There are actually several things that are as finite as the time we each have. That is our attention or ability to focus and our energy levels. To order our lives by only one of these variables would be like doing a suduko puzzle by only working one column and row…setting ourselves up for frustration and probable failure.

Flow is about considering all three components. It is about understanding that different seasons of our lives require different amounts of resources. As well as learning to know myself well enough to know how my energy is recharged. Do I need quiet time or to be around people to recharge? Am I better in the morning, the afternoon or the evening for focused tasks?

When teaching work life balance, it is all about identifying the “flow” for your life. It starts with looking at the things that are most important to you. These keys will help you establish the necessary values to fill in the blocks and solve your puzzle.

Sara Hand

 My world of yesterday was a world of comfort.

I knew who I was and what I was to do. Expectations were clear for me and I knew what to expect from the others in my life. But things are different now. I have grown. As an adult I grow as a person. This may not be as easily identifiable to the people in my life. They may see a few changes on the outside. But much of the change has been an inside job, only visible to someone looking at my heart.

 How do I make it through this time you ask? For if we are really living life; we will go from one state of change to another. There will be times of settling in, but these will again lead to more change.

Don’t make major decisions when you are tired. When you are tired the good is too good and the bad is too bad. Rest brings objectivity.
Have an accountability person in your life, and expect them to hold you to the goals you have set previously.
Continue to reevaluate and measure goals against “life values”. Although goals will change, “life values” will not. These will act as a compass in the midst of whatever may come your way.

Remember that whether your opportunities were chosen or thrust upon you, it is not so much what happens to us but what happens in us that matters.

 The better the change…the worse we tend to feel about any feelings that aren’t “all good.” In fact, often we just want to bypass or detour this part of the journey. However, a detour won’t take it off your map, because to fully embrace the future, the past must find its home.

 In going forward, there is always leaving behind. There is a part of you that is now only a memory, as the new you goes on. This “feeling” is completely normal, and although often uncomfortable, we all experience this “grieving” when dealing with significant change…even the good stuff.

I have realized recently that the reason many people don’t recognize the first step out of balance is because you can’t live by a measure you don’t have. You can not recognize that your priorities are blurring if you have never fully identified what your real priorities are. Priorities have to do with the things you most value, not the most recent crises you think you must solve.

Pretend for a few moments that there are no fires to put out. Take a few minutes, and make a list of the relationships and people that are most important to you.  Write down the activities that most energize you and give you the most joy. How do you feel about the quality of your life? Are you able to operate at a maximized physical condition for yourself, and if not, why?

Making life changes is not about getting it All right. This road involves opportunities. You will fall. To believe you won’t is unrealistic. However, babies don’t quit walking the first time they fall, they just have to keep getting up until they get it right.

 Are you living life or is life living you? Do you spend a lot of time running from one fire to the next, so busy taking care of “have to” that you don’t remember what a “want to” looks like? Find out what the measure for your life is. Find out the things that you would die for and then live for them. That is Joy…Beyond Freedom!

What quality do you share with the fastest runner in the world?

What gift do you possess that every successful artist requires?

…TIME…

At my High school reunion a wise friend said to me “20 years equalizes many things.”

Every day the clock strikes Midnight, and a new day begins.  Each person has the next 24 hours to call today, that won’t change.  The way we spend those hours and minutes is what separates us from each other.  No matter how we try, the day is the day. Time cannot be saved for tomorrow, it cannot be traded among friends, and once it is gone, it is gone! Ask yourself “At the end of the day, will I be frustrated with the way I spent my day, or will I be satisfied that it was a day well spent?”

Some people believe you only need to go faster to make “it” happen. They’re wrong.  Fractured families, stress induced disease, and mental breakdowns, are at the end of that road.  What can we do?

Take it one action step at a time. First identify priorities, and then focus your goals to reflect those priorities.  If this is done on a regular basis, when you ask yourself “was today a good day?” you will have a measuring stick.  Remember Bill Gates, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa, have accomplished great things, with the same 24 hours that you and I have.

In a culture that gets microseconds faster daily, many times we can, so we do, bypass the wait. We drive-up, drive through, and instant message. Cutting and copying our way through life, we fast forward through commercials to find that all our time saving devices still leave us short at the end of the day. For although old-fashioned oatmeal only takes 3 minutes in the microwave and will maintain blood sugar levels for hours, we go for the short lived instant version.

Always wanting what’s in front of us, we race through life. Running, then waiting, then running again. Then one day when we wake up, we realize that a good portion of life has passed, and what we waited so long for never actually arrived. We discover that what we wanted was really somewhere along the roadside “back there”. In our “direct route” we missed a turn. No GPS recalculated our life telling us to make a u-turn at the next available intersection.

Old people remembering what it was to be young, married couples forever trying to recapture the thrill and romance of the courtship and parents replaying bittersweet memories of baby drool and cries in the night as they all remember how often they were too busy.

A winner is not made at the end of the race. It is days and weeks and even years of daily routines. The end of the race only reflects the winning. The secret of the winner lies in his daily routine and so does the secret of all success. Crossing the line first does not guarantee a victory.

Life is in the Living! Live it with Intent!