How To Create Balance In Your Life

'balance is not something you find, it is something you create' Jana Kingsford

This voiceover is an audio version of my Slow Sunday Letter below. It is unedited, so may have some stutters, imperfections, and background noise. (Book Lovers Chat is not included in this audio). I hope you enjoy listening to it anyway!

Welcome to Generosity of Spirit, a space to share my slow and gentle living philosophy. Please do subscribe to join me on this gentle journey of discovery and receive my Slow Sunday Letter straight into your inbox.

Welcome back to another Slow Sunday Letter! I hope you have had a slow and gentle week.

Don’t forget to scroll down for my latest Book Lovers Chat video! I’d love to know what you think as we build this community together.

Do you crave more balance in your life? Do you wonder what it actually means, and if it is even possible for you? In this week’s Slow Sunday Letter, we are going to do the work together, and uncover what we mean by creating balance and how we can achieve it in our own lives. So, grab a cuppa, get cosy and let’s focus our energy and take these first steps together.

Before we get going, I just wanted to clarify finding balance will be different for everyone. Just because a friend can work 50+hours week and still find time to meditate, have a full social life and run a side hustle doesn’t mean you can too, and there is nothing wrong with that! We are all wonderous, unique beings and finding your happy medium in which you feel at peace, inspired, and have time for everything you want and need to do in your life without feeling stressed, is what we are working towards. This will be different for everyone, and more likely may even feel different each day! The key is taking the time to get to know you, and what makes your feel at ease and what pushes you off centre.

We are steering away from perfection- rigid, still and delicate balance. I am advocating for balance that is changeable, and able to adapt and shift to suit you, what you are doing and how you are feeling.

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Balance Is A State Of Mind

I want to be clear for me, living a balanced life is not about ‘doing it all’, and spreading yourself over every aspect of your life and finding a way to juggle and manage it all. This idea that in order to create balance you have to treat all aspects of your life equally and dedicate yourself to all corners of life, all responsibilities with equal vigour, focus and time is absolutely not what we are going to explore together today.

In true Generosity of Spirit style, we are approaching this from a slow and gentle perspective and for me balance is a state of mind. It is not about doing more, mastering time management or problem solving. Rather, achieving balance is more about finding your centre and taking the time to develop and understand your inner being.

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Balance: Journal Prompts

Journaling is like having an honest conversation directly with your soul. It listens, it doesn’t interrupt, it will not judge you and more than that it wants to uncover more about you. When you take some time to really explore journaling or journal prompts, you are engaging in a potentially powerful way to discover more about you, your life and gain insights into parts of you that seldom get enough opportunity to be heard or understood.

Consider the following journal prompts as we examine what balance means to you…

This season of my life is teaching me …

I feel most at peace when …

What is enough for me?

What is one aspect of my life I’d like to change?

What is one aspect of my life that is going well?

Today I give myself permission to …

If I had an extra hour a day, how would I spend it?

How can I incorporate mindfulness into my daily life?

When did I last take a break? How did I use it?

What does ‘balance’ mean to me and what does it look like in my life?

Find Your Calm In The Storm

When I feel balanced, I feel happy and content. I feel clear- headed and peaceful. I feel focused and motivated. I am ready to experience life to the fullest, and I am living in the moment.

Life is constantly changing, and we are subjected to a lot of stress and unknowns. Balance is being able to find stability and calm amongst the chaos and motion.

Creating balance is an ongoing process, and as such it is changeable - I like to think of it less like a still, perfectly balanced pile of rocks and more like a swinging pendulum. Working in harmony, moving with grace and purpose.

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The Practice of Balance

We all know that any work in the wellness arena, is work and takes time. Finding balance is no different. It is a practice, and the more attention we give to it, and the more we do it, the better and more instinctual it will become.

An imbalanced life feels like a constant battle. There will be times when you lose balance, and that is inevitable. The point is we can always find it again, and start swinging our pendulum in time once again. Little adjustments, attention and self-compassion will aid you if you stumble. Tuning into your inner-being and what truly matters to you will always help you return to your centre, and there you will uncover your balance.

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Five Tips To Help You Create Balance

Finding balance is a very personal thing, we know it takes practice and we know it is not about seeking out stillness but rather a fluidity around our centre. It speaks to our inner being and harnesses our own strengths and what calls our spirit to feel most at ease and present.

A balanced life means you are making intentional choices, and adjustments daily on how you spend your time and where you focus your energy. You are in tune with your inner being and are able to find your own equilibrium depending on what you are doing and what you need at that particular time.

