Attaining Balance In Your Life: Quick Impact Resources
Balance is a key part of living a happy, successful and contented life. The start of a year is when people need it most. The day purported to be the most depressing day of the year is in January – Blue Monday. Balance helps to bring this back in to line. As the name implies, it helps balance us. That’s why Balance is one of the 4 pillars of Perfect Madness.
As regular readers of our blog will know, we’ve dedicated the whole month of January to balance. This post is a reference guide to that to help steer you in the right direction and find that balance. Whether it’s something you feel you are in much need of, or you feel that you’re content in life, there’s always improvement to make. We can always be better, no matter how good we are already.
New Life Resolutions
At the end of December Elyse really kicked all this off with her post on Being Selfish to be Selfless – New Life Resolutions. It set the agenda for our month of balance and asked you to look differently at how you make your New Year Resolutions and, instead, consider New Life Resolutions.
The Themes
For the month of balance, Elyse’s posts have focussed heavily on exercising. It goes back to that old mantra of healthy body, healthy mind. She’s covered a few different types of exercises that will appeal to a broad range of people. She rates them as well as describing benefits and drawbacks. Pick a couple of these posts and check them out.
Adventures in Exercising
- Family Yoga. Don’t avoid this post if you don’t plan to do this with your family – of course you can do yoga on your own too. But, sometimes involving those around you, no matter what their age is, can be a really great experience too.
- Geocaching. Not tried this before? This gets you outdoors and adds a little bit of adventure. For those that hate the thought of dedicated and formal exercise, this might be the excuse and the compromise that you’re looking for.
- Bodyweight Exercises. The great thing about this is you can do it anywhere and at any time. If you’re busy, you travel or just need a new way of exercising then this is definitely a great one to check out.
- Shaun T’s Rockin’ Body Hard-Core Abs. This one took me be surprise. But being surprised and opening your eyes to new possibilities is a good thing. What I found even more surprising is that Elyse’s mother loves this workout yet I think it’s even more applicable to men as it is to women. It’s not for the faint hearted either. This guy makes you work hard.
Finding a way of exercising that suits you. One you can stick to, is key. If you’re new to all this then start small. Don’t go at it too hard. Instead, finish your exercise feeling good and wanting more rather than pushing it past that line and making it unpleasant. Feel good from it and you’re more likely to create a habit.
The Mental Game
While Elyse has focussed on the physical side (which, of course, has mental gains associated with it), I’ve been posting about the mental side of things. We’re certainly not limited, mentally, to where we currently are in life. We can improve. It doesn’t matter if we’re down in a rut right now or if we’re feeling the best that we’ve ever been and totally on top of our game. What if we could improve even further?
Mentally agility can improve. But you need to choose to work on it. You need to challenge your thinking. You need to push yourself mentally. You need to open yourself up to what’s possible, not focus on what can’t be done, on what’s impossible. And there are those proven ways with more and more scientific data out there showing the plasticity of the human brain and the possibilities that neuroplasticity has for evolving our thinking – mindfulness and meditation are fundamental in this process.
If it’s your mental game that you’re planning to focus on then take a look at these posts:
- Beating the Roller Coaster Ride of Life. So many of us find that life really is a roller coaster ride. This post doesn’t promise to avoid that but, perhaps, it can help you deal with the lows and really ride the highs.
- How to Achieve Your Goals in 6 Easy Steps. This applies if you’ve set New Years Resolutions (and hopefully you’ve made them New Life Resolutions). But it also applies to whatever other goals and dreams you have. If you’re not yet perfect at achieving your goals, like most of us, then give this post a read.
- How Meditation Has Been Proven to Create Balance in Your Life. It’s really true. Every year there’s more and more scientific data backing the benefits of mindfulness and meditation. I’ve written about it before and we include more in our free Perfect Madness Toolkit (there are also free resources at the bottom of this post). This time I look at some of the science behind it – don’t worry, it’s not cumbersome but useful. The posts looks at how meditation really can change your brain, proof that the theory actually works and how you can start.
- The Power of the Smile. I’m biased, but I really like this one. Smiling really is powerful. This post is actually an extract from my latest book. Make sure you’re using your smile to your advantage – this post tells you how.
Taking Action
Now it’s time to take action. If you’ve read this far without clicking on one of the links then I encourage you to go back up. Pick one post from each section – the mental and physical, the mind and the body. Our mental and physical are entwined so it’s important to work on both areas. They will compliment each other. So pick a post from each section and dive in.
Lots of people read our posts but the reality is that taking action is going to a whole new level. Be one of the people that stands up and improves their life – follow through with the lessons and techniques from the posts above.
If you want more, then come back in February. We’re having a month focussing on another of the four Perfect Madness pillars – Allies. It’s about love, networking, family and friends. Actively engaging with our loved ones, and expanding our network whenever possible, for it is with the helping hand that we can achieve anything. We’ve got a ton of great content planned and Elyse has her first post scheduled and ready to go on February 3rd. Stop back then to find out more.
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Main photo by winnifredxoxo.
