Application Story 8: Life Matters – The Art of Letting Go…

Let me start by sharing this with you:

“Before you can begin something new, you have to end what used to be. Before you can learn a new way of doing things, you have to unlearn the old way. Before you can become a different kind of person, you must let go of your identity. So beginnings depend on endings. The, problem is, people don’t like endings” Chapter 3 - How to Get People to Let Go - Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, 2nd Edition.

When facing and struggling with the fact of “Letting it Go”, here are six steps to help you with this process:

1. Write, talk, draw, paint or tap into your thoughts and memories. Letting go of your past means honoring your memories.
2. Let go the emotions and feelings of painful memories by letting them wash over you. You may feel very bad, but relieved add peace afterwards. Let go of your past by reliving it.
3. Go back and talk to the people involved, if possible. Letting, go can mean going back.
4. Share your real feelings; confess if it is appropriate. Letting go means expressing your emotions. If you have to deal with your mistakes, then own up to your shame or guilt.
5. Apologize and ask for forgiveness if you need to. Letting go also means being vulnerable.
6. Get help with uncontrollable urges that are getting out of your control, otherwise this can be complicated and compromise your health. Sometimes letting go means burying your pride.


In addition, here is a suggested book to help work on the let go process.  The Secret of Letting Go - By: Guy Finley. This book helped me cope with my feelings and emotions, and gave me tips to find that balance for a new beginning.

Lastly, here are some quotes that people tent to use during those moments. I personally have used them too:

1. This is my favorite: “When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell

2. “We can never turn back the pages of time, though we may wish to relive a happy moment, or say goodbye just one last time, we never can, because the sands of time continue to fall, and we can’t turn the hourglass over.” – Unknown

3. “Change is never easy, you fight to hold on, and you fight to let go.” – The Wonder Years

Action Item:

1.   Think about a time you had to let go something or someone, what did you do, and what was the outcome?

2.   What else should we consider to help us move on in life and embrace the new?

Enjoy!

Application Story 7: Asking High-Value Questions

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first fifty five minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”

— Albert Einstein

I'm a firm believer that asking questions is the most productive way of learning in any given situation in our personal or professional lives. Therefore, the High- Value Questions Model is a concept that helps accomplish that. In fact, this is a concept I used at work to help managers and employees become more empowered to learn effectively about information they need. For example: when building relations, interviewing, working on projects, solving issues, having difficult conversations, selling a product, and more. In other words, is a way to ask “probing questions” and questions that cannot be answered with a “yes “or a “no”.

What type of questions we should use?

We may use the following type of questions:

1. Provocative questions
2. Mind-opening questions
3. Assumption-exposing questions
4. Mental model-challenging questions
5. Discovering-what-we-don’t-know questions
6. Attention-shifting questions
7. Market opportunities-attentive questions
8. Reframing questions.

Why this approach?
When learning about this approach, one of my mentors at work explained to me that the high-value question approach can lead to answers that are high-value knowledge. This is something I totally agreed with, and here are some examples for you:

1. Appreciating customers instead of just satisfying them, thereby converting customers to promote your products with their circle of friends with the end result of buying more of your products.
2. Changing how we see reality: this is why “reframing” questions are very powerful. For example, if we change how we view the market then it may enable us to see new market opportunities that we hardly saw before.
3. Challenging and changing the assumptions behind our business model, resulting in a better or new business model that can revive things.
4. Building better relationships at work, and in our personal lives. Understanding more about any given situation and becoming more effective to learn about the facts and the reasons behind those situations specially when interacting with people.

Action Item:
if you want to try this approach, here are some examples to practice next time you feel you need to gain more knowledge:

• How do you define success in this project or department?
• What is the ideal outcome you would like to see or experience?
• How does this compare with your current results?
• You mentioned that you want to improve employee morale with this initiative. Can you tell me what that looks like?
• You have stated that increasing market awareness is one of your primary objectives. How will you know that you have succeeded?

Let me know any thoughts.

Enjoy!

Application Story 6: Have You Ever… Wondered About the Multiple Intelligence Theory?

This is a subject that also fascinates me. During my Master’s program at U of I, we explored this concept in one of my courses. I was very thrilled to learn more about it, and decided to bring it up as part of my learning and development programs. So as part of this blog too, let me share with you more about this theory.

