A Balancing Ride.

My daughter has recently learned how to ride her bicycle. She has been reluctant for a while and has even let her younger brother outpace her in mastering the skill of cycling. Then just the other day she amazed the whole family when she hopped on her little bike and rode away.

At first she was putting her feet down all the time to Balance so she wouldn’t rock back and forth so much. Eventually she was riding her bike in straight lines and even learned how to stop leaving long skid marks on the sidewalk. Yesterday her friend came over to watch and gave her a huge thumbs up offered a great big smile and told her “Good job”.

Too often in life we are afraid to try something new in fear that we might not Balance ourselves perfectly the first time. In our lifelong quest for Balance, it is important to get rid of the training wheels and just get out there and begin riding our bikes. We might not Balance perfectly the first time or two and we may even fall flat on our faces. After we get up and brush ourselves off we eventually will learn how to ride straight and Balance like a pro. We will most definitely receive rounds of applause from a friend or two as we obtain our goals and it will all be worth the ride.

So get out there and at least try. Practice the 3 Keys of Balance, that can be found in the free ebrochure and in the Life Balance Boot Camp, “Prioritize your Vital Areas, Get out of Repair, and Achieve your Top 3.”

Thriving Relationship Institute provides Relationship Education and Coaching to improve Marriage and Family Relationships.

The Balancing Power of Meditation

Last year my wife and I visited the East Coast for our very first time. The trip was a blast as we crisscrossed our way from Upstate New York to Washington D.C. We visited both Historic and Entertaining sites that we had only heard and dreamt about for years.

In order to Balance our trip out we had planned to spend a few hours on each leg of the trip to unwind and give time to thoughtful prayer and meditation. We found this opportunity to be some of the highlights to our trip and the most precious moments that we will always remember.

We found many places to meditate and pray in the beautiful little town of Palmyra, a few sanctuaries in bustling downtown Manhattan, and time for reflection and thought, in both Philadelphia and D.C. Because we took the time to make each of these places we visited a time for peaceful reflection, they became more meaningful and the tiring pace of our trip was appropriately evened out.

We all have times in our life when things are exciting and/or stressful and we easily can get burned out. Between work, family relationships, and even our hobbies can be too much for the constant tiring pace we put them at. Each one of us has the need to spend time unwinding and filling our spiritual coffers back up.

I would like to include some basic tips for meditation that even work in New York.

1. Take 5-30 minutes in the morning to read something inspirational and/or sit and pray and ponder with no interruptions.
2. Do not turn on the radio, TV, or other media until you have had your morning meditation time.
3. Schedule a few minutes in the evening to wind down before you head off to bed to practice meditation time.
4. Refrain from watching television within a half an hour before bed.
5. Exercise outside, or go on walks and hikes on trails, by the mountains, lake, river, or ocean to enjoy the beauty and natural serenity of nature.
6. Listen to inspirational music while you exercise.
7. Drive in the car in silence once in a while and think.
8. Wake up early to see the sunrise and/or wait patiently one evening to watch the sunset.

It is a fantastic feeling when you can Balance the distractions and noise of everyday life by using these simple methods to help you unwind and refill spiritual life through the Balancing  Power of Meditation.

Thriving Relationship Institute provides Relationship Education and Coaching to improve Marriage and Family Relationships.