Finding "balance" in life is something you hear a lot of people talking about. What is balance though? If you think of the word itself, balance (when used as a noun) is defined as, "an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady". The words "evenly distributed", imply that there is some sort of center, about which the weight is distributed. What is your center? If we're discussing life balance, what is the center of your life, about which you'd like to distribute every other aspect? Family, work, God, health?

Have you ever considered that the reason you're struggling with balance is that you aren't sure what you want the center to be? Say for example, you choose to have family be your center point. It makes it a bit easier to look at everything else as it relates to family and makes prioritizing things pretty simple. Prior to committing to something, you'd consider what impact it would have on your family. What if spirituality was what you choose as your center? How does that change the way you view your daily routine? What about health?

Let's use the analogy of a tree. Your center is your trunk. Each obligation or responsibility is a branch off of the tree. The most important things connect directly to the trunk. The less important, branch off farther away from the trunk. If your family is your trunk, your job, school, church, etc. branch off of that trunk. They are connected directly to the center and the obligations of these smaller branches have a direct effect on the trunk. Things like recreational sports team, clubs, social groups, branch off of those smaller branches and don't directly connect to the trunk, or center. They don't directly impact the trunk, but if you put enough force on them, the force could be strong enough to get all the way down the line.

Finding balance in your life is much like not putting too much force on the wrong branch. If you find that one area of your life is pulling too heavily, it's time to cut some of those branches! Time to say no or press pause on a few obligations until you feel the balance come back to the center. If saying no is not something you want to do, add more weight to the other side. For example, if the work side of your tree is pulling everything of kilter, add more weight to the health side. Add an hour of walking in the evening, meditation or exercise time. You'll find that shifting the focus to the other side of your "tree" will make the heavy side feel a little lighter.

Figure out what you want the center of your life to be. Be careful not to make it what you think it should be. This is about you and your happiness, not what others tell you should make you happy or will make you happy. Only you can decide what will ground you, center you and allow you to grow in every other area of your life. Once you find that, be sure to keep it in mind as you take on other obligations and allow yourself to branch out carefully and mindfully.

"Balance is not something you find, it is something you create." - Jana Kingsford