What is the theory of multiple intelligences (M.I.)?

“An intelligence is the ability to solve problems, or create products, that are valued within one or other cultural settings”.  – Howard Gardner FRAM OF MINDS (1983)

Howard Gardner claims that all human beings have multiple intelligences. These multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened, or ignored and weakened. He believes each individual has nine intelligences:

1.      Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence -- well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings and rhythms of words

2.      Mathematical-Logical Intelligence -- ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and capacity to discern logical or numerical patterns

3.      Musical Intelligence -- ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch and timber

4.      Visual-Spatial Intelligence -- capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly

5.      Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence -- ability to control one's body movements and to handle objects skillfully

6.      Interpersonal Intelligence -- capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods, motivations and desires of others.

7.      Intrapersonal Intelligence -- capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes

8.      Naturalist Intelligence -- ability to recognize and categorize plants, animals and other objects in nature

9.      Existential Intelligence -- sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here.

According to Gardner,

• All human beings possess all nine intelligences in varying amounts.
• Each person has a different intellectual composition.
• We can improve education by addressing the multiple intelligences of our students.
• These intelligences are located in different areas of the brain and can either work independently or together.
• These intelligences may define the human species

Why Am I Sharing This With All Of You?

In my opinion, we have to embrace our differences, and as human beings we are different! We learned in different ways, and with that we contribute to build better societies, relations, families, teams, employee relations, and work-related projects. When we were little we tented to learn things just in one way or two… and adjusted ourselves to one or two methodologies.  The truth is that we are individuals equipped with multiple tools that can make us successful in many ways. We can grow stretching those abilities, and developing our strengths in a more directed way, if we really focus on who we really are.  

Moreover, Gardner says that these differences "challenge an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices to test student learning. Indeed, as currently constituted, our educational system is heavily biased toward linguistic modes of instruction and assessment and, to a somewhat lesser degree, toward logical-quantitative modes as well." Gardner argues that "a contrasting set of assumptions is more likely to be educationally effective. Students learn in ways that are identifiably distinctive. The broad spectrum of students - and perhaps the society as a whole - would be better served if disciplines could be presented in a numbers of ways and learning could be assessed through a variety of means."

Action Item:

1.      To read more go to: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

2.      Also if you want to learn about yourself, take the following assessment: http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html

3.      What do you think about this theory?

“I believe that the brain has evolved over millions of years to be responsive to different kinds of content in the world. Language content, musical content, spatial content, numerical content, etc.” – Howard Gardner

Enjoy! 

Application Story 5: In the Search of Happiness

Have you ever wondered how to be happier?

This is something I was meaning to write about. Because of my close relation with my sister, and inspired by that I found the drive to do it and share it with you…

A month ago I went to my favorite book store looking at the “Self-Improvement” section. I was searching for a book about HAPINNESS, and  I found a good one, entitled: Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill -  Written by Mathieu Ricard, and for-worded by Daniel Goleman.  After reading its pages and thinking about what the author expressed on Happiness, I was motivated to share it in my blog. Well to do so, I did more research and found other tips and ideas to practice in the search of happiness. In the next lines I will share with you some of the ideas I got from the book and other material.

Let’s start by defining “Happiness”: From the book this is what the author describes about happiness: “Happiness means an exceptionally healthy stage of mind.  Not a feeling, not an emotion, mood, but an optimal stage of being” – (Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill, Pg. 19).  When I read that I agreed with the concept, and make me explore more about this subject. I will really agree that happiness is not a feeling, an emotion, or mood and goes beyond that. So here is my own thinking about what happiness means to me:  Happiness - It is who we really are in the inside and what we project outside ourselves.  It is basically a stay of mind where we understand the world the way it is, and find ways to make it better.  In other words, happiness it does not mean that everything in our lives is perfect. It means that we have decided to look beyond the imperfections…  Now I would like to ask you, What is happiness for you?

