We often get involved in some special projects or work areas and devote all our energies towards it. But in that process, we tend to neglect the other areas of our life. But we can achieve perfect happiness if we can maintain a balance between all those aspects that really matter to us - family, friends, partner, career, money and of course the very "selfish" "Me or I"!
The "Wheel of Life" is a great tool to help you improve your life balance. It helps you to identify the areas in your life quickly and graphically so that you can decide whether to invest your energy in a specific area or not.
It has to be admitted that this exercise cannot help you achieve a perfect balance. This would have been a great idea, but it's not realistic either! The point is to acknowledge where you are in each of these foundational pillars and to create and take actions that can help you create a more passionate life through simple steps!
You need to understand that life is a journey and the paths you choose and the things you learn are far more important than the final destination you reach. You need to recognize what things are really important in life and this is not just the things that you can buy. Having this positive thought process will increase the positive energies surrounding you and will make you happier and healthier. Let's see how we can strike a balance in the following 8 areas:
- Self: Self brings in an insight into ourselves with respect to who we are, what are we made up of, our values, cultures, beliefs, strengths and weaknesses. If you are clear about your values and wants then you are more likely to achieve a balance in this area. What you believe about yourself can keep you locked behind your fears or thrust you forward into living your dreams. Once you start creating and taking action, you will notice your own passion and synergy. Becoming aware of your current choices and choosing to take simple, yet powerful steps can help you change your life.
- Health: Goal setting that involves maintaining a healthier life, will allow you to literally benefit for a lifetime! You may want to set up goal of visiting a health club. You may also want to plan for a brisk summer evening walk (not just a stroll) with your spouse or your family! Respecting your body is essential if you really want to take care of your health. Love yourself! If you are not satisfied with your health conditions and feel bad about it, then look at those who are suffering to a greater degree. Try to feel their pain and empathize with them rather than just showing your sympathy. If you are sad and hospitalized, then think of those who have so many illnesses and diseases but cannot afford the treatments. Gratitude is an important chapter of our lives.
- Purpose of Life: What is the purpose of our life? Have you ever tried to figure it out? If not, this is the chance for you. Don't lose onto this opportunity to find out your reason for existence. One should know - why he lives? For whom is he living? What is the worth of his life? If we just sleep and eat then what is the difference between us and the animals? Write down your thoughts about your goals of life. They can be short term and long term or both.
Get to know the reason behind every act you do and follow. When you're drifting, you lose control and direction. As you lose your focus, a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness envelopes you and you begin to wonder if any other person feels the same way. The truth is, a lot of people will get the same feeling, but very few of them will show courage to come out in the open! It is such an empowering feeling to have a purpose in your life. You truly feel "alive" in every sense of the word. All your actions and thoughts begin to revolve around your purpose and life! The purpose gives a shape to your life. - Career: Lack of a career goal can make many employees unhappy about their jobs. This can also make them land up in the wrong place. Having a career goal would mean that you have assessed your abilities and skills to a greater extent and that you are now ready to choose a definite career path. This personal rediscovery will make things so clear that you will realize whether you want to be an artist, a doctor or a businessman! You would also think of exploring other career opportunities available today. Once you realize what you are good at and where your interest lies, you can move on to devise a strategy and explore the fertile areas for your professional cultivation. Simply floating towards a popular career trend that promises fat packages and rapid growth can blur your focus and you might end up making a wrong career choice. You need to understand that your skills and abilities determine your career path.
The level of satisfaction can be checked by realizing how you feel every morning when you wake up and start getting ready for the office. What do you feel - sad or lazy to get up or are you happy and look forward for the work? That is the key to find out whether you are really happy and satisfied with the kind of work you are doing or not. Does the work you do generate adequate interest on your part? Do you try and make efforts to make any changes in yourself? How innovatively can you think to make your work, office or desk look interesting? These things really count to track your job satisfaction. - Money: Money is an instrument that we all depend upon to conduct every facet of our lives. If we could be contented with having less, then our need for money would have been decreased. But we are constantly bombarded with so much temptation that we have actually become slaves to money. The funny, yet sad, thing about our dependence on money is that we have created this monster and have allowed it to take control of our lives. Every decision we make is based on money. While taking a decision, we need to check our finances to see if we can even afford to do it in the first place. A majority of people have embraced money so tightly that they have placed it above life and even their own happiness. Money has become so important that it has transformed this world into a society that is becoming more selfish and greedy. There is no doubt about the influence of money because if you don't have it, you can't live a life that is enriched with meaning and filled with optimism.
Money is indeed important but how much money do you need? The answer lies within you. Human mind will never be satisfied with what it has! One should know his limits and spend wisely. Money is the divider that stands between a life of poverty, a life of ordinary means and a life of riches. Everyone should work hard to accumulate some amount of money to live a relatively comfortable life. You should note that everyone does not strive to be rich. Having money means being able to see the world differently and in a more positive fashion than you would if you were living on handouts. - Partner: Your spouse is not just another member of your family! Your life partner is your best friend and the only person with multi-faces for you. At times, when you are really in grief or sad due to intense moments or situation, your spouse gives you mental comfort and consoles you. Your partner boosts your confidence and morale, and makes you realize that you are the person who can solve any of the issues of life. In happy moments your spouse becomes your intimate partner generating memorable moments and making you feel like heaven. Your life partner's companionship acts like a lifesaver for you and you feel like treasuring these moments!
What is important is mutual understanding between the two and the kind of support both seek from each other. Every relation is based on "give and take". It is a fact and one should accept it. If you know how to take, you should also learn how to give. The level of satisfaction can be checked in the difficult times of life. In case there is a crisis in your family life, one can check how understanding and mature his/her spouse is, by reacting to that situation in a certain manner. One gets to know the actual or the true colors of their partners in such conditions. The amount of love and care you have towards your spouse and vice-versa makes you think how satisfied you are with this relationship. - Family: The man who has a family is believed to be the richest of all! The single most precious obsession in life for all of us is to be loved. Family bonding gives us that strength and charisma, with an appreciation for life and the hope to go on. The culture and society of a country is very much affected and influenced by the way the families live there. Family life and ties are very important. People tend to become what they are because of how they were brought up and what the family life teaches them. A family unit, that you belong to, is capable of teaching and influencing you more than any other group in your life! Strong family bonds help us to thrive in all the aspects of life. It teaches us how to build relationships and how to maintain them. Our family is our roots, our origin. We are what we are in a way because of our family, their values and their culture.
Family is the biggest support system. It is important for us to know how satisfied we are in terms of the relations we keep with our family members, what we learn out of each member and what knowledge do we impart as elders to others! Family is a place where you can be yourself! It is a place where you are accepted for what you are. This is where you are completely tension free and everyone is there to help you. Family encourages you when you are surrounded by problems. It helps you survive through tough times and bring joy and happiness to your life. - Friends: Friendship, the last but not the least important area of your life! What would life be without friends? Friends are our truest treasures. Because friends accept us for who we are, we gain the confidence to dream big-and to make it come true! We can even trust them with our most embarrassing secrets! What a relief it is for us to reveal our true selves to someone! Have you ever thought on how you are as a friend? How satisfied do you feel when someone calls you as his/her best friend or a close buddy? This area of relationship completes our life cycle in a way.
All these parameters help us to gauge ourselves and test where we exactly stand on the scale, to find out our weak areas that need improvements and ultimately to highlight our achievements in life. By balancing these areas of life, our level of satisfaction also gets the much desired stability. Keep gratitude in mind because something is better than nothing. If we know where to draw a line, we can definitely know our satisfactory levels in each of these parameters.
