On Monday I shared Five Ways to Build Balance Into Your Life and today I want to share the "How" in getting started to bringing balance into your life. Let's look at a couple of ways to lead a balanced life.
STEP #1: TAKE INVENTORY
Look at your life. Say, "Where am I in balance? Where am I out of balance?" Look at yourself. Evaluate it. Do a self-examination. Have a spiritual, mental, emotional check-up and evaluate your lifestyle. How do you avoid coming to the end of your life saying, "If only..." Do it by stopping in the middle of life and analyzing it, looking at it, evaluating and saying, "Where am I out of balance? What's missing?"
Have you come to your senses? Have you said, "I'm not going to waste the rest of my life. I'm going to make it count. I'm going to get my life in balance." This is the year to get in balance -- socially, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally -- all of these areas.
Ask yourself: "Mental balance. Am I mentally sharper than I was five years ago? If not, why not? What am I going to do about it?" I know a lot of Christians who are mentally flabby. They turn on the TV, put their mind in neutral and watch the boob tube.
How about physical balance? "Am I always complaining of a lack of energy?" And I'm always fatigued. I pay no regard to what I eat or how I exercise or how much sleep I get. I disregard my physical condition totally. Am I going to do anything about it? Am I a workaholic or do I take time off for physical restoration?
How about spiritual balance? Is my first reaction to a problem to pray, or do I usually use that as a last resort? Do I take time for God? Do I trust Him? Do I really know Him? Do I read the Bible on a regular basis? Am I choosing to grow spiritually?
Emotional. Do I worry a lot? Am I a moody person? Am I mastered by my moods? Do I loose my temper at the slightest little thing? Am I irritable? Do I get depressed easily?
Social balance. Who can I count on as a genuine friend? Who can count on me as a genuine friend?
STEP #2 WRITE DOWN A PLAN OF ACTION
We plan every other area of our lives except our personal life. Balance does not come by accident. You've got to work at it. It's not automatic. You plan and set goals and say specifically what you're going to do.
Ephesians 5:15 "Be very careful then how you live not as unwise but as wise." Don't be foolish in the way you use your time. Be careful. Analyze it. "Make the most of every opportunity." How do you make the most of every opportunity? By planning for it. By preparing for it. When opportunity comes, you're ready for it. You develop a plan of action.
One of the things that makes balance in your life is habits. We are creatures of habit. In the next few weeks we're going to talk about, how you break bad habits, how you start new ones, because that's part of getting in balance -- getting rid of the bad habits and developing new ones.
But you can't do it on your own. Will power is not enough. You need more.
