When I decided I wanted to start a blog I sat with my eyes closed and searched the confines of my mind to find the best words to describe not only what I want to offer in my blog but words that speak to who I am. Balance was the first word that came to mind. I find in all aspects of my life I am always talking about having a healthy balanced life. When I provide counseling services to individuals, I talk about finding balance in life. I do the same with my friends and I do the same when I talk to myself. If I had to say what is the most important factor needed for an individual to live in peace and find happiness, I would say living a balanced life.
Of course this is a loaded statement. In order to live in balance an individual has to take certain actions to bring their lives into balance. This is where the heart and mind come in. I knew I wanted to express the importance of balance but what about it? How do we attain balance? Well we use the vast resources of our minds to think, analyze, process, define, and develop who we want to be and what kind of actions we need to take to get there. But using the mind only is not enough, we need the heart to guide our minds to drive our desire and passion so we have an emotional connection to becoming who we want to be. When we love what we are doing our chances of success skyrocket and goals become attainable. This thought process was the heart of mind heart balance.
So then, how do we overcome obstacles and find balance in our lives? It starts with sitting with oneself and getting honest about who we want to be and how we see our ideal life. This is where we get to dream big and let it all out. In order to do this effectively we have to specifically define what exactly it is that we want. To simply say I want to be rich will likely not yield any results. Why do you want to be rich? What will it pay for that you so badly want? I know I want to be rich but that is because I want to be able buy a house in Hawaii with lots of privacy on a decent amount of land with a killer ocean view and lots of fruit trees and beautiful landscaping. I also want to buy a beautiful house in Colorado that is much the same accept with a view of the mountains and probably a few less fruit trees. The reason I want this is to be able to continue living in Hawaii most of the time because I love living here but I also miss my family on the mainland. I want to be rich so I can bounce back to the mainland anytime and be closer to family so I can spend time with them.
Only thinking about getting rich though even if well defined will not bring your life to balance. We have all heard that money does not buy happiness. What else do you want for your life? Think about health, social, emotional, education, and career. Once you can define what you want for yourself in each of these categories and really put your heart into it, fire up that great mind of yours and start writing these wants into goals. Use a notebook and for each goal use a separate page. The main reason we tend to get so stumped by obstacles in our path is that we make these grand goals for ourselves but fail to set smaller goals or objectives to help us work towards our goals in a realistic achievable manner. Once you have your goals all written out on separate pieces of paper it is time to go back and on each page start writing smaller goals that will set you in action towards reaching your goals. Try writing one thing you can do every day that will put you in action mode, two things you can do within the week, three things you can do within the month, four things you can do within six months, five things you can do within the year, six things you can do within 5 years, and 7 things you can do within 10 years.
Make this a dynamic journal that can be modified and changed as life happens and circumstances change. Maybe write in pencil or make a digital journal on your computer so you can edit your goals as needed. We know obstacles will present themselves and we will have to adjust. Accept this as part of the process and tell yourself so long as you keep sight on your goal and remain willing to take actions steps towards your goal and edit them as needed a solution will present itself. In short the way to overcome obstacles is to continue to take action towards your goals no matter how small. So long as you remain willing to take action and do something every day, you will gain momentum and overtime you will progress and reach your goals as long as your goals are defined and specific. What action will you take today towards living your dreams? Leave a comment and let me know.
