Coaching Videos & Tips - June 6 2018 No. 561
HOW TO FIND BALANCE
In a world plagued by stress - what the WHO claims to be a modern pandemic - we're always looking for balance... specifically so-called work/life balance. But that is not the balance you should be seeking... today's video explains.
Compartmentalize your day. Do what you're doing now - wholeheartedly, singlemindedly. And, when that's done, take a couple of moments to press the reset button by taking a few deep breaths or getting up and moving about to stretch yourself.
The, do the next task, in the next now, singlemindedly and wholeheartedly. One task at a time, one encounter at a time, one point of focus at a time.
Our lives are lived in the ultimate compartment... the here and now. Turn up to it wholeheartedly and singlemindedly. Your life will be so much the better for it.
Don't forget... you can browse all the previous videos, tips, articles and stories in The Archive
I am never short of new encounters with people who want something different in their lives. Many can readily tell me what they don't want or want less of. Others can tell you about their regrets - things they wanted to achieve or do that haven't come to pass. Few can tell me what they really, really want. And almost all will be prepared to put up with what they have until they run out of road.
We pride ourselves on our resilience - it's a badge of honour for the human condition. As a species designed for survival, we are equipped to go through hell and high water to not die today. To make matters worse, for centuries we have been encouraged to offer up our suffering in the hope of a great here-after. We do suffering with great aplomb - then again, it's how we're designed.
However - and this is a big however - given what neuroscience now knows about adult neural plasticity (how even the adult brain structures and restructures itself according to the user's requirements), I happen to believe that I am responsible for my own personal evolution. Daily meditation restructures the bits of my brain that I need for focus, for presence, for living my life, one now at a time, wholeheartedly and singlemindedly. What's more, the more I do this for me, the more the more focused me enables those around me up their game too.
Obviously, the same opportunities and responsibilities are available to you!
I flew Dublin to Geneva last Thursday. Lucky it wasn't Friday, for, as Friday morning progressed news reports carried articles and eye-witness video of what was variously described as mayhem and utter chaos in Dublin Airport.
The airport PA system had got stuck on an automated announcement of an emergency and how everyone should evacuate the building. And, because the PA system was stuck, staff couldn't use it to tell passengers that there was neither an emergency nor an evacuation!
What's worse is that staff on the ground didn't know what to do. What's worse again is that the Herd - the mass of traveling public - were just standing or wandering around aimlessly!