Last week while delivering a keynote to the All India Christians Professionals Group Forum on success, a very apt topic that came up was of the importance of balancing life.
The discussion that ensued was worth sharing with all and hence this article.
I would appreciate if this question has come from an innocent mind and not an intelligent mind, coz the intelligent mind would already have borrowed knowledge and would simply compare our discussion with his borrowed knowledge database.
Remember one thing, the so much globally hyped quest, for work-life balance is one of the most misunderstood and the most misused topic by thousands of experts across the globe. I still fail to understand how do these world class intellects write or preach 10 quick ways or 20 ways or some magical formulae’s to bring a balance in work and personal life. The truth unfortunately is the opposite. There is no single way or no defined way to bring a work-life balance.
One thing that is very fundamental is that balance does not mean distributing or dividing your time. Work-Life balance does not mean spending 8 hours at work and 8 hours at home and 8 hours sleeping. The very foundation of Work-Life balance is quality and not quantity. That’s the very basic that we need to learn. We have been taught and conditioned in our lives that to be in balance is to be midway of the two sides, like a pendulum oscillates between the right and the left side, at the midway or at the center, it is balanced.
But if you observe natures law of balance you see that everything is put in pairs and nothing is left in isolation. The day and the night is in balance, the mountains and valleys are in balance and so on. But the length of days and nights might not be the same, the height or depth of a mountain and a valley might not be the same, but they are in tremendous harmony, a great balance exists. From the human perspective, there is no proven mantra to bring in a balance in our work-life context. Every day, every hour, every second your contributors to a systematic balance keeps varying. What is balance for you today might not be balance for you tomorrow. Your priorities when you are a student, as a single or as a married individual will widely vary. So the parameters of balance in work-life have to be dynamic and never static.
This imbalance has occurred to humanity because humans have not been able to strike a right balance between the vital and decisive pair of life - accomplishments and celebration. Humanity has not been able to balance the body and the mind, or in simpler words, the matter and the consciousness. For thousands and thousands of years this imbalance prevailed, coz man has a tendency to be an extremist. The Western world was imbalanced coz of more inclination to the matter or worldly accomplishments. Their materialistic accomplishments were fundamentally void since their consciousness was ignored, they could never explore the inner self, they missed love, happiness, inner peace and hence they were never in harmony with life. The Eastern world was more inclined towards the consciousness and they remained poor in existence and missed the quality of life. The east gifted the world with a Gautam buddha, a Mahavira, a Kabira, an endless list of people with great consciousness, but they all have condemned the matter, including the self, the body. Jesus was right when he said - "Man cannot live by bread alone", yes that’s very true, the matter alone wouldn’t help. You will have to develop a great consciousness, a great awareness within you to be balanced in life.
Inability to draw a cut off line between Accomplishments and Celebrations has crippled millions of lives and perhaps there are millions of unrealized wandering souls around us. Accomplishment, its simplicity is explainable, but its complexity is profound and its nature needs to be explored. Your accomplishments can be personal, professional or social. A better job, a higher income, a better designation, a bigger house, your kids college and an endless list may follow to describe your accomplishments. On the other side of the coin is Celebration. Celebration does not mean - Partying or decorating your home. Celebration means enjoying every bit of life. Maximizing life every moment we live. Experiencing happiness, experiencing pride, love, wellness and satisfaction. Tasting, touching and feeling the joy of living is celebration. We miss this in life coz we either dedicate our life to accumulate accomplishments or we passively become slaves of celebrations. Accomplishment and Celebrations are like two sides of the same coin. You cannot have a complete coin with one side, only both sides give the coin completeness, a totality. Trying to live one sided life will never give you the joy of experiencing completeness. You will remain lame, with one leg. You will need crutches to help you balance now, coz you missed the other side, the other leg. You have two dimensions of your being, and both the dimensions have to be fulfilled, giving equal opportunity for growth, both to accomplishment and to celebrations as well. Man however has always remained imbalanced by either repenting on his past or he has been a slave of hopes, by clinging to a non existent tomorrow. He has missed the balance, coz he missed the present, this very moment. So balancing has to be dynamic, everyday you should retire onto your bed with your daily accomplishment and a daily celebration. Remember, accomplishments and celebrations are again not separate, they go hand in hand. They are not in series; they are parallel to each other. At work, you can create a magical work-life balance not only by accomplishing results, but also by emanating joy from your job, by spreading happiness of living and transmitting a charismatic energy around you. At home you can play with your child, or dance with your beloved or play music for yourself and contribute actions in the kitchen at the same time. That’s the basic of balancing, when both the sides are charged simultaneously. You can simply enjoy every moment while you are at work, deeply engrossed in it, meditating in it – the accomplishments will follow. You can shower tremendous love to your kid while you take his/her studies. But look at the teachers in the classrooms, look at the mother at home when she teaches her kid, they have a flat, feeling-less face. That is where imbalance creeps in. That’s man made, conditioned by his past teachings, that you have to be serious while you teach. Love and education together can work magic. Loveless teaching has only offered sub standards students to us till date. A person who can identify and appreciate this balance will be magical.
