The Tribune

By Christine Carey

For some of you, giving to everyone and everything else before yourself is a daily habit. Many times we find ourselves with health issues, stress imbalances or failing relationships and do not realise that a likely cause is that for too long you have attributed a disproportionate amount of time, attention and energy to ‘other things’.

‘Other things’, in my opinion, are areas of life outside of:

1. Quality family time

2. Self-care

3. Spiritual development or devotion.

It is said that “balance is a unicorn you will never find”. Everyone can, however, take more control over his or her everyday work/life balance. It is a modern skill we all could benefit from and which would allow us to live more fulfilled. Start with a simple weekly practice to make smaller, meaningful, personal events happen on a regular basis. Your personal event is your ‘time out’. In order to make your chosen events a priority and part of a regular habit you must purposefully carve out the time in your schedule. Here is how you can begin to create healthy habits in three of life’s key areas:

• Quality family time

Eliminate distractions for meaningful interactions. Suggestion one: Every day after work take two minutes with each person at home and ask them how their day was. Really stop and listen. Look into their eyes. Avoid all distractions including cell phones. Those two minutes belong to you and that person only.

Suggestion two: Decide on one hour a week when all children are awake and your partner is home and turn off the phone, the TV and all other external communication devices. Be present and be together. Play a game. Talk. Learn a new skill with one another.

• Self-care

Your health is more important than anything else. Suggestion: Identify what is the one thing you know you need to do to be healthier? Do you need to drink more water, move your body for 20 minutes a day, eat more vegetables, spend quiet time with just yourself?

Depending on what your answer is, determine the action steps needed in order to achieve it. Keep it simple! Just as with any other habit you are creating, you must be consistent and implement a system that will easily merge with your schedule.

• Spiritual development and devotion

Create a foundation for motivation and focus. Having a few minutes each day solely given to reflecting on words or music that raises your vibrational frequency benefits your own spiritual being and that of each person you come into contact with. Essential to purposeful living is the consideration of wisdom that has been passed from generation to generation throughout humanity – through thoughts, concepts, translations and music. This regular study heightens our ability to stay focused, be calm and work from a place of compassion and determination.

Consider the following quote from Lao Tze, “To understand others is to have knowledge; To understand oneself is to be enlightened. To conquer others requires strength; To conquer oneself is even harder.”

Enlightenment and balance are characteristics worthy to be sought after and manifested. By taking regular ‘time outs’ to focus on key areas of fulfilment, we will eventually attain a higher level of overall satisfaction and success.

• All health content in this article is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care professional. Christine Carey is a certified holistic health and life coach (www.christine-carey.com), partner at Liquid Nutrition (www.liquidnutrition.com) and director of Corporate Wellness at 242 Consulting (www.242consulting.com). With over ten years of coaching experience, Ms Carey works with individuals and groups to assess and define their diet and lifestyle goals. She focuses on increasing knowledge, implementing new habits and creating personalised tools for success.