Balanced Life...A Healthy Outlook (c) By Polly Guerin

Nowadays it seems that everyone’s calendar is so programmed and jammed with appointments that one wonders how they find time to simmer down and find balance in their life. There’s so much that draws us from one extreme to another in this busy, hectic world that it’s easy to overdo it. When it comes to investing time and energy, relating to other people and even eating we are constantly challenged to find balance in our life. The great American prophet, Edgar Cayce, the A.R.E., Association for Research and Enlightenment, often counseled people about the necessity to stay balanced saying in one reading, “All work and no play is as bad as all play and no work. (2597.2)
BALANCING RELATIONSHIPS
The daily pull on your personal resources of energy and nurturing, concern and compassion, can be a drain on a healthy relationship with family, friends and co-workers. When we give so much of ourselves to others we most often get out of balance because we forget to nurture and develop a healthy relationship with ourselves. As Cayce suggests it is possible to go through “burnout” in which so much energy is focused on the needs of others or the demands of the workplace that one loses the appreciation of self.” When the work schedule or pressure cooker family needs invade your personal time zone it’s time to re-evaluate how much you are neglecting yourself and what you need to do to regain balance.
LOVE OF ONESELF
I often think that I need to protect myself from the “needy” people I meet but remember that Cayce said, “Genuine love of oneself is quite different from selfishness, which ignores the needs of others—has a very important role to play in a balanced healthful life. We should find time to invest in ourselves.” Check point evaluation: How balanced are you in your daily life in regard to contributing to the welfare of others versus contributing to the welfare of yourself? In other words, it is important to invest daily in activities and interests that are self-nurturing and elevate your spirit in a balanced harmony that appreciates YOU.
CELEBRATING EACH DAY
My friend Kathy makes it a practice to do something special each day for herself and others. She says, “Every day is a cause of celebration, I do not wait for a birthday or holidays to do something special for myself or someone else. Whether it be listening patiently to a problem, or treating myself to a single rose or sending an unexpected gift of gratitude, these activities nurture my existence as well as the recipient of such gifts. The personal touch contributes to the welfare of others and the self-nurturing through these tokens of friendship helps me to keep a healthy balance in my life.”
INVESTING IN YOURSELF
Balancing relationships and investing sufficiently in yourself contributes to your overall health, your soundness of sleep and your patience in responding with love and compassion to challenging situations both at home and in the workplace, or just out there in the public domain. A healthy balance, a give and take, so to speak, is the key to satisfaction and a means to achieving a happy outlook on life without sacrificing self.