Conscious Choices: the Pathway to an Authentic Life.

 I'm so loving my Thursday posts

on Balance.

My guest this week is

Mary Jo Guglielmo, an intuitive life strategist.

Read on!

Sometimes when you’re looking for balance in your life you just have to jump ship.  That’s what happened to me 18 years ago.  Having had my first child in my thirties, my identity was very much defined as a working professional.  With two young children, my life was hectic, but seemed to have a manageable rhythm.  I loved my job, the environment, the fact that every day was new with its own rewards and challenges.  Yet I felt stuck on a treadmill I couldn’t stop.   I was a member of the generation that believed that you could have it all—work, motherhood, a great lifestyle.   Eventually, I began to realize that for me having it all came at a price. When I was finally willing to examine my true heart’s desire, I quit my job to be home with my children.

 I pruned away an identify that no longer fit, shed possessions I didn’t need, released desires that weren’t real and created an authentic life. Financially at first, it was a real stretch but we cut back on expenses.  It didn’t seem like we were depriving ourselves; instead we were making conscious choices.   It wasn’t about planning for the future and worry about the past, it was about making the most empowering choice possible by grabbing what I truly wanted in the present moment.  I learned the importance of defining your core values and then living a life that reflects these values.  

It’s a process I’ve done many times since then.  We’ve been through many different stages at my house and at each new juncture I ask myself what’s most important in the present moment.  What makes my heart sing now?

Maybe an outside force will give you the push to re-examine your life and assess what’s most important to you.  But why wait?  Two of my favorite questions to start this process are:

1. What's working in my life . . . what's not?

2. What in my life brings me joy?

  When you determine what you truly value, review the things you do, the things you own, the way you spend your time and resources.  Are these things supporting your core values?  The balance in life comes when your daily activities reflect what you value most.  There’s no better time than now to explore your true desires.  You might not need to jump ship like I did, but you may need to throw a few bags overboard.  Happy Travels!

Mary Jo Guglielmo is an intuitive life strategist.  She helps clients push through their blocks, envision their path and take the necessary action to live their true north.  If you are interested in an Artist Breakthrough session or a Personal Mentoring Program go to http://donorth.biz/personal_sessions.htm

For more information check out  www.DoNorth.biz or folllow her at:
http://theadvantagepoint.wordpress.com
http://www.helpingchidrencope.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/do_north
http://facebook.com/DoNorth.biz

Life Lessons on Balance

My goal this year is to live a more balanced life.

And having these amazing people

share their views on balance

simply is inspiring.

Today's guest post is by author, Kenneth Weene.

Enjoy!

I know I did.

Balance

 

Like most young children, I liked playground equipment – that is most playground equipment. I didn’t like seesaws. My brother, who is older and was therefore bigger, would always con me into joining him on the seesaw only to sit on his end and keep me trapped, legs dangling uselessly and hands gripping in terror, high in the air. Then, when I had been suitably intimidated, he would jump off and allow me to fall to the earth, invariably crying as a result.

 

It wasn’t fair. I knew that we were supposed to balance that long beam so it was even, but we never did. Over time I came to think of maintaining balance in life as very important, but I also had learned that life is not fair. Accepting its unfairness was an important lesson. Being prepared to pick myself up after disappointment or after my brother jumped off the seesaw was an essential life principal.

 

Fast forward about fourteen or fifteen years. I was a freshman in college. Like all colleges, Princeton had a physical education requirement. I ended up in a boxing class. Our coach, Joe Brown, was a delight of a man. He had been a professional boxer, and he saw boxing as less about fighting and more about dance, rhythm, and balance – especially balance. I wasn’t very good at the sport. I hated hitting others almost as much as I hated getting hit. But the idea of balancing myself struck home. We would take our stance, and Joe would push against us. If somebody wasn’t properly balanced, if his weight wasn’t properly distributed and set low, down he would go in an embarrassing heap.

 

Quickly I appreciated the lesson of balancing myself, of tucking in, of setting my feet and getting low. I thought of that balance as self-organization. If we aren’t prepared and organized, we are not ready to deal with life.

 

Joe taught me other lessons about balance as well. In addition to boxing, he taught sculpting. While I didn’t sculpt, I liked him well enough to occasionally hang out in his studio. He always had music playing – usually classical Spanish guitar. It wasn’t simply a love of music but also a keen awareness of the need for aesthetic sensory input. There was also decent wine to drink, the earthy smell of the material, and the sensuous tactile experience of working the clay. And there were wonderful discussions an unending flow of topics.

 

The balance of sensations, including intellect and emotion, helps us to live fully. I call that the balance of life.

 

Besides sculpting, Joe designed playground equipment – not the static equipment of my youth but interactive climbing apparatuses. When one child moved, it would change the equipment for all the other children who were on it. This meant that the child had to be aware of the social matrix in which he or she was playing.

 

Social balance is important if one is to find fulfillment. If we are not balanced in terms of the significant others in our lives, we will find ourselves very lonely.

 

These four balancing lessons are integral to my artistic endeavors. My creative milieu is words; I’m a writer – mostly novels but poetry and short stories as well. Every day I sit down at my computer and type away. It would be easy to lose perspective and focus, to become wrapped up in my work, unable to accept the inevitable rejection letter, digging my way deeper and deeper into a maze of my own mind. It is so very easy to lose balance. That is why I like to review these four lessons, to think about their application to my life.

 

Periodically I ask myself four questions:

1) Am a ready to deal with disappointment? If the story doesn’t work or the rejection letter comes, can I get on with my work?

2) Have I got my life organized so I won’t be caught off guard? Have I taken care of what has to be done?

3) Am I getting good quality input to keep my mind and body in tune? Have I planned ways to fill my personal space with the quality sensations, information, and nurturance that will allow me to be productive?

4) Have I thought about the social world in which I am pursuing my art? Have I taken proper steps to meet the needs of those who are important to me and have I made my needs clear to them?

 

I no longer play on seesaws or climb on jungle gyms. I’m long since out of college and well past the age when I could box even if I wanted. However, the life lessons about balance still hold true.

________________

 

 

Life itches and torments Kenneth Weene like pesky flies. Annoyed, he picks up a pile of paper to slap at the buzzing and often whacks himself on the head. Each whack is another story. At least having half-blinded himself, he has learned to not wave the pencil

 

A New Englander by upbringing and inclination, Kenneth Weene is a teacher, psychologist and pastoral counselor by education. He is a writer by passion.

 

Ken’s short stories and poetry have appeared in numerous publications including Sol Spirits, Palo Verde Pages, Vox Poetica Clutching at Straws, The Word Place, Legendary, Sex and Murder Magazine, The New Flesh Magazine, The Santa Fe Literary Review, Daily Flashes of Erotica Quarterly, Bewildering Stories, A Word With You Press, Mirror Dance, and The Aurorean.

Ken’s novels, Widow’s Walk, Memoirs From the Asylum, and Ken’s newest novel, Tales From the Dew Drop Inne are all published by All Things That Matter Press.

To learn more about Ken’s writing visit: http://www.authorkenweene.com     

 

The Great Balancing Act

It's my turn to talk about 

Balance.

Check it out here!