timing. If I had been more organized the cards would have been written and ready to post two weeks earlier and the lines would have been negligible.

In that hour I considered the whole issue of balance—the teadertodder between work and play and what is sensible or not! Women are particularly poor at creating balance as we are always looking after someone besides ourselves. Long ago I gave up the idea that I was super woman, but I do like to think that I’m someone who can multi-task while not turning myself into a pretzel.

Since I love posting aromatherapy recipes, I thought why not create a recipe to help achieve and/or maintain a critical life balance. After all, if we can understand how to balance our lives then we are in a better position to be content. Learning to juggle all the balls, or perhaps even deciding to give up a few might mean a more satisfying and manageable lifestyle. The alternative of course is irritability, exhaustion, headaches and total frustration! Problems will of course crop up, but if your life is generally on an even keel you are in a much better position to deal with whatever comes your way.

A number of years ago I participated in a professional development workshop with two physiologists. The foundation of the week-long program was undertaking the Myers Briggs test, a questionnaire designed to measure knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. In other words, to better understand how people perceive the world and make decisions. I mention this as it was instrumental in understanding (as a manager) how to create balance and achieve goals when dealing with so many different workplace personalities. Even now I find myself reflecting on what I learned in this workshop and how it relates to my own ability to understand and achieve personal balance. Don’t get me wrong, I still have days when I am exhausted and frustrated, that’s when I head to the spa!

I was telling friends at dinner tonight that I was writing this blog on balance and the general consensus was balance requires paying equal attention to our emotional, intellectual, physical and spiritual well-being. With this in mind, here is my recipe.

The first ingredient in creating balance is to know you’re self, take the time to reflect and determine new paths. It is not true that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.

Learn to say NO. This is very difficult for me as I love to say yes and figure it out as I go—it’s almost a challenge. Being aware of this trait I now try to think about it and decide if with will help or hinder.

Make sure you get enough sleep; if you are constantly tired even small problems can become overwhelming.

Make sure to do something that you personally enjoy, like having dinner with friends, having fun relieves stress and reminds us that life does not have to be serious all the time.

Exercise & eat well—what can I say!

Take a ‘time out’ just for your self, meditate, pick up a good book or magazine, whatever brings you contentment.

Enjoy one day at a time and love the one you’re with. Nurturing those we love has so many benefits.

And lastly go to the spa! Remember Spa Girls motto: relax, rejuvenate and restore!

We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing." Unknown

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