“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving” – Albert Einstein
Towards the end of last year I wrote an article about balance and one of my readers mentioned a ‘Life Balance Wheel’. Having only heard about it in passing conversation I did a bit of research, as I usually do. It’s a very useful tool for finding out how balanced our life currently is. Think of it as a bicycle wheel with each spoke representing an aspect of life. The center point represents ‘0’, meaning that aspect of life is not satisfactory, and the outer point represents ’10’, meaning that aspect of life is perfect.
By making a dot at each spoke, and then joining the dots we will soon see how balanced our life really is. A balanced life would look like wheel, perfectly round, which would indicate a ‘smooth’ ride through life. An unbalanced life would have an odd shape, which would indicate a ‘bumpy’ ride through life. Below are examples, with the ‘smooth’ ride on the left and the ‘bumpy’ ride on the right.
There are numerous balance wheels around, all with life broken up into different categories. The one below I find to be the most complete, (if you believe there is something missing, please let me know).
- Relationship with Spouse / Partner (if you don’t have a spouse / partner, don’t put a dot here)
- Relationships with Family. (mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, etc.)
- Relationships with Others. (friends, colleagues, team mates, etc)
- Fun / Leisure / Recreation. (arts & music, hobbies, travel, reading, etc.)
- Physical Health / Fitness. (sport, nutrition, stress reduction, etc.)
- Intellectual Stimulation. (learning, conversing, etc.)
- Emotional Well-Being. (self esteem, happiness, etc.)
- Spirituality / Religion (morals & ethics, life purpose, relationship with God, etc.)
- Physical Environment. (place of work, home, etc.)
- Volunteer Work / Contribution / Environment. (charities, church, recycling, etc.)
- Finances. (financial planning, financial beliefs, etc.)
- Work / Career. (career planning, business skills, etc.)
So print out the wheel above, (just click on the picture to enlarge it), fill it in and get a clearer picture of life as it currently is. If it is out of balance, don’t judge it, it isn’t good or bad, right or wrong, it’s just the way life is at the moment. Negative emotions will not change anything, so lovingly accept life, and decide to make changes if needed.
Firstly we need to look at our wheel and decide which aspects we feel need attention. These will be different for all of us, as we are all unique individuals.
Next we need to ask ourselves the following questions about each aspect. (I suggest writing the answers down, for reference purposes in the future.)
- What do I want this aspect of my life to look like?
- What would I see if I could magically change this aspect overnight?
- What would have to be different in this area of my life in order for me to create the happiness I am looking for?
- What stands in the way of me achieving my goals? (a situation, another person, myself, etc.)
Once you have answered all these questions, set a goal or an intention to achieve or create it. Then start taking small steps towards your goal.
We all have the ability to live the life of our dreams, we just need to get in touch with our inner power, and if we feel we have given that power away, it’s time to get it back.
Have fun doing this little exercise, and have fun making any changes necessary. When it stops being fun, we generally stop doing it.
Until next time…
“Your point of power is always in the present moment.” – Louise L. Hay
As us humans are always growing and changing this, to me, means that in order for this to work and have any long lasting effect, one would have to do this exercise very frequently and perhaps a little bit too frequently to my liking.
It also seems to suggest (in my mind) that the desired end result is a life with no bumps in the road and I can understand why people would strive for that. At the same time I think that the bumps in the road is where we learn the most and what makes us grow even further. Each and everyone of us has a darker side that we’d sometimes rather resist than accept, which means that unless one can be truly honest with self the wheel may appear balanced but could still result in a bumpy ride.
That said, I do think it can be a very valuable tool to determine where one is in life and what to focus on next should one choose to do so.
J, you make some very valid observations. I agree that one would have to do this exercise frequently, but I wouldn’t suggest doing it more than every 3 months. And yes, we do need the bumps, but don’t you think it would be nice be aware of a bump that is coming, before it turns into a wall. Most of us aren’t even aware of where the imbalances are, so this little tool just adds awareness, what we decide to do with that is up to the individual. How’s your year started off?
I like the idea of the Balance Wheel. But knowing myself, I will forget about it when I return home in April where I have access to a printer. I wonder about a Balance Wheel in terms of consciousness and unconsciousness? I wonder if such a thing exists? Now that would be one impossible to actually do as how does one plot unconscious contents or responses on a grid?
Must be nice to be away from technology for a while? Consciousness and unconsciousness, the two are more entwined than we think. Just ask J about the conversations he has with himself, the lucky fellow…