Posts Tagged ‘Balanced Living’

Frantic people live frantic lives. Stressed people live stressed lives, So many are driven. So many people are over-active. So many people strive. They are anxious – often eating and drinking far too much and working far too long.

Now with mobile phones, iPads, laptops demanding the attention of modern life – it is now more important than ever to learn to live life at the pace of rest.

When was the last time you simply stopped to think? When did you last pause? When did you take a deep breath? When did you stop to listen to the wind, the ocean, the birdsong, or the crackling of an open fire?

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In the early 1900s when Ivy Lee advised the managers of Bethlehem Steel to list their top priorities and to then work on tasks in that prioritized order, not proceeding until a task was completed, he was rewarded handsomely.

Charles M. Schwab, who was the head of the company at the time, paid Lee $25,000 because of the power of his advice that positively effected the performance of his managers and of his entire company.

Personally, I have found that the discipline of writing a prioritized list of the six major things that I need to do for the next day,  at the end of each day numbered 1,2,3,4,5,6, has helped me to work with greater purpose, direction and efficiency.

Time management is really about life efficiency.

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‘Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out by religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.’ Matthew 11:28-30 T.M.B.

Wow! That’s the sort of guy that I want to hang around. No pressure. No unrealistic expectations. No demands. No bindings. Just an invitation to come into a place of recovery, for learning and for growing.

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‘The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I walked the beach with my family this week we looked out from the shore, and just two hundred metres away we could see the silhouettes of a dozen dolphins surfing the waves.

Over the next ten minutes or so, as we continued to walk, we were accompanied by this seaside group of performers as they leapt out of the water and surfed and frolicked in the waves – as if they were putting on this performance for only the four of us.

A common event some would say. But for us it was miraculous.

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‘Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.’ – Apostle Paul

In the pursuit of happiness many believe that an abundance of money will cure all ills.  But is has been my observation that wealth without a plan to use it for the betterment of others, other than yourself, can develop into a cancer that will ultimately consume and destroy you.

I have dined and lived amongst millionaires, and I have slept on the dirt floor of a village hut. And it is my conclusion that it is possible to at times have greater peace and happiness in a hut than in a mansion.

Wealth is comparative, and it is foolish to compare what you have or don’t have with another. Compared to Bill Gates I am poor. Compared to the refugee I am a billionaire.

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