Besides the book I shared, here are some tips I highly recommend to keep in mind and follow:

1. Be Optimistic. No matter what happens, good or difficult, thinking positive is a great way to foster a good stage of mind. The world is not perfect, so enjoy all the imperfections and find them as a way of learning and growing.
2.  Exercise. I am firm believer that endorphins make you feel better, and it will make you happy. Any kind of exercise like walking, running, dancing, doing yoga, swimming, etc.
3. Follow your Gut. Listen to your instincts, more than just waving facts and multiple options. Those are important, but trust also your feelings and your instincts so you can do what feels right. So next time you have a decision to make, and you’re down to two or three choices, just pick the one that feels right, and go with it. But never regret the decisions you make though. Here is a good tip: Use the 3 C’s of life: Choices, Chances, and Changes - You need to make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change. That is a great approach!
4. Be Close to Family and Friends. Our relationships with friends and family have a greater impact on our happiness. It is important to have friends, and family supporting us and giving us comfort. However aim for the healthy relationships, those that help you grow, and feel appreciated regardless of who you are, and those that are not conflict oriented or energy draining.
5. Let Go of Grudges. This is a hard one. If people have hurt you, forgive them and let it go. People make mistakes, including ourselves. We want others to forgive us when we do wrong, so we need to forgive others. I have a great mentor who told me once: Keep your expectations of people realistic”. We will appreciate people much more when we lower our expectations of them. In the process of forgiving or letting it go, don’t forget to start with yourself. People, who are hard on others, are often hardest on themselves.
6. Find Happiness in What You Do or The Job You Have. If you have a positive outlook, you will make the best of any job, and if you have good relationships with people, you won’t depend on your job to give your life a greater sense of meaning. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't aspire towards a job that will make you happier; it means you should understand that the capacity of your job to make you happy is quite small in comparison to your outlook on life and your relationships with people. 
7. Smile. Science suggests that when you smile, whether you feel happy or not, your mood will be elevated. So smile as much as possible!
8. Share your happiness and express gratitude. Sharing, and expressing appreciation is Caring. Most likely people who are true to you will radiate back your happiness! 
9. There is always something to be happy about. Whether it is a friend you’re so appreciative of, your current plans and projects, how far along you’re getting in school, there is always something to appreciate or be proud of in your life.
10. You can't always look at the negative side and just expect everything to turn out perfect. You have to make it happen! If you’re sad about something, then try to turn it around, find other ways to improve things, or try to do it better the next time.

Other Resources: Here is a great article that I recommend you to read from the BNET Report: % Scientifically Proven Ways to be Happier: http://www.bnet.com/blog/business-research/scientifically-proven-ways-to-be-happier/711?promo=713&tag=nl.e713

Let’s take some action: Reflect on the following…

1. Do these tips and resources sound like guidelines you can follow in your own life?
2. Share what activities make you happy, and help you find a great balance in your life?
3. What else do you think should be on the list is shared with you?

“I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances." - Martha Washington

Enjoy!

Application Story 4: Relax the Body, Calm our Minds…

When was the last time we truly felt connected with our heart and at peace?...

In this application story I would like to share with you some ideas and helpful tips about relaxing ourselves and calming our minds; specially this time a year when we may be facing a lot of pressure, stress and busyness in our lives. A while ago when searching for some ideas and tips for myself, I read that an important stress management technic is the idea to calm our minds and our bodies. “The calmer our mind is the more peaceful we will feel in our inner self”. And that resonated to me for a while…

Well it is true that when we calm our body that will improve our health and mood. In fact if we relax our body with things that make us feel tranquil our body will be calmer. But that sounds like the question: what is first, the chicken or the egg? Well that depends you may say.
What I believe is that if we really want to find a balance in our life, we have to start by finding peace in your inner self, and becoming satisfied with who we are in the middle of our busy lives. It is a matter of wanting to be healthy and happy in our heart with simple things that can help us relax and enjoy life in a better way.

Here are some things I like to do when finding my inner peace and trying to relax myself:

There are moments in my busy life that I need a break, for that I find myself wanting to run and release energy by pumping my heart rate. Running is something I loved very much. So I like going for an outside run when the weather allows me here in Massachusetts. I have an area close by call the Shaker Village a History District, where I enter a path full of trees, and nature. It is my oasis of peace and tranquility. I run with my favorite music, U2, and enjoy the ride. That is the best for me!

On other occasions I like going to my favorite Yoga Class at my local gym, and being with myself in that moment help me clear my mind. Also I am an addicted reader to books, any kind of books, business, well-being, romance, mystery, fiction, self-improving and history. Some times this is the best to do when I need to go away in my thoughts and think about something else.  I always said, a good book with a nice glass of red wine, is a wonderful combination when we need quiet times.  So what works for you?

