Creating balance in work-life is so important and I give you tips to do that.

2020 is all about creating balance

2020 started off with COVID-19 – an era that is new to 99% of the worlds population. Only a few people have seen a previous pandemic. We have been in lockdown for months with no idea of how long this will last for the world. Coronavirus cases are still on the rise and most governments are trying to figure out how they will create balance in their economies again. And individuals are swinging between two extremes – being carefree and being careful. Maybe a new approach to creating balance in our lives will help us stay neutral even during heightened levels of uncertainty.

2020 – lockdown and staying in has provided us the opportunity to re-evaluate our lives. Before COVID-19, I heard many people often complain about lack of work-life balance, lack of time for personal growth activities and lack of energy to work-out after work in the evenings.

Those same people are now complaining about lack of a social life and missed opportunities to travel! When does this complaining end? Why are we so busy focusing on what we don’t have?

balance is a natural state for creation

The only evidence of true balance I have noticed is within nature. Nature – our Earth – has done what it needs to do to come back into balance. The ozone layer has started to recover as COVID-19 has caused a dramatic decrease in CO2 emissions (Source).

The Earth has found a way to balance itself. The question is “Can humans do the same?” Maybe creating balance in our life can be learned from Earth just by observing how nature works?

I have noticed that I create when I am in a flow state. And that flow state happens when my life seems to be in balance. Nature is always creating and destroying and it never seems to stop the process. Can we flow like nature? I have learnt to incorporate certain practices in my life that help me succeed like nature.

3 steps to creating balance in daily life

Personally, I try to focus on at least three different practices every day. Each practice is related to creating better physical balance, emotional balance and spiritual balance. There are obviously many practices associated with creating physical, emotional and spiritual balance.

I find that many people focus on mental balance but from my experience mental balance is a by-product of physical, emotional and spiritual balance practices, done consistently with commitment.

creating Physical balance

Steps you can take to create physical balance everyday:

1. Walk every single day

Walking create better circulation of blood, moves your muscles and allows you to lose unwanted toxins (stored in fat tissue). Aim to cover at least 3-4 miles in distance. In great weather, ride your bike, play soccer, jog and go for a run. Do something to make you sweat and get your heart rate up!

2. Train with weights

When I train with my 5 / 10 pound weights, all I do is walk around the house with them. Or I do my regular squats with them. I incorporate them into my daily strengthening exercises. I do not do crazy machines unless I have access to a gym. But everything you need to do with weights, you can do at home. Here is a link to some weights you can buy off amazon. The ultimate goal is to get those muscles to tear slightly, repair and build on themselves.

3. Create a pre-sleep ritual

If you have done some physical balancing exercises, you will want to sleep well. I like to drink some healing teas (non-caffeinated) before I sleep. Taking epsom salt baths, just before you sleep, can also help you get a good nights. Remember to get sleep ready. The pre-sleep routine is so important for your sleep habits. I also like to turn off my phone and any other gadgets before bed and light a salt lamp in my room as my night light.

4. Eat at least two healthy meals a day

Eating nutritious meals gives your body ammunition against free radicals and disease. So yeah eat your kale 😉 I am not a doctor but I do follow professional recommendations on what to eat and how to eat. So follow people that inspire you to eat well and workout and you will constantly have enough inspiration to carry you through. I have started to cook “new and untried” recipes to make meals more interesting. And that helps me with creating delicious vegetarian dishes for myself and my family to enjoy everyday!

5. Rely on yourself more

Like your mama said “Do your chores yourself!” Rely on your own skills and if you don’t know how to fix something or organize something, learn. Thats the best way to grow your learning muscles! What Quarantine has taught me is that I do not need to outsource all my home services. I can also organize a part of the house everyday and stay on top of my organizational skills. I can clean one room a day and not put myself in a state of overwhelm.

6. Focus on one activity at a time

Human’s cannot multi-task – consciously. I mean we can breathe and do any task at the same time but breathing is a subconscious and automatic activity. It does not require our focus. So when we try to do it all – read a book, listen to a podcast and watch a show, we do nothing well. Lock-down has taught me to focus my attention on one task at a time. I can take breaks from it to do something else but I cannot do two tasks at the same time. Focusing for 20 to 30 minutes at a time on a task build mental stability. Also, it might help you solve procrastination.

7. Wake up with the sun

When we align our lives with nature, we will be more in balance. And that applies to waking up early. Waking up before sunrise will help you gain some time to focus on what matters to you. My goal is to wake up at 5 am everyday and when I do end up waking up at 5 am I accomplish so much more. I use the time before my family is up to workout, meditate, journal and even plan for the day.

