Create a Balance

It’s time to get you thinking about and acting on your life passions.

How to Find Your Life Passion

1. Be honest with yourself. Take the time to listen to your inner voice.

2. Create an inventory list of what excites you. Include hobbies, books, activities, and dreams.

3. Build a Community. Surround yourself with people who believe you have so much to contribute to the world.

4. Try something new. Don’t be afraid of doing more things badly.

5. Determine how you prefer to help people. How you offer help provides insight to your passions.

6. Proudly review your knowledge, skills, and abilities. Determine if you are passionate about any of your talents.

7. Familiarize yourself with reoccurring themes in your life. Is there a topic that you continuously bring up in conversation?

8. Solicit feedback. Ask others what they think is your life calling.

Assignment. This is your moment!
Jump down to the comments section and share one life passion that you have been wanting to incorporate into your busy life. There is no such thing as too big or too small. Maybe it’s something you want to spend more time doing. By posting your life passion dreams on this blog, you are taking the next step towards incorporating your passion into your life.

I shared what I want to incorporate into my life in the first comment. Check it out!

Next Post > How to Incorporate Your Passions into Your Life
You deserve to balance your roles and responsibilities with your passions!

I’m feeling a little sassy today and thought it would be fun to flip life balance upside down. Here’s a little diddy about a life that works backwards…

Note: If you are a regular visitor to CreateaBalance.com, you may find the ending a little risqué. I am daring to step out of my blogging comfort zone!

In My Next Life!

by Paula Smith

I want to live my next life backwards:

You start out dead and get that out of the way.

Then you wake up in a nursing home feeling better every day.

Then you get kicked out for being too healthy.

Enjoy your retirement and collect your pension.

Then when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day.

You work 40 years until you’re too young to work.

You get ready for High School: drink alcohol, party, and you’re generally promiscuous.

Then you go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, and you have no responsibilities.

Then you become a baby, and then…

You spend your last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury, in Spa-like conditions - central heating, room service on tap, and then…

You finish off as an ()rgasm.

I rest my case.

Source

I participated in Julia Cameron’s Artist Way workshop when I was living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The first day of my workshop was Monday, September 10, 2001.

If you are not familiar with the Artist Way, one requirement is to write morning pages every day. Morning pages involve a hand written journaling exercise when you scribble down anything that is cluttering your head. They do not need to be poetic and they are not masterpieces. It is simply a stream-of-consciousness morning writing exercise.

Back to the Story…

Since the workshop started on September 10, 2001, my first Morning Pages experience was in the early morning hours of September 11, 2001, just a few innocent hours before the United States was attacked. Today, I’d like to share with you some of my Morning Pages from September 12.

I share this with you this morning as I pause to mark the seventh anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

September 12, 2001

“I spent a lot of time writing about my weight yesterday morning. I never imagined that the weight of the world trade center, just hours later, would crumble to the ground. Destroying thousands… impacting millions. Airplanes used as missiles, hijacked for destruction. People buried alive underneath the rubble are still calling from their cell phones.New York City and America will never be the same. As long as people are willing to sacrifice their lives, we are all victims.This whole idea of suicide attacks and suicide bombers … people who choose to end their lives in acts of evil. How can anyone justify killing so many innocent civilians?This is unbelievable and beyond my comprehension. Is this the beginning of World War III?

Wordless Wednesday

“All of the world is designed to remind you, All of the light you could find is inside, Under all of the noise, What’s it like to be overjoyed”

~ Christine Kane

I’m on a song kick this week. Lance over at The Jungle of Life introduced me to Christine Kane. She is a folk singer/songwriter, a blogger, as well as a motivational speaker on topics such as creativity and women’s issues.

Here is one of her more humorous songs….

No Such Thing As Girls Like That

Note: Click here if you can’t view the video.

Thanks Lance!

It’s My Turn ~ by Diana Ross

One of my favorite personal development mantras is the song “It’s My Turn” by Diana Ross. Yes it’s a little bit disco and it fuels my soul.

Here are the top ten lessons this song teaches me….

1. Living for yourself will set you free.
2. Don’t apologize for embracing your needs and passions. 
3. It’s okay if you don’t always have all the answers.
4. Take more chances. 
5. It’s not easy to let go, but sometimes it’s essential.
6. Be real and don’t cover up your feelings.
7. Be diligent on finding your path in life and celebrate moments on your journey.
8. Change is the only constant.
9. Take time for yourself.
10. Reach for the stars.

Listening to this Song on YouTube is Worth 4 Minutes

Click here is you can’t see the video.

Lyrics

I cant cover up my feelings
In the name of love
Or play it safe
For a while that was easy
And if living for myself
Is what Im guilty of
Go on and sentence me
Ill still be free

Its my turn
To see what I can see
I hope youll understand
This times just for me

Because its my turn
With no apologies
Ive given up the truth
To those Ive tried to please

But now its my turn
If I dont have all the answers
At least I know Ill take my share of chances
Aint no use of holding on
When nothing stays the same

So Ill let it rain
cause the rain aint gonna hurt me
And Ill let you go
though I know it wont be easy

Its my turn
With no more room for lies
For years Id seen my life
Through someone elses eyes

And now its my turn
To try and find my way
And if I should get lost
At least Ill own today

Its my turn
Yes, its my turn
And there aint no use in holding on
When nothing stays the same

So Ill let it rain
cause the rain aint gonna hurt me
And Ill let you go
though I know it wont be easy

Its my turn
To see what I can see
I hope youll understand
This times just for me

Because its my turn
To turn and say goodbye
I sure would like to know
That youre still on my side

Because its my turn
Its my turn

Its my turn
To start from number one
Trying to undo
Some damage thats been done

But now its my turn
To reach and touch the sky
No ones gonna say
At least I didnt try

Its my turn
Yes, its my turn
Its my turn
Its my turn
Its my turn

It’s your turn….what song fuels your soul?

