Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Finding Focus and Balance in the New Year

Is it just me, or could we all benefit from finding a deeper level of focus and balance in our llives? Most of us complain about not having enough time, energy, and/or money, but are we really using our time, energy, and resources in the most effective ways possible?

Hopefully you had the opportunity to relax a bit over the winter break, and perhaps you noticed that the usual tempo of contemporary life is off the charts. There is a crazy consensus reality that believes it's normal and unavoidable to be overcommitted and overconnected (in a shallow, social networking kind of way), yet undercommitted and underconnected (in a personal, meaningful kind of way).

Many intelligent and well-intending people take priceless time and energy away from being with the people they love (or enjoying peaceful time alone) to make money they will then squander, or to spend hours a day hooked up to multiple devices: texting, playing games, posting and reading random stuff, and compulsively checking their email.

This might be the new "normal," but throughout history it's been normal to do all kinds of outlandish and dysfunctional things. Maybe now, at the beginning of a new year, it would be beneficial to take an honest look at our use of time.

Let's step outside of our habitual, societal thinking, and consider how we might be able to tweak (not tweet) our priorities so that we'll have more of what we need and less of what we really don't need.

We'll be exploring this more in the next few weeks, but for now, please consider taking a few minutes to step back from your life and view the bigger picture. Are you out of balance in any area of your life (mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, financial)? Do you feel generally overwhelmed? Do you lack focus, or distract easily? Do you zone out and waste time? Do you behave compulsively? Just notice----this is not about judging yourself. See what comes up for you, and next week we'll continue the conversation.

Have a beautiful week, and please remember to breathe.

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