Part of being the best life coach I can be is being transparent. I have not kept my weekly/monthly committment to this blog. I can come up with a myriad of “blah, blah, blah” excuses about why, but the truth is that my own life is out of balance when my writing falls by the waste side and I know this about myself. The real question is why? There are always indicators of small imbalances before the big bells and whistle of our lives sound.
The alarm bells started going off for me months ago, but often times I need hit some wall before I pay attention. Sound familiar? Wouldn’t it be easier if we just had more daily maintenance then to have the whole engine break down? (OK, I didn’t completely break down, but my engine light went from orange to red before I tuned into my off kilter existence.) What shows up in one area of my life begins to show up everywhere. Not only has my writing (including journaling) been out of balance, but my eating habits caused the scale needle to move up the past several months and my workout schedule has become non-existent as well. In fairness (prepare for the excuses!), I started a new project, moved my whole family clear across the country and I have the kids on a summer schedule. As a coach I know that these are not just excuses, but real reasons that contributed to my derailment. The irony is that if I had just found a way, even in the chaos, to take more time to breathe, journal, meditate and pray everyday, I would have stayed more in balance.
We all have internal barometers that are indicators of where we are in our lives spiritually, emotionally and physically. Your indicators may be totally different from mine, but they are there. The key is to notice small changes and understand their origins. Knowledge is power…the power to stay on track in this case. Even knowing this, I still found my self stuck on the side of the road, so remember to be gentle with yourself as well.
I recently went to a professional development course and I met many skilled professionals. I was doing an exercise with another participant and a part of the exercise was to pause and breathe. He shared with me how he looks at breathing, especially when under pressure. We all tend to hold our breathe when we get tense, feel threatened or when we are out of balance, as I had been. He said that he pauses to breath often, especially when he feels like he is tightening up, because the brain needs oxygen to function properly. We simply can’t think without breathing. If you have practiced any breathing exercises for meditation, you know that breathing also helps feed the soul…so don’t forget to breathe today.
School is starting, seasons are getting ready to change and change often leaves the door open to imbalance. Try to create awareness about what your indicators are; what are the small personal signs that let you know you are on the right path? Find a way everyday to check in with yourself and continue to incorporate the activities that keep you grounded and at peace. wanted to write about this to be transparent about where I have been, but also because I know I learn from reading about what helps others. See what you can take away from my experience and I hope it will help keep you in balance.