Such a balanced person will attract others towards them with a great magnetic force. A person who not only gets things done, but also enjoys the doing, celebrates the doing. They fill the whole of their surrounding with a special aura. A contagious energy.
Asking yourself this basic question will decide your status on a balanced life. When was the last time you accomplished and celebrated something at work? When was the last time you accomplished and celebrated with your family or your friends? And when was the last time you accomplished and celebrated something just for you?
If any of your answer is non recollectable or even a week old, then you have remained unbalanced for long or atleast a week now. Bringing a balance is completely in our hands, you are in complete control of your life. The magic of this control is by being aware. Your awareness of living by being responsible to life’s accomplishments and on the other side, celebrating life by making life vibrant, dancing, rejoicing and living the ecstatic way of life.
For more articles on self improvement, follow me at www.mentora.in and Transforming Lives – Unlimited | A journey in search of Individuality
Submitted by : Mathew Thomas ( Mentora Champion) is a passionate Trainer, Motivational Speaker and Educational Coach who has worked with a wide range of clients including multinational organisations, education bodies, professional training providers and individuals.
From India, Mumbai
29The discussion that ensued was worth sharing with all and hence this article.
I would appreciate if this question has come from an innocent mind and not an intelligent mind, coz the intelligent mind would already have borrowed knowledge and would simply compare our discussion with his borrowed knowledge database.
Remember one thing, the so much globally hyped quest, for work-life balance is one of the most misunderstood and the most misused topic by thousands of experts across the globe. I still fail to understand how do these world class intellects write or preach 10 quick ways or 20 ways or some magical formulae’s to bring a balance in work and personal life. The truth unfortunately is the opposite. There is no single way or no defined way to bring a work-life balance.
One thing that is very fundamental is that balance does not mean distributing or dividing your time. Work-Life balance does not mean spending 8 hours at work and 8 hours at home and 8 hours sleeping. The very foundation of Work-Life balance is quality and not quantity. That’s the very basic that we need to learn. We have been taught and conditioned in our lives that to be in balance is to be midway of the two sides, like a pendulum oscillates between the right and the left side, at the midway or at the center, it is balanced.
But if you observe natures law of balance you see that everything is put in pairs and nothing is left in isolation. The day and the night is in balance, the mountains and valleys are in balance and so on. But the length of days and nights might not be the same, the height or depth of a mountain and a valley might not be the same, but they are in tremendous harmony, a great balance exists. From the human perspective, there is no proven mantra to bring in a balance in our work-life context. Every day, every hour, every second your contributors to a systematic balance keeps varying. What is balance for you today might not be balance for you tomorrow. Your priorities when you are a student, as a single or as a married individual will widely vary. So the parameters of balance in work-life have to be dynamic and never static.
This imbalance has occurred to humanity because humans have not been able to strike a right balance between the vital and decisive pair of life - accomplishments and celebration. Humanity has not been able to balance the body and the mind, or in simpler words, the matter and the consciousness. For thousands and thousands of years this imbalance prevailed, coz man has a tendency to be an extremist. The Western world was imbalanced coz of more inclination to the matter or worldly accomplishments. Their materialistic accomplishments were fundamentally void since their consciousness was ignored, they could never explore the inner self, they missed love, happiness, inner peace and hence they were never in harmony with life. The Eastern world was more inclined towards the consciousness and they remained poor in existence and missed the quality of life. The east gifted the world with a Gautam buddha, a Mahavira, a Kabira, an endless list of people with great consciousness, but they all have condemned the matter, including the self, the body. Jesus was right when he said - "Man cannot live by bread alone", yes that’s very true, the matter alone wouldn’t help. You will have to develop a great consciousness, a great awareness within you to be balanced in life.
