“Language… has created the word ‘loneliness’ to express the pain of being alone.  And it has created the word ‘solitude’ to express the glory of being alone.”   Paul Tillich

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love.  When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”   Sophia Loren

“Work is love made visible.  And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.”   Khalil Gibran

“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from.”   Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”   Maya Angelou

“Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.”  Wayne W. Dyer

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.”    John Lubbock

“We are like the little branch that quivers during a storm, doubting our strength and forgetting we are the tree—deeply rooted to withstand all life’s upheavals.”     Dodinsky

In this week’s #CoachingBox we’re exploring the theme of achieving balance.

I make no excuse for defining this as Life Balance as this is what most people speak about.

In my experience, it’s easier than I think to create enough time and space in my life for the things that I hold very dear to me.  It does require that I stop spinning around.

Once I’ve stopped spinning, it’s useful to assess my current situation.  I’d go so far as to suggest that unless I do this I’m going nowhere!

Next, I create my wants list.  This is a list of things I want in my life.  It tends to start off very simply and becomes more detailed as I go along. The most important part is to give it time to develop!

Has what you want and whats important to you changed over the last few years or so?  If so, its time to re-assess whether or not you are in or out of balance.

Are you being the ‘real’ you?  Often we spend a great deal of time and energy trying to be something we think others want us to be.

Are you being responsible?  It may seem a strange question to ask yourself but often we ‘blame’ others or situations rather than actually taking personal responsibility for where we are.

Are you aiming to be great or the greatest?  Choose to do something that you’ve always wanted to do and actually do it.

Remember to check that what you say that you want is a fit with your personal values and that it’s really what you want, and something that you can responsibly achieve and go for it!

If you would like some assistance in understanding how to achieve balance and identifying your personal values, you might want to try a Values Elicitation Exercise!   Thousand Insights has a very detailed description and a useful exercise as does KCCCoaching  and Douglas Wagonner.  Remember it is just a snapshot of where you are now and not a full set of commandments.

In our next #CoachingBox we will be exploring the next possible step.

“If its still in your mind its worth taking the risk.”   Paulo Coelho