Relativity
Your dreams are just the right size for you
…that is if you are prepared to live them. Whatever you decide to do with this magical thing called life, it may be to create something as large as a mountain or, it may simply be to create happiness and wellbeing. No task that we take on is too big or too small it is simply us playing out our own version of life, of being who and what we really, really want to be.
Step nine is all about self-fulfilment, it concerns your decision as to what you choose to do with this magic energy called life. In this blog I want you to consider the issues of ‘work’ and ‘life’. Are they the same or different? Do you separate your work from your life? Is it possible for both to be the same thing?
Stop looking for the perfect work-life balance
Phrases about needing to create or maintain a work life balance seem to be everywhere. Every organisation that I visit has a new policy. I am told that it is all about looking after the workers. As levels of stress and anxiety have risen in western society the idea that we should look after our self, becomes the buzz idea of the moment. It is certainly true that most people in most organisations are now working longer hours than ever before and many of us will now be doing the same amount of work that two or, even three people were doing a generation ago. Sure, the pressure is on and we do need to be looking after ourselves.
However there is an odd contradiction in this concept of work and life. Are we saying that when we are at work we are not living? Is it the case that we cannot have real life when we are in the workplace? To me this is all bonkers. If we are living a truly fulfilled life then the demarcation between work and life or work and play is not there.
When I came back into the UK, having been living and studying in various communities around the world, I had to decide what I would do with this wonderful gift of life. In my decision making about what to do was included the idea that I would need to survive financially. When I looked long and hard at myself I began to realise that if I was to be happy in life it would be because I was using this gift of life in ways that made me happy. My decision was that working with other people and playing music were the two things that made me happiest. And so, that is what I have done ever since. I do not go to work I simply live my life. I have no work and life to balance; I simply just live and enjoy my life.
I am not unique. I have met many people who live in the same way. I cannot go along with the concept of going to work as something that has to be endured. The idea of hating Mondays and the opposite joy of loving Fridays is never there in my world. I love my life and I love what I do every day of the week.
Most people, actually about 94% of the population, are wage slaves. That is, they are working for an employer who pays a set hourly rate for the amount of hours they are prepared to employ someone for each week. This leaves most people stuck in a place of relative routine. The bottom line is that if you do not like going to your work, to the point where there is drastic difference between work and play then, you are in the wrong job and not doing what you should be doing with your life.
Harv Ekker in his book and course ‘The Millionaire Mind’ explains how we each use our inner template or paradigm to create the world of our experience and that includes our financial world. For many people the idea of running your own business can be scary but for many it is the answer. It allows each self employed person to live a life that they would wish to. Dave Woods in his book ‘Get Paid For Who You Are’ explains that we all have a business within us once we take the time to realise it.
There is a clever phrase that someone said, “do you live to work or, work to live?’ Perhaps the alternative is that you simply live and earn your daily crust by doing what makes you happy. Now, here at Live In The Present we have been running courses for many years enabling people to discover what it is that they really want from live and then looking at how they might achieve it. These courses led to the book ‘Live In the Present’.
The journey of discovering who you are and finding your own fulfilment begins with the answer to that simple, but at the same time difficult question.
‘What do you really, really, really, really want from your life’?
Once you answer this question you will be well on your way to living a balanced life and no longing needing to consider a work life balance.
Take care and live in your present
Sean x
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