The end of the year is almost here.

I can feel a collective (and loud) sigh of relief from all quarters.  For many people, this is the only time they take a break .. from work and routine.  For some it might even be stressful, knowing what to do with the unstructured time, dealing with family for more hours of the day than the preceding months, not keeping to schedules that often provide for ‘me’ time .. it all becomes a bit surreal (especially if you take a significant break which here in Australia many people tend to do).

When I left the corporate world for good .. god, it was such a relief!

Now I would have ten additional hours in my day to do the good stuff. Enjoy the sunshine, catch up on sleep, do some regular exercise and cook amazingly healthy meals ~ and finally get some of that damn work-life balance!

As a single mum juggling studies, teaching meditation at night, setting up my own business and (desperately) wanting to spend more time with family ..

this was my chance to attain BALANCE

And for a little while. I got a little.

There were some weeks when I lunched, took an afternoon nap, cleaned out a cupboard or helped out at my child’s school. But pretty quickly my new life .. my new business, my dreams and passion .. took over everything else. And I found I had exchanged one ‘busy, overwhelming, juggling life’ for another.

I don’t believe that work-life balance is a thing you can acquire. BALANCE is an elusive quality that revolves around a constantly changing field of choices and possibilities, and is better found when we understand that the puzzle is one that needs to be viewed (and naturally will unfold) over a longer period of time.

This time of year, this close to Christmas and holidays, we tend to start talking more about finding ‘work life balance’ .. that while on a break, down the beach and taking it a little easier, we will work out how to manage BALANCE. Perhaps we will plan to change our job, have that part-time conversation or start our own business.  I pondered this during a telephone call with a girlfriend who was  on the train hurtling towards her corporate day job (no doubt wishing she had more time at home), after I had just finished getting a child off to school before diving into an early morning client interview: still in my pj’s not having had time to change (wishing just a little that I had an office to go to).

We are all juggling stuff. Finding our way.

My regular morning meditation practice is the ONE THING that does support my sense of balance. Even with a busy, over committed and hectic life, I relish (and honour) that I have an opportunity each day to sit in stillness and draw from that deeper, solid, unwavering peacefulness and calmness that resides within.

Meditation can be the doorway to finding that elusive work-life balance

Meditation Tip: Just five minutes a day can start your meditation journey. To meditate all you need is the intention to be still, a place to sit comfortably, to close your eyes and watch your breath. When you breath in, know that you are breathing in (you may even silently say that to yourself ‘breathing in’).. and when you breath out, know that you are breathing out (silently noting ‘breathing out’). Watch your breath as if it is the most exciting and mesmerizing event in your whole world in this moment. Doing this practice for just 5-10minutes each day will give you a little ‘balance’ and open the doorway to your intuition/soul/inner voice where you can finally hear your deepest needs and desires (before leaving your job or heading overseas).