Living a Balanced Life
I have had the benefit of travelling to many places in the world. In every city and town, one of the common coffee shop conversations is about the state of the roads and how horrible the potholes are. When we were in Vienna in 2015, the morning radio show, invited people to phone in to describe the state of their roads. In Ottawa, it was purported that the reason the truckers could not leave was because their trucks could not get out of the potholes! While in Mazatlán, the joke was to book a massage immediately after taking a taxi ride!
Recently, while driving on Highway 3, I hit a pothole which resulted in my car’s right front tire to lose its balance. After banging through the rough spot in the road, I could feel the car shake when I drove faster than 80 kms/hour which made the remainder of my trip home less comfortable. I took my car to my favorite tire store, where they were able to rebalance my tire by adding a lead counterbalance weight on the rim. I can now drive my vehicle safely and in comfort. Thank you to the gang at Integra Tire in Cranbrook, BC!
I relate this real-life incident to illustrate the importance of living a balanced life. Two favorite business commentators of mine, John Maxwell and Zig Ziglar, write and speak constantly that if you want a long and happy life, one should consider ways to be in harmony in all areas of your being. Rabbi Daniel Lapin encourages us to consider his 5 “F’s”: These are:
- Fitness
- Friends
- Family
- Finances
- Faith
The Rabbi observes that people that are mindful of these 5 domains are more likely be enjoy a contented and resilient life. I will share a short illustration of how this did not work well for me. When I was in my mid thirties, it was common for me to be busy in many different organizations. The busy-ness of that time resulted in a gradual weight gain to the point that I struggled with seeing my toes on the weigh scale! The result was that I was making many acquaintances but few friends, I was sacrificing family time for business time, I was making lots of money, but my spiritual life suffered because I sacrificed my day of rest for fleeting success.
Eventually, I figured out that by getting my “tires balanced”, I could enjoy everything in abundance by being more selective in my priorities. Henry Cloud, the author of the series “Boundaries” encourages us to learn to say “no” to things in order to say “yes” to a good life!
Al’s Nuggets:
- Focus on living an integrated life
- People prefer to do business with happy, energetic and rested people
- Faith matters because it informs your morals and ethics