Create a Balance

Here is my next drop-in post. It is from the blog KennyTheMonk.   This post reminds me that there are endless definitions and perceptions of life balance, that life is about making choices, that we can’t do everything during the short time we have on Earth, and that the ability to stop and be still on a regular basis is a treasured key to a conscious life. One of my favorite places to be still is in my husband’s authenic Brazilian hammock. Here is a clip of Kenny’s wise words. You’ll notice he states “Stop trying to achieve balance” which at first may seem like a contradiction to the essence of this blog. But I think you will quickly discover we are both encouraging the same truth but just from two different directions.

“We’re not going to be around forever, and we’re not able to have it all.  Acknowledging this will generate more than ample disappointment and regret. And we’ll pay a price for it: Guilt. But don’t be dismayed. Guilt doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ve done something wrong. It’s more an indication that we have said “no” to some larger authority: parent, teacher, boss. Guilt’s an indication that we’ve chosen to live our own lives and not someone else’s.

Stop trying to achieve balance and start learning to enjoy chaos. Discovering and relishing one’s imperfect life sooner rather than later is what’s available. Oliver Wendell Holmes said that most of us go to our graves with our music still inside. So, forget about work-life balance and let go of the need to please everybody. Rather, get out there and make some choices and let your music resonate.

The guilt won’t kill you and you’ll do just fine if some folks don’t like you. And you certainly don’t need to have it all. For as Steven Wright reminds us: even if you did, where would you put it…..” Read More

I am all about making life easier and gaining any extra free time I can find. Did you know that Amazon.com now offers more than 22,000 grocery items and they will ship these grocery items to you for free? FREE DELIVERY!

Amazon Groceries can provide you with great prices, favorite brands, and a personalized shopping list to make it easier to locate and keep track of items you purchase over time. They even have an extensive selection of NATURAL AND ORGANIC food.

I have been grocery shopping online for years and have to tell you the feeling of someone delivering my groceries directly to my kitchen door makes me feel like a Hollywood SUPER STAR (okay, it makes me feel like Jennifer Aniston). Plus, it frees up my time so I can focus on what matters most. I hate going to supersized grocery stores, so another plus is I am able to simply visit my local fruit market once a week, to pick up meat, fruits, and veges. I love that!

Happy Shopping!

During a time of economic instability, managing money can seem daunting. To add to the complex world of wanting to save for the future many people are struggling with their own financial values. In the video below, Suze Orman discusses the power of giving and how to determine just how much to give.

As I prepared for my son’s two year old birthday last week, I knew I wanted to bring cupcakes to his daycare Friday afternoon. As the days slipped by I realized I would have to settle for store bought cupcakes. By Friday morning, I was rathered dissappointed in myself that I still didn’t have cupcakes for the party. What kind of mom was I? 

Long story short, I stopped at serveral stores before going to daycare and the closest things I could find were Hostess donnettes (ugh, they weren’t even officially titled donuts). With 10 minutes until the party, I swallowed my pride and bought 3 bags of donnettes (yes, they were right next to the twinkies). This is a far cry from the organic Whole Foods cupcakes had imagined I would be bringing to the my son’s party.

In those moments at the drug store (did I mention I bought them at a drug store) I felt so much guilt of not being the perfect mommy. How could I be so irresponsible to not be able to pull off cupcakes for my own child’s birthday? I was so embarrassed to bring in 3 bags of proccessed donuts, that I also bought a yellow gift bag so I could at least walk into daycare thinking I looked put together. Bree Van de Kamp would have been appauled.

Everything changed, however, the moment I walked into daycare. My son had a huge smile on his face and thought I was mom-of-the-year just for being there. When he saw the donettes, he started chanting “Yeah! Cupcakes!”. He didn’t even notice they were drug store bought donettes.

I realized it wasn’t about the cupcakes, or the donettes, or how I packaged the celebration….it was about the celebration itself. Thank goodness I was able to release my unrealistic expectations and leave my silly pride at the door. When I was at the party, I was in the moment full of love and joy.

Creating a balance sometimes means letting go of useless expectations and focusing on what matters most.

Below is a video of the evolution of the birthday donette. Even without cupcakes, the party was fabulous!

When I started this blog, Technorati ranked CreateaBalance.com at 8,911,336. I’m happy to report I am now closer to the goal of being on Technorati’s top 100 list, with a whopping ranking of 1,245,176. Hey, I’ve almost made it to the top 1,000,000 list. Watch out Huffington Post!

This is an experiment for all Create a Balance blog readers. If you are reading posts on this site, chances are you probably have some interest in creating a balance in your life. But interest alone is not going to do anything for you except clutter your head full of thoughts. So it is time to TAKE ACTION!

DO NOT CLICK AWAY FROM THIS SITE until you have entered your commitment to the Change a Habit Experiment as a comment on this post.

If you post your commitment to change one habit within the next 21 days, CreateaBalance.com will personally help you be accountable during your 21 day journey by providing you with
FREE VIRTUAL LIFE COACHING!

We will help you develop action plans for the challenge as well as hold you accountable for your actions. As a result, you will be one step closer to practicing the art of life balance.

So stop making excuses and sign up for this exciting free change a habit experiment today by entering your commitment as a comment on this post! Be sure to state the habit you will change in your comment.

At times, managing money for retirement seems so obscure. Retirement seems to be located in a land far far away in a distance world that isn’t linked to my daily practice of living in the moment. It is a challenge, yet financially essential, to plan for the future while also embracing your “self” and being still in the moment. Women who are empowered enough to create a balance in their lives today will have a very different retirement experience than women in the past. With the right mentality, women create their own retirement realities.

Your personal finances will obviously impact your retirement experiences and attitudes on aging. According to a study conducted by the National Center on Women and Aging, women over the age of 50 had the following lessons learned to share with younger women:

• Start early, save
• Avoid credit cards
• Create a budget and stick to it
• Live within your means

Here are a few more steps that you can take in the moment that will support your life’s passion during retirement…..

I received the following email this week. It reiterates my belief that embracing your “self” and nurturing relationships are vital to having an overall sense of life balance.

A sharp tongue can cut my own throat.

If I want my dreams to come true, I mustn’t oversleep.

Of all the things I wear, my expression is the most important.

The best vitamin for making friends…..B1.

The happiness of my life depends on the quality of my thoughts.

The heaviest thing I can carry is a grudge.

One thing I can give and still keep…is my word.

I lie the loudest when I lie to myself.

If I lack the courage to start, I have already finished.

One thing I can’t recycle is wasted time.

Ideas won’t work unless ‘ I ‘ do.

My mind is like a parachute…it functions only when open.

The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime! It is never too late to become what I might have been. Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don’t. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.  If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

Friends are like balloons; once you let them go, you might not get them back. Sometimes we get so busy with our own lives and problems that we may not even notice that we’ve let them fly away. Sometimes we are so caught up in who’s right and who’s wrong that we forget what’s right and wrong. Sometimes we just don’t realize what real friendship means until it is too late. 

Create a Balance participanted in the debut of the Carnival of Work Life Balance, hosted by Are We Balanced Yet. These diverse work/life balance postings exemplify the growing demand for online life balance support and resources. Happy Reading!

Create a Balance has launched the Life Balance Blog Directory. We’re asking all life balance bloggers to submit their blogs onto this new directory. All listings are free with a reciprocal link. Get Started Now.

If you don’t have a life balance blog, but are passionate about life balance, check out the great blogs that are already in the directory. Check back soon as the life balance blog directory continues to grow.