I have created five tips to help you get started. We all have different goals, lives, intentions, prioritises and our inner beings all respond in our own unique ways - so these tips are suggestions to help you uncover what balance could look like in your life… let’s get started!

1) Discovering Your Values and Passions

Spend some time thinking about what is important to you. It sounds obvious, but so many of us are living life out of alignment with our inner values and passions which can cause real inner conflict.

Making decisions about how you spend your time, what boundaries you have and what deserves your energy, effort and attention will help you live authentically, which will allow for more balance in your life.

Read More:

2) Gratitude

Developing your own gratitude practice will help you focus on what is good in your life, and what helps you feel most content, happy and at ease. Take the time to notice your normal, natural, healthy state of being and what it means to you to experience joy.

By focusing on gratitude and what makes you happy, you will start to notice all the good things around you. Choose to engage with the lighter side of your life and the positivity that comes with it.

3) Self-Discovery

Take self reflection and self discovery seriously. I believe achieving balance goes hand in hand with understanding yourself on a deeper level.

Check in with yourself regularly, and take time to really acknowledge how you feel. This is a life long journey (for want of a better word) and as such will evolve and change over time, so you must be honest with yourself and allow for times when changes need to be made in your life. Balance will come from a fuller understanding and appreciation of where you are now in your life.

Read More:

4) You-Time

Occasionally spending some time to treat yourself can do wonders for your mind, body and spirit. Once in a while, set aside some time just for yourself. Give yourself permission to honour your own needs for rest, exercise, and play. When you put yourself first, it is not selfish. Everyone in your life will benefit.

A consistent self-care practice, which protects, nourishes and enhances your health and well-being is vital for creating and maintaining balance in your life. Think about how you could incorporate some time for you in the week ahead. From getting your nails done, to going to the cinema. Unwinding in a bubble bath or watching your favourite movie. All these will impact your overall wellbeing and are valuable. Make time for you. You deserve it.

5) Examine Your Life

Examine your current lifestyle and don’t be afraid to make the changes that you know will create more balance. Think about the elements in your life that speak to your mind, body and spirit. Then examine your approach and feelings towards your job, your work, social life, family, hobbies and how you invite joy and fun into your life.

Take some time to reflect on your life and evaluate the areas where you feel imbalanced. Be honest with yourself and identify the specific aspects that require attention and adjustment. Based on your assessment, think about what goals you could set and how you could make small adjustments to your priorities to better suit balance in your life.

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Book Lovers Chat

Welcome to another Book Lovers Chat ! I finished Wise Children last week, and I absolutely loved it! I give it a solid four stars and would happily read it again and again.

Wise Children, Angela Carter

Dora and Nora Chance are the illegitimate twin daughters of one of the great Shakespearean actors, Sir Melchior Hazard, whose twin brother Peregrine is believed to be dead. As Dora and Nora celebrate their 75th birthday towards the end of the 20th century, Melchior is about to turn 100 (and possibly Peregrine too…). The story is narrated by Dora who looks back on the sisters’ humble beginnings in south London brought up by the eccentric Grandma Chance and their career as a double act as chorus girls in the weird and wonderful world of Hollywood, theatre and music hall variety shows. 

Good Reads

It is a riot of a novel, there is never a dull moment and it kept surprising me right up until the last page! Highly Recommend!

One of my next reads is Emily Henry’s Happy Place. I have read one of Emily Henry’s novels before - Book Lovers and absolutely loved it. I have managed to accumulate her last five novels … I found some in charity shops and others for really good prices! My aim is to save them for summer reads, as I can’t think of anything more perfect for the warmer months than romantic fiction. So I’d love to know, if you have read any, and what is your favourite!?

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Life Is A Balancing Act — Everything Is In Constant Motion

Thank you for joining me this week as we explored how to find more balance in our lives. Living a balanced life doesn’t mean ‘doing it all’ and spreading yourself equally over all aspects of your life.

It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Balance is about taking the time to get to know yourself on a deeper level and finding out what truly makes your feel content and at ease. Practice being mindful about where your attention is placed, and be open to slight changes and adjustments when things don’t feel aligned. Because our lives can change from day to day, week to week there will be times when we lose our balance. But if we practice regularly, and pay attention when this happens we can regain our balance again.

I would love to know what a balanced life means to you? And how you strive to achieve balance in your every day? Please do let me know in the comments below!

Thank you for being here,

With Light & Love

Emily xxx

If you enjoyed this post, found it useful or want to help me spread the word about how enriching Slow & Gentle Living can be, please do like/leave a comment or share/restack to help others discover Generosity of Spirit. Thank you for reading!

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