It’s all about balance when it comes to happiness.  Equal time devoted to a wide range of tasks, experiences and goals.  But how do you find it amidst the chaos of motherhood and work?  See if the following tips help.

 1.  Set the clock.

 Set hours for different parts of your life: work, children, spouse, activities, and YOU.  If you work from home, especially, you need to set your office hours.  Commit to from 8 am until 1 pm if need be, but then walk away and close the doors to your office.  Likewise, plan for time spent with your children.  Reading time is from 7 pm to 8 pm or homework time is from 4 pm to 5 pm if they require assistance.  And don’t forget about YOU.  From 9 pm until 10 pm you will be in the bath and then giving yourself a pedicure. 

 2.  Are your social events fun or obligations?

 Everybody loves a party, but if you’ve found yourself tied up at someone’s dinner party every weekend, you might be over doing it.  It’s good to spend a weekend at home from time to time and catch up on household stuff or just relax and have some movie nights.

 3.  Are your kids balanced?

 You can’t be balanced if your children aren’t.  If you have your kids in dozens of activities, you may as well be in them yourself!  Pick and choose wisely and decide what’s really necessary or perhaps what’s more fun.

Live fully,

Mia

Do you need to slow down?  Are you smelling the roses in your life?  This week let's talk about the signs of doing to much. 

Life presents us with many choices and opportunities to partake in as a buffet.  We often get to choose the work projects that we will tackle next, the family events that we prioritize, extra curricular activities for the children to participate in.  Life gives us many opportunities to choose.  Many times, as we live our lives we forget that we can choose to enjoy each and every event.  Enjoyment is a choice also. 

My past week, was jammed packed with loads of personal and professional commitments.  Last week, my 6 year old had a project for school that required my assistance, my 9 year old needed bake goods for a school activity that I had signed up for back in September.  My 3 year old's school was having a silent auction this week and I was coordinating this portion of the event.  In addition, to these personal commitments, my professional commitments had greater requirements.  Also, my Toastmaster organization had a contest for the region and I was the club contestant.  Just to name a few.  Are you as tired as I am sharing this?

I found myself by the middle of the week moving quickly without much reflection on what I was doing.  I felt rushed, pushed, pulled and out of sync with my values to savor the gifts in my life.  Upon this relevation, I did the following things to realign my life.  They are:

1.        Before taking an action, I asked myself, "Why is this important to you?"  Why have you chosen to give this gift (service, time, resource) today?"  This simple question made me smile, as I thought about what and why I had chosen to spend my time on.

2.       Before moving onto the next task, I stopped and had a cup of tea or paused by closing my eyes for just 5 minutes.  I practiced being still so that I could better feel the new experience instead of rushing along.

3.       Delegated! I asked my husband to help me with some of my commitments.  I arranged for my three year old to visit grandmom for a few hours to free up some time to work.   I got my children to make brownies thereby relieving me of one more activity.  I considered ways to scale down.

This will be a much lighter week for me but I know that we all have weeks that are extraordinarily busy.  I hope that something I have shared with you will help you to choose differently in your own life.

 Live fully,

Mia