Staying in Balance

 

Bonnie Diamond, Licensed Acupuncturist

Easthampton, Massachusetts

781-718-6325

health@bonniediamond.com

 

 

Staying in Balance Volume 7

Finding Your Rhythm – Part 3

My last newsletter was written to help you figure out the things that are most important to you and how are spending your time.  Click here to link to a copy of it.  If you completed the exercises, you should have a calendar listing your activities for a week, three of your favorite memories, a list of your life’s most essential items and some insight into your experience with time.  If you didn’t complete the exercises, write down two things that you can’t imagine living without and get out your calendar.  This newsletter will help you to move in the direction of your dreams, by cultivating a rhythm that works for you.

 

Cultivating a healthy rhythm takes commitment, intention and a certain amount of effort.  In the short-term this process may seem time-consuming and anxiety-provoking.  But, what if you began living a life that supported your core values?  What if it became easier to set and incorporate new goals?

 

Think of your life as a garden.  Initially you have to decide what to grow and you have to plant the seeds.  These steps are important.  But unless you water and weed the garden, it won’t bear fruit.  You have to take care of the garden on a daily basis.  The same is true of your dreams.  The most certain way of achieving your dreams is to nurture them daily.  You need to cultivate the things that are most important in your life.

 

Inspirational Ideas

¨ Spend five minutes before you go to sleep visualizing one of your favorite places or favorite activities.  Encourage your nighttime dreams to be magical. 

 

¨ Surround yourself with pictures or objects that remind you of one of your core values.  On my computer is a small rubber ball, depicting the earth.  I keep it there, balanced on the monitor, as a reminder to me of the importance of the earth and my special role in helping to keep the world balanced. 

 

¨ Add new activities to your routine.  Try the things you have been talking and thinking about. The things you love are closer than you might imagine.  I was reminded of this when I mentioned to a colleague that I spent so much time working inside and missed the earth.  He replied to me, “look down”.  Now whenever I miss the outdoors I’m aware that it is not that far away.

 

¨  Subscribe to magazines or search the Internet to get information and reminders of the things that interest you.  If you love to ski and can’t get to the mountains every week, find ways of bringing the mountains to you.  Check updated ski reports.  The more you keep in your mind the things you love, the more they will enter your life.

 

Ways of working with time

¨ Make use of natural rhythms and listen to your body.  Get enough sleep.  Rest when you feel tired.  If you’re a morning person, start your day with the things that are most important to you.  Alternatively, set aside time in the evening if that’s when you work best.

 

¨ Each week make a list of things that you want to accomplish.  Review the list each morning and schedule in the most important items.  This will help you stay focused and on track. 

 

¨ Keep things that are important to you on your list, even if you have trouble getting them completed.  It can take time to incorporate new activities.  Keep reminding yourself of the things that you want to do.

 

¨ Fifteen minutes is better than none.  My life revolves around this.  I never have enough time to do everything – particularly exercise.  Instead I fill in 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there.  It adds up.  Beginning is 90 percent of life.

 

¨ Learn to choose wisely.  There is never enough time to do all the things you might want to.  Don’t fall into the trap of trying to do everything.  As you add things to your life that you truly love, let the less essential things fall by the wayside.

 

¨ Learn to say no.  It’s important to honor commitments that you have made, but you needn’t feel obligated to do things simply because others would like you to.  Unschedule the things on your calendar that are not so important to you.

 

¨ Create rituals that incorporate your favorite activities.  Schedule them at regular times.  This way you’ll know that every Monday at 7, for example, you’ll swim or listen to your favorite music.

 

As with growing a garden, cultivating a healthy rhythm takes place over time.  We wouldn’t expect an apple tree to bear fruit right after we plant the seeds.  Be patient with yourself.  Remember that there are outside forces that affect our lives.  Some seasons the weather cooperates and there is sufficient rain and sun.  Other times we are less fortunate.  Part of being a successful farmer, is the ability to survive the lean seasons.  It’s important not to get discouraged if life events wreak havoc with the best laid plans. 

 

Find joy in the planting and cultivating.  Keep a certain healthy detachment from the results of your endeavors.  Finding your rhythm gives you something even greater than accomplishing goals.  It gives you the courage and strength to get through whatever life throws your way.  It provides you with a safe harbor during unexpected storms.  Most importantly it puts you in touch with your truest self.  And so I encourage you to look for your rhythm, to practice living in connection with it and to be the person you were brought into this world to be.

 

Link to Staying in Balance—Volume 8