8. Avoid distractions

Creating a physical environment devoid of any distractions will help you create a balanced output for whatever it is you are trying to achieve. If I am working on a writing project or a speaking opportunity, I make sure to put all distractions like my phone, e-reader, access to chocolate 😉 away. If I am meditating during the day, I will help my kids get pre-occupied with TV or music so they do not disturb me. And if I am cooking from a recipe online, I will make sure to turn off all notifications on my phone. Avoiding distractions during important tasks during the day helps me focus completely and make less mistakes. At the end of the day, it’s a great tool for saving time and energy.

9. Cook delicious meals

When you cook your meals, you build an appetite for them. Your body gets ready to digest meals when you smell delicious aromas. And you will end up cooking healthier meals if you cook yourself. Cooking was never something I liked doing but being at home for so long and not being able to go enjoy meals on restaurant patios has made me (forced me to) try meal prep. And I am so grateful for this opportunity. I feel very accomplished knowing that 4 out of 5 times I am able to create something delicious and healthy for my loved ones. Creating balance in my physicality starts from the nutrition that I consume.

10. Organize daily

The idea behind organizing daily is to create balance and harmony in your physical environment – your home or your office. Simple re-arrangement of furniture can add much room and a sense of calm to your space. Another thing I do weekly is to de-cluttering a part of my home. There is always something that needs organization and this helps me get rid of what I do not need and embrace minimalism in my physical environment. Do some organization in your space to create balance within and without.

creating EMOTIONAL balance

Steps to create emotional balance every day:

1. Journal everyday

Journaling is not for everyone but colouring, drawing or writing for 10 minutes daily can help you become self-aware. Sometimes we are trained to not feel our emotions (Women see that quality in men often). So journaling or drawing helps us become present to what we are feeling. And then we can work on the situation at hand in a more “real” way. Emptying our thoughts out can bring in more mental stability and clarity.

2. Create an open and honest environment

Talking in an open and honest way about your feelings really helps bring up deeper traumas to the surface. Hence the explosion in the life coaching industry. Just make sure to talk to someone that will hold space for you and your feelings, without the judgement. Whether you want to find that space in a therapists office or in a life coach’ zoom account, is up to you 🙂

3. Learn to feel your feelings

If you are sad about something, give yourself permission to cry. If you feel anger towards someone, release the anger in a loving way (towards a pillow or running). I cannot stress how important it is to feel your feelings. Getting good at feeling each feeling is a great power that can be learned with practice and some guidance. If you want some instruction, feel free to connect with me at my email bhavna@radiantlyrising.com.

4. Read something that inspires you

Reading can be an escape but it can also be a vehicle for growth. I recently read Robin Sharma’s 5 am club and that book really inspired me. I didn’t just take notes, I re-read parts that were impactful. And the beauty of reading everyday is that one day you will come across a book that will inspire you to create real change. So after reading several personal development books – maybe more – I finally came across one that helped me structure my day to create balance.

5. Daily Self Check Ins

Ask yourself daily “How are you feeling today? Is there something that is troubling you?” Daily check-ins with yourself help you create connection with your emotional body. I usually do this during my daily solo walks. It helps me understand the feelings that are coming up and when I ask myself why, my higher self usually tells me precisely what patterns are coming up for release. This daily practice elevates my ascension game to a whole other level!

7. Use your sense to see, hear, feel, smell and taste

You have 5 senses that you can easily use daily to get acquainted with your present situation. Oftentimes we are so involved in the drama of life that we forget to use our sense to understand our reality. A good practice daily is to focus on one sense at a time to observe your current reality. This will create presence in your life. And there is another sense that you can develop – thats the sense of space time. Understanding where you are in space time will bring you in connection with your spirit. To learn how to do this, you can reach me through the contact page.

8. Practice non-judgement

It’s so easy to judge others for where they are in life, what they look like, what they eat, how they treat others (including their kids), their relationships and sense of self. Just know that judging others helps you feel better about yourself. I would argue that to feel better you shouldn’t have to make others look not so good. So can you feel better about yourself in a way that’s more positive?

Practicing non-judgement means checking your ego self. Constantly. But this can get exhausting and we will fall into our old ways. A cleaner and more efficient way to practice non-judgement is to improve your sense of self. And the judgement habits will simply fall away.

9. Let it go

I know that many people lean in on the daily practice of forgiving others to feel good. In my experience forgiveness doesn’t really work. At least not the way it’s practiced today. Superficially forgiving people and their actions only creates greater inner conflict within. Unless you can truly move on from a certain way of feeling how is it possible to forgive everyone that wronged you?