Let the music move you over to the comments section. I’m looking forward to reading your comment.

With morning sunlight and a soulful cup of coffee in hand, I was reading an article by Stephen Covey about finding your voice.

“Voice is the overlapping of the four parts of our nature: our mind, our heart, our body, and our spirit.”   ~ Stephen Covey

The article challenged me to answer the following four questions…

MIND > What am I good at?

HEART > What do I love doing?

BODY > What need can I serve?

SPIRIT > What is life asking of me? What gives my life meaning and purpose? What do I feel like I should be doing? What is my conscience directing me to do?

I will not attempt to answer these questions in my post today. I do, however, encourage you to think about these questions and determine if your answers are in sync.

Over the weekend I am going to tackle these questions. Most likely, I will determine my answers are not 100% in sync.

My reaction to first reading these questions was….

How am I balancing the different parts of my voice?

Which one takes center stage? Do these different parts get along? Are they harmonizing? Or is there an inner battle?

Today I leave you with more questions than answers.

And I’m sending you the strength to contemplate these questions and watch your authentic voice shine.

Stumble It! If you’ve enjoyed this article please share it on StumbleUpon.

Wordless Wednesday 

Welcome to my new Blog Roll that reflects blogs I read on a regular basis and blogs that inspire me to practice the art of life balance. Please help me welcome these blogs by clicking on any that may be new to you.  

Blogs That Inspire Me!

Embracing My Sense of Self

• All Is Within
• Attraction Mind Map
• Jungle of Life
• Let It Flow
• Lets Live Forever
• Lifes Little Inspirations
• Red Lotus Mama
• Ribeezie

Writing, Art, and Creativity

• Blogging Without a Blog
• Creative Times
• Goddess Leonie
• Sark Journal
• Super Hero Designs
• Writer Dad

Physical Well Being

• MizFit Online

Being a Mom

• MomGrind

Simplicity

• On Simplicity
• One Bag Nation

Now It’s Your Turn….Use the comments section to let me know if there are any must reads out on the blog-o-sphere that you think I should add to my list! 

Stumble It!

Today I’m sharing a powerful quote from Pema Chödrön.

Perfection Stifles Life 

“We think that if we just meditated enough or jogged enough or ate perfect food, everything would be perfect. But from the point of view of someone who is awake, that’s death. Seeking security or perfection, rejoicing in feeling confirmed and whole, self-contained and comfortable, is some kind of death. It doesn’t have any fresh air. There’s no room for something to come in and interrupt all that. We are killing the moment by controlling our experience. Doing this is setting ourselves up for failure, because sooner or later, we’re going to have an experience we can’t control: our house is going to burn down, someone we love is going to die, we’re going to find out we have cancer, a brick is going to fall out of the sky and hit us on the head, somebody’s going to spill tomato juice all over our white suit, or we’re going to arrive at our favorite restaurant and discover that no one ordered produce and seven hundred people are coming for lunch.
 
The essence of life is that it’s challenging. Sometimes it is sweet, and sometimes it is bitter. Sometimes your body tenses, and sometimes it relaxes or opens. Sometimes you have a headache, and sometimes you feel 100 percent healthy. From an awakened perspective, trying to tie up all the loose ends and finally get it together is death, because it involves rejecting a lot of your basic experience. There is something aggressive about that approach to life, trying to flatten out all the rough spots and imperfections into a nice smooth ride.
 
To be fully awake, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.”

        ~ Pema Chödrön             

Stumble It!

“Anything I’ve ever done
that ultimately was worthwhile…
initially scared me to death.”

~Betty Bender

With a combination of conviction and a tender voice, my son looked into my eyes last night and said…

“Mommy, I’m afraid of the tooth fairy.”

Although he is 1-2 years from losing his first tooth, I asked him to explain. From his innocence, this is what I heard…

“I’m afraid of the tooth fairy. Please don’t let him into my room. How does he know when I lose my teeth? How does he get into my room? Is he going to make slow creepy noises next to my bed? Can you stop the tooth fairy from coming mommy? I don’t want his money. I just want to keep him out of my room.” 

His fear eventually settled when I told him, when the day comes, I’ll ask the tooth fairy not to visit our house and I will exchange his teeth for money instead. He still isn’t sure how I am going to contact the tooth fairy, but he’s happy to know a small flying tooth hungry fairy won’t be visiting his room.

My son’s fear of the unknown and his fear of something that doesn’t even exist made me question…

Am I fearful of things that don’t exist?

And are these fears holding me back?

I suppose this is when I admit, with conviction and a tender voice, that I am still afraid of the boogeyman.

I still hate basements (a perfect boogeyman hideout), I still need someone to be on the phone with me when I’m walking into my house all alone (the boogeyman loves to jump out underneath dark quite cars), and I still leave extra lights on around the house when my husband is on an overnight business trip (extra lights keep the boogeyman out at sea).

Why have I settled for allowing this fear to live inside my head?
Maybe I need to invite the boogeyman over for tea and settle this once and for all.

Fabulous Comment Questions for Today….

1. Are you fearful of things that don’t exist?
2. Are these fears holding you back?
3. Do you challenge your fears?
4. Do you accommodate your fears?

Stumble It!

Arriving at the Moment of Your Dream
by Stacey Hoffer Weckstein

Can you capture that moment
when you knew you had arrived at one of your dreams?

Here are a few of my arriving moments…
My first step down the aisle on my wedding day,
When I looked into my children’s eyes for the first time, 
The moment my plane arrived at Ben Gurion airport,
The first time someone commented on my blog,
The very last bell in high school.

These are the moments to savor.

Please share your extraordinary moments. 

Stumble It!