8 Insights for Balanced Living

Today’s guest post is by Renee Peterson Trudeau.

I’m always looking for ways to create balance in my life. When a friend introduced me to The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-Balance Your Life by Renee Peterson Trudeau, I knew I’d found a wonderful resource.

Renee is a nationally recognized life balance expert/speaker and president of Austin-based Career Strategists. I thought Renee’s insights were just as relevant for grandmothers as they are for mothers.

Finding balance in all that we do is a journey. Every part of our being—physical, emotional, spiritual and mental—desires to be in equilibrium. It’s our natural state. And our job is to listen to our deepest wisdom that more than anything in the world, wants to help us return to this natural state of well-being.

How do you stay grounded and not allow yourself to get caught up in the chaos and uncertainty that seems to surround us these days?

As much as many of us would like a quick solution or band-aid fix to bring us into a state of equilibrium, a recommendation for a life-changing professional organizer, or the perfect multivitamin, ultimately, creating balance is something we must do from the “inside out,” the only approach I believe that is truly sustainable.

Here are eight insights I use daily to help me feel centered, enhance my emotional well-being and stay in touch with what really matters:

Be willing to pause. Assess where you are in the moment (day/week/month) and know that course corrections are necessary to the journey.
Self-care is a non-negotiable. Regular self-nourishment should be like oxygen. It’s more essential than ever to commit to the practice when you feel you can’t take time for yourself because that’s when you need it most.
Start your day with stillness. Whatever that looks like for you. When you come from a place of being fully present, you are wiser, more effective and more focused in all that you do.
Be gentle with yourself. Release perfectionism, self-doubt and self-criticism and know that “Your ordinary self is enough.” (Carol Orsborn)
Take time to reconnect with who you are. This is not something you check off your to-do list, but a regular practice. What do you need now (not last month) to feel more alive?
Slow down. We’re human beings not human doings. We’re all moving too fast and trying to do too much. As my eight–year old often tells me, “Mom, slower is better.” More and more research is highlighting the ineffectiveness of excessive multi-tasking and the benefits that come from slowing down.
Become comfortable living with polarity. Coming into balance is realizing you can hold joy and possibility at the same time as sadness and frustration.
Live intentionally. This year thousands of us embraced the Live Inside Out movement as we collectively responded to the call to live a life that is driven by our internal values—as opposed to external or societal values.

My favorite quote by Goethe still inspires me and is taped up in my office and on my refrigerator: “Things which matter most should never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

What matters most to you in your life and what changes are you willing to make to ensure that your true priorities remain at the top, rather than the bottom, of your list?

To receive monthly life balance tips, listen to Life Balance teleclasses, attend a Self-Renewal Retreat and learn how to start/join a Personal Renewal Group women’s circle using the Guide, visit Renee’s website.