The easier way is to let it go. If something less than ideal happened in your reality, understand why it happened. Then determine what you can do about it so it does not happen again. And finally, move on.

If you take forgiveness out of the equation, you will basically take on the responsibility of healing from any situation that might have troubled you in the past. And that is true empowerment.

10. Try something new everyday

I cannot stress this enough. Trying something new has many obvious benefits but I will talk about the one benefit that no one talks about. When you try something you, you create discomfort for yourself. When you get uncomfortable, your survival brain (reptilian brain), will want to go back to being comfortable. And you will be forced to choose between “surviving or being comfortable” and “growing or being uncomfortable”. Once you choose growth your brain will start to grow new neural networks to accommodate your request. That is the best way to grow will-power and also mental and emotional resiliency.

creating spiritual balance

STEPS TO CREATE spiritual BALANCE EVERY DAY:

1. Meditate everyday

The goal of meditation is to bring awareness within. The more you meditate the more you can live in pure presence.

2. Pray for someone else

If you know of anyone that is suffering or in pain, pray for them. Ask your higher power (whoever you believe in) to help those in need. Focusing on another person will help you create humility in your being.

3. Set daily intentions

Setting daily intentions about how you want to feel helps you communicate with your higher self and spirit. Creating that connection everyday strengthens it and helps you communicate your daily “feeling” goal and commit to it.

4. Connect with nature

Nature holds a very high frequency of presence. Connecting with nature (hugging a tree, talking to plants, gardening and walking in nature) will help you become aligned with your higher self. And create joy in your being.

4. Practice gratitude daily

I practice gratitude as soon as I wake up. I simply list 5 things in my life that I am grateful for. And that creates a high vibration in my early mornings. Daily gratitude sets me up for success during my day.

5. Give, give, give

Ask yourself how you are willing to serve the world – that also makes you happy. I love writing and inspiring others with my personal growth accomplishments. And that’s how I serve. Similarly, you can choose a way to give that lights you up. And you do not have to restrict your giving activities to one single activity. Many cultures give a percentage of their earnings to causes they believe in. I like to donate a certain amount to my local food bank. I also like to cook for my friends and give food. Giving can also be done daily: you can smile at a stranger or just ask someone how their day is going. Giving not only creates connection with the world around you, it also helps you create humility in your being.

6. Develop your intuition

We all have the ability to know what steps to take to create joy. But we have been schooled at home to NOT listen to ourselves. Instead we have been raised to listen to “distorted elders” or “untrue interpretations of religious texts” etc. It’s finally time to listen to your truest version. You can do that by developing your intuition. To learn how to develop your intuition you can work with me directly. Just email me at bhavna@radiantlyrising.com to set up your one on one coaching call.

7. Have fun

Play is powerful. When you are playing and having fun, you unleash the hormones that create joy and happiness. When you are in joy, you will get amazing ideas of what to do to create further joy for yourself. Play is the secret sauce of a life worth living.

8. Read spiritual texts

I am not against religion or traditional spirituality. In fact, I think we have to figure out what works for us. Practicing traditional religion does not work for me. Praying in mass gatherings is quite distracting for me. Praying / Meditating works wonderfully for me as it helps my truest self shine. So do what works for you. Just ask yourself if what you are doing now in terms of spirituality or religion is helping you develop, your relationships strengthen and your health thrive. If not, be open to learning something new. I love reading different ideologies and learning how different people grow and practice life. It helps me fine tune my basic life skills.

9. Understand your beliefs

Creating spiritual balance means to understand what value system we stand for and why. If you feel a certain way about people that are rich, understand those beliefs. If you feel a certain way about people that are poor, understand those beliefs. Understanding why you feel a certain way about partnerships, marriages, money, spirituality etc. can help you become clear about your own value system. And if you don’t know why you do certain things or have certain beliefs, you can then begin to re-evaluate your reasoning. Understanding your beliefs will help you grow – spiritually.

10. Ask questions

This might sound quite simple and straight forward but asking questions about why others choose to behave a certain way, makes them think about their actions. It also empowers you to understand different perspectives. The best way to create balance in your life is to become aware about why you do what you do. It helps you re-evaluate your actions and thoughts and align them to the joy that we all want from life.

consistency is key to creating balance that lasts a lifetime

Creating balance is an everyday activity. You do not have to do all of these activities daily, but picking 1-2 activities in each category and implementing them daily will help you create a balanced life, over-time.

It’s time to take back control of your life and create balance by practicing balance daily.