Life is meant to be sweet- a little savory and peppery now and then, but basically sweet and enjoyable! However, as we all get so wrapped up in the day’s tasks, errands, and chores, instead of a joy, life becomes a balancing act and if not handled properly can be a very stressful existence. If you’ve ever seen a juggler drop something, you know what it feels like. Trying to juggle too much and sometimes ‘dropping the ball’ can lead to frustration and low self-esteem. That’s not sweet!
Double juggle, toil and trouble~
Your life may very often feel as though you’re not only juggling, but you’re juggling chain saws, sharp knives, or delicate eggs. Let’s talk about it – maybe we can stop the madness. Or at least learn how to juggle more effectively. It is balance that we strive to achieve. Like a good nutritious balanced diet, that’s what we want in our lives.
“My boss wants me to work late, but my son has a game and I just can’t miss it. Again. What should I do?”
“My mom tells me she needs my help this weekend, but the laundry is piled high and the lawn needs mowing. Can I disappoint her? Again?”
“My spiritual life is sorely lacking, but who has time to attend church on Sunday? That’s my day to sleep in a bit, I feel so guilty when I miss.”
“My social and dating life is non-existent, but who has time to get to know someone new. Better to stick with the one I know, even if it isn’t exactly what I want for my life.” Or better yet, “Avoid the whole dating scene because of the distraction it may cause and add, yet another ingredient to juggle.”
“I cannot stick to a budget! There’s always too much month left at the end of the money, but great clothes are important to my image. Right? Even if I run up my credit card or even skip a payment now and then.”
The answer to all these questions is the same.
Questions, questions, questions. Life today is definitely a complex juggling act, and in spite of the fact that we keep dropping things, even things that are very important, we not only keep trying to do it all, we keep adding things because it makes us feel bad to say “No!”
It’s all about prioritizing. I have found that there are many things I treat as a priority that actually are not. Balance is something we must figure out, however this has probably been the most challenging struggle of my own Cake Recipe design.
After years of struggling with this balancing act of life, I have discovered there is a method and a way to achieve this. It can be done.
First, make a list of all your time-sucking activities – don’t leave anything out (some examples are housework, lawn/pool care, kids’ activities, social life, church, meditation, or spiritual time, shopping, work, family obligations, errands). Some of these activities will make you smile, taste good, and are truly priorities. Others may not taste so good and can either be discarded or maybe delegated to others. You do not have to do it all.
Important point: If your life is in balance, and you have your priorities straight, you do NOT have to tolerate less than stellar friends or partners.
Once you have selected the right ingredients and eliminated the ones that don’t taste good or aren’t healthy for you, the following ideas have helped me to stay on track with ease and comfort. And in a moment, I will reveal the secret I found to keep my life stabilized and tasting good. But first...
1. Become a decider – making decisions and choosing your life ingredients is key. Don’t waffle – you can make adjustments later, but right now you must decide what’s important to you.
2. You have your list, now put them in order of priority.
3. Be consistent with your daily routine – try to stick to a schedule and make a habit of what’s important. This will become easier as you go along but stability depends on consistency and structure.
4. Study how creatures of habit do better with this method than those who crave or are drawn to chaos. A chaotic life is rarely a successful one. Just like a crazy concoction of random ingredients won’t make a good cake. Baking requires some careful thought about ingredients, a method to the madness, and a great recipe!
5. Set a steady pace – remember the tortoise who won the race? If things begin to feel too rushed and verging on chaos again, adjust the recipe. Slow and steady beats helter skelter every time.
Time to reveal the secret!
I actually found the secret to all of this craziness and the only way I have discovered that keeps me grounded and balanced. It is the greatest stabilizer of all! What is this amazing stabilizer?
It’s not complicated – you don’t have to look in the gourmet aisle or search for some out-of-the-way specialty store with high-priced ingredients. The one and only almighty powerful source of love…GOD! Yes, it’s that true and that simple. Until I added this ingredient to my Cake Life recipe, and made it the center which all other ingredients swirl around, my life was a mess! Yes, a huge mess! It took me several months to realize this, however, going back and forth from old patterns that were not working I discovered my path was always effortless when I consistently connected with God. Adding this special ingredient finally made it all make sense. Keeping God the center of all things has been my answer to a long-suffered question of life.
As God at the center of your mixing bowl, everything stays in perfect balance and balance leads to a sweet life.
Your spiritual life may be different from mine –Perhaps you enjoy attending church on Sunday; perhaps you prefer Wednesday night or Saturday temple. Maybe you will discover a vastly different spiritual pathway that serves to guide and inspire you. I have discovered a constant awareness of the Power associated with my connection makes all of the difference in my day to day choices and attitude towards whatever comes along. It has become such a part of my thought process that I am unconsciously in tune all day every day. Peace resides when the awareness of my spiritual connection is present… I have made it a habit and it has changed my life.
Whatever your spiritual and/or religious pathway, I urge you to give this crucial element some deep thought, study, and exploration, because without a spiritual center, your recipe will never be all it could be. It will lack what bakers call a stabilizer – the thing that makes all the other ingredients work together.
So that’s it for now. You have your homework assignment!
Next time, please stop by as I plan to talk about what it feels like to want to frost your cake before it’s ready.
The blog will be titled: A Hot Mess!
Bon appetite and vaya con dios for now,
Sherry
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