I'm back

I was able to stay away from Facebook for 2 1/2 weeks. Then, in a moment of weakness last night, I caved. Oh well.

Kind of going off of that, I had coffee yesterday with a sweet friend of mine. We talked about how much we need our lives to be more balanced. It got me thinking about an activity one of my music ed professors did in class. We were given different adjectives, such as kind, helpful, honest, dishonest, and creative. We had to take each of the adjectives and write four behaviors that described each adjective. They didn't need to be all encompassing, just specific examples. For example:

Kind
1. Opens the door for an elderly person or person in need of assistance
2. Calls friends and family on a regular basis to keep in touch
3. etc...
4. etc...

You get the idea. Last night it got me thinking; I want my life to have balance, but what does that mean? What are some specific behaviors that describe a person with a balanced life? Here are some I came up with. Keep in mind, these are behaviors that help me feel balanced. I know brushing your teeth twice a day or making your bed may be second nature to most of you ;-)

Balanced life
1. Calls or makes contact with at least one family member or close friend every day
2. Brushes their teeth in the morning and at night
3. Exercises at least three days a week
4. Says at least one kind or encouraging statement to a person every day
5. Makes their bed every morning
6. Prays every morning and night
7. Reads at least one book a month for pleasure
8. Puts dirty dishes in the dishwasher
9. Reads God's Word every day
...

My list has many more behaviors than the ones listed, but I'm sure you don't care to read every single thing I put down. Here's what I decided. Every day I will make an effort to do what I can. I probably won't emit all of those behaviors every day. I think that being conscious of behaviors involved in a balanced life allows us to 1) Give ourselves credit for the things on the list that we're already doing on a fairly consistent basis and 2) Get one step closer to being balanced, even if we just do a couple of things on the list.

Just my thoughts. I'm going to close with a beautiful song I found by a musician and writer named Tyler Blanski. Enjoy!