You can balance your life by wearing, eating, and using a variety of colors
Many people know that colors affect their moods, reflect their emotions and can even change their behaviors. So how can we use the power of colors to balance our energy? By using as many colors as we can in our daily lives!
The colors of the clothes you wear influences you and those around you. Many times, we tend to wear the colors we need the least. For instance, when you are depressed, wearing black or grey will feed your depression, where yellow and orange would cheer you up! It’s difficult for some to wear certain colors, but try it anyway – even just as socks and underwear.
Why do colors have such a powerful influence on us? Because colors correspond to the Chakras (energy centers). When a Chakra is out of balance, we can stimulate it with the associated color to raise its vibration and restores balance in the system.
Be creative with your color choices. Add colors to your home.
You don’t have to paint your walls – just add accessories that can be changed as needed. For example, if you need grounding, get a red candle, some red art, or just red roses. For creativity, add a bowl of oranges to your work area. Add yellow accessories or sunflowers if you need to lighten your attitude or if you need more confidence. Having problems with relationships? Add green plants, decorative green grasses or bamboo. Add a blue poster, painting, curtains or even a piece of furniture to stimulate your ability to communicate and express yourself.
The Bottom Line: Colors affect our moods, emotions and behaviors. Adding colors creates balance.
Ask: What are some ways in which I can add colors to my life today?
Affirm: I allow the colors of the rainbow to add balance to my life.
“The Gift of Balance in Your Life – May you find the balance of life, time for work but also time for play. Too much of one thing ends up creating stress that no one needs in their life.” - Catherine Pulsifer
Whether you are a full time mom, a business owner or working for someone else, you are probably trying to divide your time and attention between work, yourself, and the people you care about. Work-life balance means different things to different people. Is it coming home after a long day leaving work stuff behind? Or if you work from home, is it actually leaving the house for some nurturing activities?
I usually go to the gym three times a week. When I exercise, I feel healthier, more energized and free from the “clutter” in my head. This week, I gave 3 presentations to different groups of women. With the time it took to prepare for the presentations, it was a packed week. I skipped my second exercise da and then almost skipped my third exercise day. It was hard to decide if I should skip it to catch up on work, or go anyway.
One of the women in my presentation this week shared that she works too much and rests too little “but I don’t have a choice”, she said. “I have to work so much and I have no time to rest”. There is nothing I can do about it. It’s work.
I remembered her when trying to make up my mind about the gym.
Really? Do we not have a choice?
We do! We are in charge of our choices and decisions. Our brain tells us that we’re not… that working so much is a fact, not something that could be changed. But it’s not a fact. It’s our choice, even if it doesn’t feel like it. We have a lot more control over our lives than we think.
I ended up going to the gym. I was so energized and motivated when I came back that it actually took me less time to get things done. Writing my blog was easy since creativity and inspiration were simply flowing. I know that clearing my head while exercising was the key.
For me, exercising is important in order to keep work-life balance.
Of course there are other important factors as well: setting boundaries with how late I work, allowing myself to take breaks, to rest, to do something fun, to socialize and to feel that there is more to life than work.
Here are my Top 7 Work-Life Balance Tips:
1. Create blocks of time for work, family and self. If both you and your partner are working, have a conversation and coordinate “together time”, “alone time” and “work time”. Sometimes it is just a matter of having a conversation and making plans, but most people are have more success by writing it in their calendars.
2. Protect your “non-work” time. During your family or alone time, don’t work! It is better to spend only an hour with your kids, but to be fully present to them, no phone, no emails, than to spend several distracted hours with them. Same goes for your alone time. Taking a walk by yourself or with a pet? How about enjoying the moment and leaving the phone at home?
3. Do one thing at a time. The result of doing a million things at the same time is stress, low productivity, over-exhaustion and burnout. If there are more than 3 documents open on your computer screen, that’s a red flag. Work on one task at a time and when you’re done move to the next one. If you are a full time mom and you also have your own business, wear your “mom’s hat” for a block of time, and concentrate fully on your responsibility as a mother. This way, you won’t feel guilty when you switch to your “career hat” and devote yourself to that. Trying to do both at once creates unnecessary tension.
4. Identify and cut your time wasters. Once you’re clear with your priorities and your blocks of time, you have to make sure you don’t fill it up with activities that are time consuming and unproductive. I’m not talking about fun activities, because those are important, but I am talking about activities you get addicted to and spend too much time on without much reward Examples are: computer games, facebook, watching TV for a long time, etc.
5. Make dates with your kids. If you have children, plan individual time to spend with each one of them, undistracted. Whether it’s a walk in nature, picnic in the park or baking together, this quality time will means so much both for them and for you.
6. Make dates with your partner. If you are married on in a relationship, the best way to make your relationships a priority when you are busy with work is to plan at least one evening a week where you’re both devoted to being with one another. Don’t expect your partner to initiate it. Do it yourself. Show them that they are important for you and your time together is valuable, no matter how busy you are.
7. Make dates with yourself. When we talk about work-life balance, alone time is the first thing most people give up. The irony is that when you spend time with yourself it energizes you, makes you centered and creates a sense of inner peace. You really need it in order to live a balanced. It doesn’t happen by itself. Plan ahead and schedule time in your calendar.
To support you, we have created a FREE “Improving Your Work-Life Balance” Guide. First you will evaluate areas that need improvement and then you’ll prioritize and take steps to improve.
Download the free guide by clicking on this link
“Improving Your Work-Life Balance” Free Guide
Please share with us which of my 7 tips was your favorite.
The most conscious people are the ones who recognize a gift of the moment when it happens.
