Remember the old saying that happiness is having “someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for”? Not only is this great advice, it also happens to be a great foundation for maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
Today I’m going to share with you 9 foundational areas that I believe are key to living a life that is emotionally, physically, and spiritually healthy. Of course there can be as many “foundational areas” of balanced living as there are authors willing to write about the subject, but this compilation is my own and since this is my blog I have the benefit of being able to share my list with you. 
Have a clear purpose
Weather you believe your greater purpose lies in your work, your family, your spiritual path, you relation to the world at large or any combination thereof, it is important for you to believe that you are contributing and making progress towards something that is of great significance to you. Without a clear sense of what you’re aiming for or the ability to press on and produce what you determine to be meaningful results, it is very easy to become frustrated with life and fall into states of disillusionment and discouragement.
Maintain a healthy lifestyle
I’m talking about diet and exercise here, and yes I do believe they are very important. You don’t have to go to any wild extremes, but taking care of the body you live in will go a long way towards helping you feel energized, happy, and alive. Personally, I practice yoga 2-3 times a week along with bicycling and deep breathing exercises. I also skip the fast food drive thru’s and enjoy a diet high in veggies and low in saturated fats. While I don’t consider myself a health nut (though my girlfriend sometimes thinks otherwise), just these few simple things help me maintain my 6′4″ frame at a trim 180 despite having passed my 40th b-day a few years back.
Be willing to let go
of the need to be right.
of the fear of failing.
of the need for approval.
of the need for someone’s affection or attention.
It took me a while to get this concept, but since I began to grasp it life has gotten better and better. External references of validation are nice and can be the icing upon the cake, but true happiness lies in not needing or caring about the way you are perceived. When you get to the point in life that you are willing to be true to yourself and unashamedly express your authenticity, you will probably be surprised at how much less you fail, how you no longer care about being “right”, how you in will fact garner more approval, and how you somehow manage to attract the attention of those who mean the most to you.
Love somebody
It has been said rather simply that love IS. That we are all one and love is the one common element, the God force behind all creation. How true. Love is who we are at our deepest levels, and the ability to express that love freely and openly without condition is the mark of an emotionally healthy individual.
Live in the present
Ok, you’ve heard this one a million times so I’ll spare you the many tired clichés, but in return I want you to promise me that you’ll dedicate yourself to spending one day acting like this is actually true. Put your circumstances aside, forget about your plans, and just BE. Go somewhere nice, with somebody nice if you can , and spend the entire day immersing yourself in what is. Then come back and post a comment letting me know how it went, even if you had a flat tire or your dog bit you while you were falling down the stairs backwards while carrying out the trash.
Consider your connection to a higher Source
It doesn’t matter to me personally weather you subscribe to the recorded teachings of Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi or anyone else. If you do, I’m sure that you realize there are many other people who also subscribe to those same teachings yet maintain differences of doctrine regarding what these individuals taught and exactly how one should live as a result. The important concept here is the commonality. All of the world’s religions seem to recognize that we all share a connection to a higher Source and that our lives have an inherent sense of meaning. Connecting to that Source can make life a fuller, richer, and more rewarding experince.
Remain grateful
As I said in my previous post, we live in an orderly Universe where like attracts like and thoughts become things. Feelings of gratitude tend to produce the conditions for gratitude, while feeling ungrateful increases the likelihood of whatever it is you’re ungrateful about being present both now and in the future. What sort of things can you think of right now to be grateful for? How about blessings in disguise? Have you ever resisted a change of events only to later become grateful for what came to pass?
Be generous
Generosity is one of the least understood and most important aspects of a balanced lifestyle. Everything in the Universe is energy, even our thoughts. Energy flows in an ordered and balanced way via the Law of Attraction, which simply states that like attracts like and that vibrations of energy tend to match up with each other. Stop the flow of generosity and generosity will stop flowing to you. Hording and believing in scarcity are the surest ways to experience lack and ensure that others aren’t normally generous with you. Gandhi says to “be the change that you want to see in the world” and Jesus said that “As ye give, so shall ye receive”. I’d like to think they knew what they were talking about.
Keep growing
If you’re not growing, you’re dying. Life is about expansion. It’s about coming into the fullness of who we are and continuing to discover and express that fullness openly and without fear. We never “get there” and we’re never done. We either continue the process of recreating ourselves into fuller and fuller representations of who we are, thereby increasing our happiness, our knowledge, and our ability to love and give; or we begin to diminish and withdraw into preconditioned patterns of behavior devoid of any possibility of growth that can lead to the atrophy of body, mind, and spirit.
I hope that reading this list was of some help to you. I do realize that it is rather limited in scope and that much more can and has been written on the subject, but by beginning with these steps I believe that many people can begin the process of attaining greater balance in their lives and thus begin to live life more abundantly.
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