Now let’s talk about calming stress management technique that could help us calm quickly, that is called mindfulness meditation. In mindfulness meditation we try to pay attention to how we feel, what's happening and any sensations we have including sounds. We try to live in the present moment (which is sometimes called be here now) and feel what is happening in the time period.  Let’s try to be very attentive, alert and conscious of what is happening in the present moment. Pay attention to what we're doing and how it feels. This technique should help us to be more centered and peaceful. Try it!

Here is what I do:
Throughout the day I pause and do some kind of calming or mindfulness exercise. I like stretching and looking around the room. I also like massaging my hands and. Some other times I count to ten, do things more slowly or carefully or try to be more calm and peaceful. It works for me.

Another thing I do before I have to present, or to talk in an important meeting... I breathe deeply. Slow breathing helps me relax, exhaling more slowly than I usually do. This helps me calm quickly.  Suggestion for you: Take three deep diaphragmatic breaths several times a day to relax and calm your body and spirit. You will notice the difference.

No matter what we do, the most important thing is that we find ourselves expressing happiness from our hearts when doing any kind of thing that involves our mind and body bringing harmony.  Any kind of thing you try is what matters the most... In fact, I have very good friend who loves dancing specially salsa, we call her the Dancing Queen and she does this for fun and for stress relief. That is a good thing! I have other friends and coworkers, who love to watch movies, take a long walk, doing Pilates, stretching, riding a bike, play with their kids, and meditate. Anyway, whatever works for you is what matter the most to relax your body and calm your mind.

Lastly, I would like to share with you more information about meditation. This is a new thing I am trying to incorporate in my life.

“Meditation is the process whereby you are able to still and quiet your mind. During meditation you travel inwards and with practice, you are able to fully experience a deep sense of inner calm, focus and stillness”.

I have found that for some people, their meditation practice forms part of their spiritual awakening or reconnecting to a higher source of being;  It is used as a form of stress relief and a way to cope better with the everyday stresses and tension…

Let’s try it: How to Meditate in Seven Steps

1. Decide you want to experience a period of calmness, inner quiet and stillness in your life.
2. Find a quiet comfortable space in which you can sit undisturbed for a period of 5 - 20 minutes.
3. Sit on the floor, on a cushion in a comfortable cross-legged position. If this is too uncomfortable, then sit on a chair. Place your feet firmly on the floor and sit with a straight back.
4. Close your eyes and take a deep steady breath in through your nose and as you breathe out allow your jaw, shoulders and hands to relax.
5. Stay focused on your breath. On the next out breath, allow your buttocks, thighs, calves and feet to relax.
6. Maintain this awareness on your breath as you slowly and gently breathe in and out through your nose. If your mind wanders and you lose your concentration, just return your awareness to your breath. Stay in this position for at least 5 - 10 rounds of steady breathing.
7. Slowly return to normal breathing. Stay still and gently open your eyes. Keep a soft gaze and stay seated for a few more moments before getting up and re-engaging with your day.
This is just a very simple introduction into meditating. The more regularly we practice, the easier it is for us to relax our body and calm our mind - whether we are looking for a deep spiritual experience or simply a few moments of calm during our day at work. What else do you suggest?

Enjoy!

Application Story: Bringing Harmony into Our Lives Part II

Let’s continue with the search for bringing harmony into our lives. As I said before Part II of this article will provide us with more practical ideas to start thinking what could we do to understand what matter the most for us, and how we can balanced those things. The end goal of this is to create an open forum and generate ideas so that we can learn from each other about “Life Balance or Life Harmony”.

Here is the way I picture Life Harmony after reading and interiorizing things with my personal and professional experience:

Over the course of our lives, imagine that you receive Six balls to juggle in life, these are fundamental for your success. These 6 balls are in fact part of your Life Harmony: Family, Health, Work, Time, Money, and Wisdom.    Now let’s take a moment to think how you will juggle these balls and how you will balance all of them. To help us with this, let’s find some meanings…

Why Family Matters? I believe that family is the center of our human beings, is the fundamental principle of personal realization and happiness. With family we regenerate and renew our society expanding our roots. The most important thing in this context is to have a healthy family making each member or generation better when contributing in the society. Forming great children who are the future and who will represent what comes next in generations soon to be.

