Achieving balance in our lives is accomplished by saying no when we need to and learning to set priorities. And we cannot achieve balance without understanding what our particular needs are. Balance is different for everyone. It means that you have identified your priorities and have not overextended yourself. Balance means you are aware of the dangers of burnout. Balance means that when asked the question, “Are you happy?” you can answer yes.

The following are 4 core values I use to live a balanced life and achieve my dreams easier.

One–No Guilt Allowed

One of the biggest struggles for women today is learning to say no without guilt. One of the core values I teach my coaching clients is to adopt this new rule into their lives called—No Guild Allowed. Guilt can hold you back from many of the goals you want to accomplish if you let it. Guilt doesn’t make you a better mother, or employee, or even more fit. Most of us know this, yet we still allow ourselves to fester in guilt. Guilt actually creates an imbalance in your life because you are left with feelings of inadequacy.

From now on when guilt creeps into your life—take action by noticing that the emotion is present and replace it with positive choices or joy as quickly as you can. As you retrain yourself to purge guilt, you will notice how much easier it is to move forward and accomplish your goals.

Two–Embrace Positive Choices

“The art of positive choices helps you to create the life you want. Positive choices help you to discover what truly makes you happy and realign your priorities. Life is a series of additions and subtractions. You control the calculator.”
~ Gail McMeekin ~

Another core value that allows you to achieve balance in your life is being able to make positive choices. What are positive choices—these are choices that propel you forward… they benefit your mind, your body, and your soul. These choices allow you to feel productive and focused because they are in alignment with what you really want to do on a daily basis. And remember—how we live our days is indeed how we live our lives.

Three–Cultivating Moments of Pure Joy

“The worst sin—perhaps the only sin—passion can commit, is to be joyless.”
~ Dorothy Sayers ~

One of the best things I personally ever did was follow my heart when EVERYONE else thought I was crazy. The first time I did this—I was scared, but at the time I was so miserable, I didn’t really feel like I had a choice. From that experience I learned to trust my gut and I learned that to follow my dreams meant that I was the architect of my life and that it was actually up to me to cultivate moments of pure joy in my life. For me-that means I spend most of my time either with my kids having fun or I am in the process of creating. Creating—for me is writing or decorating. To follow your dreams—you will have to take giant leaps and be willing to get your hands dirty before you learn how to cultivate a life full of joy.

Four–Practice Conscious Living

Another core value that will help you achieve balance is to practice conscious living. People who achieve their dreams do it with a plan. They may start out simply doing something they are passionate about, but eventually to achieve substantial results, they had to sit down and map out a plan. They made changes in their lives and began to live in a very conscious way. They began to pay attention to what they said yes and no to. They began to choose how they reacted to negative people and situations. They began to consciously choose to surround themselves with other people who had fun accomplishing their dreams. They decided to be disciplined about their choices and they also chose to consciously enjoy every moment they could going forward.

From this day forward, begin to practice conscious living—make sure you aren’t on autopilot. How do you know if you are on autopilot? Sometimes making excuses or blaming others can be a sign that you are living your life on autopilot. Sometimes situations in our lives or behaviors we have learned from our childhood can be the reason we don’t know how to live life in a conscious way. One of my favorite phrases ever is “You do better when you know better.” Don’t look back, just look forward. And don’t wait another day to get busy living life in a way that feels joyful to you.

Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website? You have my permission, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

Sheri McConnell is the President and Founder of two national organizations–the National Association of Women Writers and the Association of Web Entrepreneurs. She teaches women writers and entrepreneurs how to discover, create, and profit from their intellectual knowledge. Sheri has a Masters of Arts in Organizational Management and a Bachelors in Social Work.

She has four published books for women writers and in February 2007 she started a new site— www.createyourgroup.com and published Create Your Association–The Complete Blueprint and Tool Kit for Building a Profitable and Sustainable Membership-Based Business for anyone wanting to create a profitable membership-based business from their home.

Her latest venture—a high level product for lifestyle entrepreneurs–My Millionaire Friends is at www.my-millionaire-friends.com. You can visit Sheri and see all her companies at www.sherimcconnell.com and to access her free article archive. Sheri lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband, their four children, a weenie dog, and two cats.

Technorati Tags: Sheri McConnell, NAWW, AWE, CYG, MMF, National Association of Women Writers, Association of Web Entrepreneurs, Create Your Group, My Millionaire Friends, accomplishing dreams, dreams, guilt, positivity

Hi Creators and Big Thinkers!

I wanted to share a really great post. I had the pleasure of interviewing Christine Kane last year at the National Assn of Women Writers. She is a singer/songwriter and much more. In this post, she discusses 5 Simple Ways To Invite Delight. I love them and so I put her 5 below and then linked to a few past posts where I had already practiced a version of what she suggests. Feel free to do the same and share… and remember, You Have Choices–You Are the Architect of Your Life.

Side note on inviting delight into your life even when it seems really hard. I personally learned many years ago after my divorce that I was the only one who could truly create or rebuild the life I desired for my children and myself. I couldn’t blame him or his family or even myself… I could only get busy learning to do it different and do it better. This mentality helped me to reinvent my mindsets and our lives completely.(I plan on blogging on 3, 4, and 5 in the upcoming weeks)

Christine Kane’s “5 Simple Ways to Invite Delight”

1 - Create a “Here’s What I Love” List

My version is the 37 Reasons I Am Grateful

2 - Create a “Fun To-Do’s” List

My version is 10 Things I Want To Do By The Time I Am 40

3 - Create a “Friends I Want to See More” List

4 - Consciously Choose to Enjoy Something In Your Day

5 - Do Things Imperfectly On Purpose

To your success,

Sheri McConnell
www.sherimcconnell.com

Technorati Tags: Christine Kane, 5 Simple Ways To Invite Delight, You Are the Architect of Your Life, Architect of Your Life