Balance

A blog from guest Connie Hammer

During my yoga practice the other day, I was struggling with a balance pose I had done many times before and I began to contemplate the word balance and what it means. In math, we balance equations. In our personal lives we attempt to balance our checkbooks and our budget.  We endeavor to balance the scales regarding our weight by trying to maintain a balanced diet. In business we have checks and balances and strive to balance the books. And in gymnastics we have the balance beam which I will leave to the gymnasts.

We also balance the tires on our car and try to keep them in alignment to experience a smooth ride and minimize wear and tear on the tires. If not aligned properly tires become disproportionately stressed, wear thin in one area and are apt to blow.  So if we do not want to deal with changing a flat on our car or in our life then we need to pay attention to maintaining balance and alignment.

Achieving balance in life is difficult enough but even more so when we are building a business. Our desire to create a successful enterprise can often generate imbalance in other facets of our lives – the physical, social, emotional and spiritual areas. Our drive to provide for our family and maintain a desired lifestyle can easily disturb the priorities in our life, if one is not careful, and eventually result in a major blowout.

Being out of alignment WILL jeopardize our lives and raise the probability for stress induced health problems and insomnia. Really, who wants to add self-induced insomnia to the sleepless nights that are already gifted to us as parents?  Being sleep deprived or in ill health leaves us less than effective as caretakers to ourselves, our loved ones and our growing business which is why a balanced approach to building our corporate empires is extremely important for maintaining the equilibrium we strive for.

Just what does a state of balance look like or feel like?  One definition of equilibrium is the state that one achieves when all of the aspects of their life and self join together to form a satisfying and harmonious whole. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Many people don’t notice the balance in their lives because they are anticipating a lingering state of inner peace and bliss. Unfortunately, equilibrium never sustains itself for very long but if we look close enough we will find evidence of balance in various moments, minutes or hours of our lives.  Taking notice of these requires a focused mindset, an ongoing awareness and careful listening.  The trick is to acknowledge these little moments of harmony and discover ways to grow them into larger masterpieces and always remember that it is an ongoing process.

If maintaining balance on a daily basis is what we are striving for, we are definitely setting ourselves up for frustration and disappointment. Let’s go back to that yoga pose. It is unrealistic for me to assume that I can achieve perfect balance on a daily basis. There will be days when all of my body parts will align together more easily than others and some days when I will have to be more intentional about it. The important thing is to listen, notice and have a mindset that is aware of the need to make adjustments and realign on a daily basis.

If you are in the process of building a business there may be days when your time and effort are focused less on your family, your health and your social life but always remember that you have the ultimate control to make adjustments in the days ahead. You can always keep things in check, just like your tires, and realign your priorities on a regular basis to make sure your business life is not controlling you.

Connie Hammer is the owner of The Progressive Parent, LLC, a parent coaching business offering quality coaching to individuals, couples and groups. As a certified parent coach, Connie helps first-time parents adjust to the most important and most difficult job of their lives. A licensed social worker and parent educator, she has more than twenty years of experience working with children and families. Visit her website www.theprogressiveparent.com for more information. You can contact her at 207-615-5457 or email connie@theprogressiveparent.com.