Is Your Life Feeling out of Balance?

Life’s Balance

Is your life feeling out of balance?

No matter what we use as criteria when it comes to experiencing balance in our lives, we have certain needs that need to be filled throughout our lives and the more balanced our fulfillment of these needs, the smoother our boat will sail and the closer to balance we will get.

IIN calls it primary foods

Maslow called it a hierarchy of needs

Anthony Robbins called it a wheel

I call it a pie.

Whatever we call it, it all comes down to balance. If our life is not in balance then we are in trouble.

Self actualization(morality, creativity, problem solving
learning, lack of prejudice and acceptance of facts
Esteem(self esteem, confidence, respect)
Love and belonging(friendship, family and intimacy)
Safety (security of body, health, family, property, employment, resources and morality)
Physiological(breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion)

Everyone can rank these in a different order of importance. At the same time, we may each rank them differently at different times in our lives.What is certain? If one of the above is lacking and another is over emphasized, then we are out of balance.

Anthony Robbins does an exercise with a wheel representing career, physical, spiritual and financial. We have to rank each by “how it is going.” Visually we are able to see, for example, that we are doing great financially and physically, but perhaps not spiritually or career-wise. If we are out of balance, our wheel will not roll.

The Institute for Integrative Nutrition calls it “primary foods.” Outside our triangle of nutrition is a circle that consists of relationship, spirituality, career and physical activity.

The truth is, we can fix what we eat. We can eat more greens and get rid of processed foods, but if we don’t take care of the other areas of our life, we will still not experience balanced health and happiness. You can be completely healthy with your diet yet still feel imbalanced.

To help you see the topics more clearly, take a look at the following basic needs and ways of fulfillment.

Self Actualization (morality, creativity, problem solving, learning, lack of prejudice and an acceptance of facts)

Prayer, Thoughtfulness, Meditation
Journaling
Fun
Study
Spirituality
Contribution

Esteem (self esteem, confidence, respect)

Gratitude
Feelings

Love and Belonging (friendship, family and intimacy)

Relationship building
Caregiving
Forgiveness
Intimacy

Safety (security of body, health, family, property, employment, resources and morality)

Environmental safety
Health & well being
Job Security
Career growth
Financial empowerment
Environmental preservation
Ethics and morality

Physiological (breathing, environmental, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion)

Clean air, meditation, breathing exercise
Environmental impact on health and well being through design (ex. bringing nature into the home, healthy light, smart space)
Nutrition
PH Balance
Probiotics
Losing weight
Better Digestion
Super foods
Acai

Algae

Aloe Vera

Bee Products

Cacao

Camu Camu Berry

Chlorella

Coconut

Goji Berries

Hempseed

Incan Berries

Kelp

Maca

Marine Phytoplankton

Noni

Yacon

Raw Nutrition
Juicing vs. Blending
Nuts and Seeds
Sprouts
Grasses
Seaweed
Roots
Mushrooms
Recipes
Exercise and fitness
Water, the amount and cleanliness
Intimacy as a physical need
Amount and quality of sleep
Digestion
Bodily function, sight, hearing, pain
Cleansing
Illness and healing

We will be adding to this and focusing on each topic as total wellness. Look forward to future blogs on each line item and broken down even further for more tips on how to improve the quality of our lives. If anyone has any categories they would add to each need, please comment below.