Why Health Matters? It matters for a very simple reason, we would like to live long enough to enjoy all pleasures in live. We enjoy life better when we have better health, and the simple activities that we normally do is something we shouldn’t take for granted. I will say life can only be enjoyable because the opportunities we size and enjoy. There are many opportunities that are only opened to us if we have good health. We all want to be free from pain, and any health problem, well the only way to be free is to live to the fullest, having good health for sure.

Why Work Matters? Work is far more than having a job or a career, because it is part of the quality of life we would like to achieve. It is how we find the way to support ourselves and families. It is also the way we can express feelings like love, how we contribute and how we nurture what we want to be and who we want to be.

Why Time Matters?  Time implies value in many ways. Time matters because it is limited and goes by so quickly. We can size each moment but we cannot slow down time. We can live each moment, appreciate it and savor it. We can make sure we do not squander it or waste it. That is the best we can do. The worst we can do is paying no attention to time, because when it’s gone, it’s gone. In fact, the way we spend our time reflects our ability to focus on and achieve what we would like to achieve. It is our ability that counts the most to define what matter the most to us, and how we would like to spend the time in our lives.

Why Money Matters? As time, money is also related to value. It is related to our relationship with work, family, health and time. Money is a manifestation of the value we place on the things money can buy. My question is then how much money buys harmony, and happiness? A wide group of research suggests the number is approximately forty thousand dollars a year. Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University, says once you have enough money to meet basic needs – food, shelter, but not necessarily cable —incremental increases have little effect on your happiness.

Why Wisdom Matters? I will say this is part of lives dynamic. The knowledge we have or the wisdom we acquire will give us the capacity to balance our lives day in and day out. Wisdom gives us the opportunity to size our goals, priorities, and decisions moments that will test our integrity and expand our awareness in facing challenging situations. As time, life moves on, and things happen as a consequence of the decisions or actions we take depending on our wisdom or knowledge. So having the judgment to make good decisions in our daily lives is what empowers us with the ongoing awareness to measure family, work, money, time and health looking for a satisfying balance. I will say wisdom like in the biblical times; it is an empowering thing that will help us navigate with intelligence in the search of that balance.

Finally, after sharing with you my idea of these “Six Balls” we need to juggle to explore Life Harmony, I will say that the core of all this idea is to really understand what matters the most for each of us. But remember…that is something different for each individual, and you need to find what works best for you.   In my opinion, the challenge for all of us is to find a way, a tool or a best practice that will fit our own needs and aspirations. It is a matter of learning how to be successful when juggling the balls: Family, Health, Work, Time, Money, and Wisdom.

Here is a piece of advice:
Keep in mind that “Work and Money “are balls that can bounce-back and they are rubber balls, so they come and go. Do not be afraid or intimidated by them.

On the other hand, “Family, Health, Time, and Wisdom” are glass balls that can be broken any time. Those will be hard to put back together if we are lacking of the understanding on how they are part of life priorities. They are flexible but you have to be more careful.

In summary, as I said before, we live in the now, not in the past or in the future; and with the idea to bring harmony into our lives more frequent, remember to find the best approach to juggle your six balls. Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you will perform better when your thoughts, feeling, emotions, goals and values are in balance.

Last but not least, here is a great book to read: the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. In his book he shares a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service and human dignity principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates. Originally published in 1989, the timeless seven habits remain relevant even as the challenges have become more difficult.

Enjoy!

Application Story Three: Bringing Harmony into Our Lives Part I

"Our lives are a mixture of different roles. Most of us are doing the best we can to find whatever the right balance is . . . For me, that balance is family, work, and service." Hillary Rodham Clinton

Why This Topic...Over my personal and professional development, “Bring Harmony” into our lives is a subject I wanted to explore more because as human beings we need to identify what brings balance to the journey we have taken in life. As a result of this, the intent of this article is to share with others my personal view of this topic and create an open forum where we can share best practices. To do this I have divided this article into two parts because it could become overwhelming. The first one will be addressing some of my reflections about harmony, and how to start bringing it in our lives. The second part is a more practical reflection that can help us identify the areas we would like to focus to increase the chances of bringing more harmony in our daily lives.