One morning this week, I got a little frustrated with my dog. She had been eating dirt outside in the yard and got sick. Although we have a fenced yard, we decided to supervise her when she’s out so she stops this new habit. It was a cold and foggy morning… too early for going outside when my bed is so warm and cozy. As I step outside to the yard, leaning my head down thinking to myself “why do I deserve this” something made me raise my head and look around me. I was completely shocked to notice how beautiful was the view, when the trees are waking up, the fog is starting to thin and the universe is presenting itself refreshed and anew. I didn’t want the moment to end. My heart was filled with gratitude. I felt so supported by powerful nature. The picture I took on my phone is just a reminder. Believe me, it was much more beautiful.
Thanks to my dog and her annoying habit, I had the honor of feeling the gift of the moment.
Later that day, I had a coaching session with Patricia, one of my clients who said to me: “I realize that we go through the day without looking. We forget to accept and appreciate. We forget to notice the sky, the clouds, and the beauty. When your eyes open, you heart opens up and life is lighter.”
Synchronicity.
The same message twice in one day.
Bottom line: Raise your head, look around you and appreciate the gifts of the moment.
Ask: What am I grateful for and what do I appreciate in life?
Affirm: I raise my head, I look around me and I appreciate the gifts of the moment.
It’s a human nature to judge. We all do it.
We judge others, we judge ourselves.
When we judge and criticize others, we get angry and disappointed with them. When we judge and criticize ourselves, we feel guilty and ashamed.
Often, we blame others for something we struggle with ourselves. For instance, when you are all motivated to exercise and eat healthy you might judge someone who isn’t. You forget that just a few weeks ago, you were struggling just like them. You judge your friend for being too controlling or trying to fix their children or partner. Wasn’t it just last night when you were in somebody’s face trying to tell them how they should be?
When it comes to ourselves, we tend to forget our attributes, successes, achievements and to focus on what we haven’t done, what we could have done better. We judge and criticize ourselves and the result is that we beat ourselves up.
We are out of balance.
What can we do?
Evaluate objectively – instead of judging and criticizing.
It is not going to change the facts but it is defiantly going to change your reaction.
If you step back, get into an observer mode and evaluate the situation (yours or others) objectively, you will not lose your power over what happened. Instead, you will manage your emotions, cope with whatever happened in a balanced way and move forward with your life.
The Bottom line: Judging and criticizing create and spread negativity. Step back, observe and evaluate.
Ask: What might be a reason I (or they) behave like that and how can I be compassionate?
Affirm: I let go of judging and criticizing, I evaluate objectively and I’m free.
Often we have an idea of what our life should look like. Thinking big and having a vision is essential in the process of creating the life you want, yes, but if taken too far, you might end up in a dream world with unrealistic expectations. You also expect others to act according to your plan. But they don’t know that and even if they do – can you really control others? They have their own agenda just like you do. For example, you might expect your partner to behave in a certain way: to always clean after themselves, to smile and hug you, to surprise you, to buy you a big gift for your birthday. They are not perfect. No one is.
You also expect a lot from yourself. Especially if you are an over achiever, like many of us are, you get caught in this “marathon” feeling of moving forward, pushing harder, having more success, producing more. Before you know it, your expectations from yourself are as high as the sky and you end up being disappointed.
Chances are that if you have a tendency to expect the impossible from yourself, you also do it with your partner, your friends, your co-workers and the whole world. You keep being disappointed and frustrated and your life is out of balance.
So how do you regain balance?
You pause and check: is this realistic? How can I phrase it (both in your head and when you’re communicating with others) in a more supportive way? How can I leave a window open to let others be who they are and find their own way?
After you re-set your expectations, make sure you communicate them clearly.
Remember that other people cannot read your mind. (at least most of them…)
While writing this post, I realized that many of my expectations from myself were completely unrealistic for today. My plan was to fit in 3 hours stuff that should take at least 6 hours. Thank you, my dear readers, for being both my students and my teacher…
What do you expect from yourself and others which is unrealistic and how willing are you to change it?
What would 2012 be like for you if you could bring greater balance and peace into your life? Balance doesn’t happen by itself. It requires action, but it doesn’t have to be hard or complicated. Those of you who have worked with me before know that I’m all about baby steps. Start small. Break it down. Make sure what you’re aiming for is realistic. Make it simple.
In this new series, “52 Balance Tips”, I am going to share with you simple ways to create balance in your life. Everything I’ll share with you has been proven successful and has brought balance to people’s life. But here is the key: you have to make it your own. You have to actually do it. Reading is not enough. Get engaged in the process: take notes, journal, adjust it so it fits your needs, share with others, ask me questions and most importantly, make it fun.
Are you excited? I am too. So let’s start.
My first tip is – start a new chapter, and write it yourself.
Imagine that you could leave your past behind. That you could stop labeling the past as “good” or “bad”, trusting that any past experiences that might benefit you now are already part of your being, part of your “wisdom data”. Imagine yourself writing a book. The book of your life. You are done writing a chapter; your turn the page over and you start a new one. You are writing your book. It is your own creation, so you can create whatever you want. You don’t expect others to write your new chapter for you. You don’t blame life for forcing you to write the new chapter. You enjoy the freedom of writing it yourself.
Your Balance Action:
Start your day with turning the page and starting a new chapter.
Close your eyes take a deep breath and ask yourself “what would I write in my new chapter today”?
Pick up your journal, write “Today’s Chapter” and write down how you’re taking charge of the day, and writing your own book.
Inspire me and others: what did you write? Share with us.
