I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately on life, the law of attraction, success, and the process of achieving one’s desires.  Reflection and reassessment at the end of a project is one of my values, and the end of my career development seminar series just happened to come right before my 39th birthday – so a big double whammy on the reflection and reassessment concept.

There has been so much marketing around “The Secret” and with that a lot of criticism as well.  The movie has created a lot of joy for many people by opening up their minds to the possibility of a life filled with happiness.  Of course, there are always those people who choose to remain closed off from that possibility as well and I have concluded that these people must serve as our universal balance.  I’m starting to believe that God gave us free will for a reason.  (!)

“Balance” is a very emotionally charged word these days – even more so than the phrase “law of attraction.”  Everyone is seeking balance.  But what does that mean exactly?

I attended a meeting last year where one woman was adamant that we divide our days and weeks equally among our family and career.  She kept talking about how much our children need us, so when I asked her how to balance my days since I have no children, her response was, “You need to have children.”

Obviously, I “considered the source” and moved on to meeting someone else at that event.

I haven’t discussed balance a whole lot on this blog, but I have talked enough about determining your values, determining your top 20, etc, that I think most of you know I believe balance is very much an individual reflection.  The only thing universal about balance is that we all need it and are constantly striving for it whether we realize it or not.  It is much like success; we all want it, but we each have a different definition of it.  Does that make sense?

I am not going to give you a “how-to” pitch today, because finding balance is such a personal matter.  But I do want to leave you with an analogy that describes what most of you do when it comes to utilizing the law of attraction or finding balance.

Let’s say that you put out the intention of having a nice dinner.  Your focus is not on preparing the dinner, although you could.  You’d prefer to just sit down at a table, and be served a delicious meal.  So you decide to go to your favorite restaurant where you can order exactly what you want and the service is always impeccable.

When you arrive, you are seated at a nice table with a view, and the menu is placed in front of you.  As you peruse the menu and prices, the server gets your drink.  Eventually, the server asks for your order.  You say, “I’d like the beef tenderloin, medium, with the parmesan potatoes, and a salad with your house dressing.”  But you don’t just stop there, you go on to say, “Oh, and tell the chef I’ll be in the kitchen in two minutes to prepare my meal.”

Have you ever done that in a restaurant?  Of course not – because you know you’re going to be paying a certain amount of money for the preparation of your food. Your only “work” is to enjoy it.

However, have you ever done that in life?  I think you have.  We become so focused on controlling every aspect of our lives and we believe that hard work goes with each and every aspect, that without knowing it, we are paying for our meal and preparing it, too.  Think about it.  Do you catch yourself cleaning the house just before the cleaning service arrives?

Take a moment to become aware of your breathing.  Do you breathe in, breathe in, and breathe in again?  No, you breathe in, and breathe out.  Breathe in, and breathe out.  Breathe in, and then breathe out.  You could say, that our breathing is “balanced” couldn’t you?

It has been said many times that giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin.  Giving and receiving are actually polar opposites that balance each other.  When you’re trying to attract something into your life, start thinking about what you can give.  The two don’t have to go hand in hand because, to the universe, giving is giving and getting is getting.  So whatever you have to give, if you focus on doing that to the best of your ability, with the intention of adding value to the universe, you will get whatever it is that you want.  The universe is all about balance.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Give. Receive.  Work.  Relax.  Family.  Career.  Receive.  Give.  Relax.  Work.  See?  Balance.

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Posted under Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation