CONSCIOUS LIFE SKILLS NEWSLETTER - April 2007
A conscious life is a life in which a person commits in a caring and positive way to accepting, knowing, honouring and evolving their self physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?
WORK LIFE REBALANCE. PART 1
by Frances Todd
What does work-life imbalance mean to you?
For the statistician in you, here's quantitative look at what it means:
According to a report published by the Institute of Australia in 2004, an Australian employee is now clocking up more hours annually than even USA and Japan, two countries renowned for long work hours - compare 1855 hours each year, above the average of 1643 for a developed country.
For the intuitive person within you, here's a qualitative look at what work-life imbalance may mean:
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physically tired when Monday comes around again |
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reduced zest for life |
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increasing distance in your relationships |
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dissatisfaction from rewards such as salary increases, eating out and regular holidays |
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feeling unhappy |
What makes you happy?
A simple question, perhaps, but one that is the key to understanding and creating balance in work and life.
Your level of personal happiness drives and energizes your life purpose, your life goals, your attitudes, your relationships, your actions, your achievements and your contentment. Salary rises and overseas holidays may bring pleasure. But, for how long does pleasure make you happy? What does happiness mean to you? Perhaps you need to step right back from pleasure and observe happiness?
Let’s observe a happy moment (and I don’t mean, happy hour for the humorists among you!)
Think back to a time when you felt happy - afternoon sunlight dancing on leaves, a shared moment with a lover, or the buzz from a good workout.
Can you step back into this moment and describe what is happening inside you? Can you feel and see the happiness? Experiencing happiness is felt many different ways - warmth on the skin, lips softening into a smile, cold ice-cream melting on your tongue, sense of timelessness, or an exuberance that sends you leaping with joy.
By stepping into this memory, you can allow happiness from within to flow into your life right now. Recollecting a happy moment becomes a first step in awareness in understanding and ultimately activating happiness in your life. Reflect on how often the qualities of a happy moment are present in your current work/life balance.
Reflections on the happy moment can lead to your asking yourself: Is work my life? Where does leisure fit in? Is there more to me than life and work? What can I do now to adjust the balance so I can consistently feel happier with living?
Would you like some guidance in facilitating your recollection of a happy moment and bringing its energy into your current work-life situation? Request a complimentary coaching session. Watch out for future issues of the newsletter in which we’ll discuss more about rebalancing space and time in your life for being happy.
The growing pear-shaped nature of work-life balance is now a hot topic in Australia. Employers and government may debate and create policy and practice about more life-friendly workplace environments. But, will these practices make you happy?
c2007 Conscious Life Skills