{balance}

"family skipping" taken by boho girl

So I am addicted to this blog that I found by Christine Kane. I love the idea of her post entitled "you say you want a resolution". I have done this in the past, a few years ago my word was choice. Which was profound for me, as I was raised in the "be seen and not heard, do what you are told and don't talk back" tradition. So making my own choices was and is still a bit of a challenge. I read the book Choices by Alexandra Stoddard and that's when it really stuck: I have power over my life and it is only by being proactive with my choices that I can retain that power. If I put things off and do not face reality then I am allowing something outside of me control my life by proxy. That year was really a time of growth for me.


I think that we can all guess what my word of this year is... balance. I felt so far out of balance for so long that I thought that to be the norm. I think that balance is really a key word because all other choices need to be made from a place of balance within you. It's a sort of yardstick to measure your decisions. If you are faced with a choice and the answer you immediately come to feels like it will pull you too far in one direction then you can know that there is another choice for you. The ideal is a win -win for everyone concerned. I believe that is possible if we are conscious of our needs and the needs of others when making these decisions.

For example:
A priority for you is to spend quality family time regularly throughout the week. Another priority for you is that you exemplify to your children the value of community service.
You are invited to be the Chairperson for a charity event (good to show the kids service) but it will require three of your nights with your family each week (not good for the family time quotient) for three months. So what do you do? Say yes or say no?

I am suggesting that creativity be mixed into the equation in the effort to find balance.

You could say yes, but you suggest a co-chair to share some of the responsibility so that you have more time with your family. You could say yes and invite your 12 yr old daughter along to shadow you at least one night per week to get a first hand glimpse of your values in action then have good conversation while on the way home.

There are a variety of ways to approach it that help each of us in our own way to strike a balance between our values, our priorities and our real lives. If we take the time to be conscious of our choices we will realize that there are many ways to approach the world and make it work for us.

L.