What have I found?
This is a topic often called “Life Balanced”, or “Life Harmony” that triggers a lot of meanings and points of view. In fact, it is one of the subjects we discussed very often at work, and in our personal lives; where people always is trying to look for the right approach to find the balance. For instance the more I talked about it with peers, colleagues and friends, the more I discover that it is a subject that could be interpreted and practiced in many ways. And no matter we are looking for a comprehensive meaning “Life Harmony” is something we need to find, and define by ourselves.

Saying this, what works for me might not work for others, so it is a matter of sharing best practices and trying what work best for each individual.  We can see that in the business management arena, there are sufficient definitions and interpretations of “Life Balance or Harmony”. There are plenty of books dedicated to this subject, studies done, and many resources to teach us how to become more mindful about “Life Harmony” especially in today’s working world. But saying this, and no matter all the resources we may find, discover, or explore; I am a firm believer that bringing harmony into our lives is something we need to find by ourselves acknowledging our mixture of roles when perusing our careers, dreams and hopes.  

My Reflections…First of all, I will start by decoding the word “Harmony” and finding a meaning that works for me. In fact, this word encompasses our inner self, our external surroundings and how we equalize both (internal and external), so that we can have a healthy wellbeing. In other words I am talking about what we feel, think, believe, and do; and how all of that is in constant movement in our lives.  Harmony is also what matters the most for us and bring us peace and tranquility to perceive life. It is also the actions and decisions we take, and how these impact us in the inside and the outside of ourselves. In addition, “Harmony” involves how we live our lives based on our multiple roles. How we may focus less on material things and place more emphasis on how we would like to project ourselves. How we would like to approach life based on the different roles we undertake, and the responsibilities we acquire during our personal or professional life… Nevertheless, this is something I am still trying to define every day of my life taking one step at a time, and exploring things that work for me. Now let me ask you: What is your approach and definition of your own Life Harmony?

Second, in today’s culture there is a huge problem we have to face in terms of the overwhelming agendas and rushing days we constantly encounter in the different roles we take. In truth, I have learned from friends and peers how frustrated they are because of the lack of life balanced or harmony. Normally to express their frustration, they talk about their busy agendas, the urgent vs. the important, the lack of time to do what we like the most, the overwhelming feeling of too much to do, and less time or resources to accomplish things. So this is a greater problem that is showing us the need to stop and rethink how we would like to bring harmony into our lives.

From those discussions I have concluded that for many years, life balance has been a huge thing in our society, and people tend to look at this by finding what matters the most for them. However, there is a huge gap between what we say matter the most for us, and the way we actually spend our time and the level of importance we give to things in our lives. People tend to focus more often on quantifying things like the money they make, the time they spend at work, the career achievements they have, the family vacation they take, how they support their children activities, the free time they have during weekends, their family activities, the things they buy, the multiple outlook meetings they have in their calendars, their work-out activities, and many more things. Saying all this, now, let me ask you, What matter the most for you?
Let’s reflect more on this question, because this could be our starting point to find the right understanding of how we view “Life Harmony”. Yet there is a great dilemma and the more we think about it, the more questions come to our minds, here are some samples:

- HOW we can do that? 
- HOW can we identify what matter the most for us?  It is a huge thing, but that is a starting point to find - HOW we can balance our lives and priorities in the midst of today’s challenges, jobs, family issues, and economic pressure.
- HOW can we prioritize family, friends, and jobs?
- HOW can we have the best of life balance, or life harmony?

Look for your own answers, and explore what matter the most for you. And after all this initial reflection I would like to share with you some ideas to make harmony part of your daily life.

 Taking Action...

1. Let’s start by using our own journal (if you have one), and start making a list of all those things that are part of our lives, starting for what matter the most for us. Keep in mind that we need a balance of all key areas of our lives. 

2. Next, think about the areas that matter the most, and evaluate which ones are causing us stress and discomfort.

3. With our list in mind, our goal should be to be like an orchestra where all instruments play together in harmony, so make sure you start thinking how you can adjust your own instruments and the actions you would like to take next. Reflect on the things that are causing you more stress, and start crafting a plan to overcome those things.

Finally, Use the following thoughts as “mantra words” to help you achieve the balance we are looking for. Remember it is one step at a time:

Harmony in my heart, brings harmony to the family,

Harmony in the family brings harmony to my surroundings,

Harmony in the surroundings brings harmony to my regular activities and routines,

Let there be harmony with ME!

Enjoy!