Inability to draw a cut off line between Accomplishments and Celebrations has crippled millions of lives and perhaps there are millions of unrealized wandering souls around us. Accomplishment, its simplicity is explainable, but its complexity is profound and its nature needs to be explored. Your accomplishments can be personal, professional or social. A better job, a higher income, a better designation, a bigger house, your kids college and an endless list may follow to describe your accomplishments. On the other side of the coin is Celebration. Celebration does not mean - Partying or decorating your home. Celebration means enjoying every bit of life. Maximizing life every moment we live. Experiencing happiness, experiencing pride, love, wellness and satisfaction. Tasting, touching and feeling the joy of living is celebration. We miss this in life coz we either dedicate our life to accumulate accomplishments or we passively become slaves of celebrations. Accomplishment and Celebrations are like two sides of the same coin. You cannot have a complete coin with one side, only both sides give the coin completeness, a totality. Trying to live one sided life will never give you the joy of experiencing completeness. You will remain lame, with one leg. You will need crutches to help you balance now, coz you missed the other side, the other leg. You have two dimensions of your being, and both the dimensions have to be fulfilled, giving equal opportunity for growth, both to accomplishment and to celebrations as well. Man however has always remained imbalanced by either repenting on his past or he has been a slave of hopes, by clinging to a non existent tomorrow. He has missed the balance, coz he missed the present, this very moment. So balancing has to be dynamic, everyday you should retire onto your bed with your daily accomplishment and a daily celebration. Remember, accomplishments and celebrations are again not separate, they go hand in hand. They are not in series; they are parallel to each other. At work, you can create a magical work-life balance not only by accomplishing results, but also by emanating joy from your job, by spreading happiness of living and transmitting a charismatic energy around you. At home you can play with your child, or dance with your beloved or play music for yourself and contribute actions in the kitchen at the same time. That’s the basic of balancing, when both the sides are charged simultaneously. You can simply enjoy every moment while you are at work, deeply engrossed in it, meditating in it – the accomplishments will follow. You can shower tremendous love to your kid while you take his/her studies. But look at the teachers in the classrooms, look at the mother at home when she teaches her kid, they have a flat, feeling-less face. That is where imbalance creeps in. That’s man made, conditioned by his past teachings, that you have to be serious while you teach. Love and education together can work magic. Loveless teaching has only offered sub standards students to us till date. A person who can identify and appreciate this balance will be magical.
Such a balanced person will attract others towards them with a great magnetic force. A person who not only gets things done, but also enjoys the doing, celebrates the doing. They fill the whole of their surrounding with a special aura. A contagious energy.
Asking yourself this basic question will decide your status on a balanced life. When was the last time you accomplished and celebrated something at work? When was the last time you accomplished and celebrated with your family or your friends? And when was the last time you accomplished and celebrated something just for you?
If any of your answer is non recollectable or even a week old, then you have remained unbalanced for long or atleast a week now. Bringing a balance is completely in our hands, you are in complete control of your life. The magic of this control is by being aware. Your awareness of living by being responsible to life’s accomplishments and on the other side, celebrating life by making life vibrant, dancing, rejoicing and living the ecstatic way of life.
For more articles on self improvement, follow me at www.mentora.in and Transforming Lives – Unlimited | A journey in search of Individuality
Submitted by : Mathew Thomas ( Mentora Champion) is a passionate Trainer, Motivational Speaker and Educational Coach who has worked with a wide range of clients including multinational organisations, education bodies, professional training providers and individuals.
From India, Mumbai
can you help me with your ideas on balancing personal relationships? I found your ideas to be very natural and touching.
From India, Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
thanx a lot....
to write such an article ......it requires great balance of heart and mind..... for it is strict and simple........nice and nostaligic( reminds me abt many things in my life...like many others here). the message goes straight to head and heart at the same time...
u definetely could be a very passionate trainer.
thanks again,
prof. pramadha srinivas.
From India, Hyderabad
to write such an article ......it requires great balance of heart and mind..... for it is strict and simple........nice and nostaligic( reminds me abt many things in my life...like many others here). the message goes straight to head and heart at the same time...
u definetely could be a very passionate trainer.
thanks again,
prof. pramadha srinivas.
From India, Hyderabad
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WORK LIFE BALANCE.ppt
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