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Home | Personal Development | Balancing Life's Demands

Balancing Life's Demands

BY: T. Franklin Murphy  | December 2015 (edited March 14, 2022)
Rocks balancing with an ocean back ground. An article on balancing life's opposing demands
Adobe Stock Images
 Life is complex, full of joys and sorrows, expected events and surprising disappointments. A healthy life balances each wonderful and painful moment.
There’s no perfect map, no exact recipe, and no all-encompassing plan for living a rich and rewarding life. But with thousands of years of experience, we humans have stumbled on some positive and negative behaviors, impacting futures, creating both good and evil. The success of our lives isn’t left to blind stabs in the dark but also not completely determined by structured check lists of dos and don’ts. We must balance wisdom of the past with conscientious examination of the present. Several proven techniques for living, when implemented, offer a tremendous advantage for living in a complex world.
"Balance, peace, and joy are the fruit of a successful life. It starts with recognizing your talents and finding ways to serve others by using them."
​Thomas Kinkade
The computer age changed the flow of information. We live surrounded by meta-information. Anyone with a few extra minutes, a little self-discipline and a computer can pound out a program for success, proclaim their unique plan invaluable, full of treasured information, and begin distribution. Often the advice is misguided, limited in scope, and focused on gaining notoriety or money for the author.

​Vetting out helpful information from the heaps of trash is the challenge of our era. We must sift through the stifling piles and extract wisdom that best fits our unique needs.

Richness of Experiences Come From Balance

A deep and rich life has pleasures, sorrows, and meaning. Overloading any particular experience, throws life out of balance and narrows opportunities. We must find peace in simplicity; but also seek calmness while enmeshed in complexity. Compassionate acceptance of a complex present softens the jagged edges of anxiety that complex unknown futures can create; but our more accepting approach creates a temperate environment for growth.

​Life is challenging. Sometimes seemingly unfair experiences—children that hurt, the pain of disloyalty, and stagnating careers—challenge our resolve. But we must courageously and successfully move through the complex influx of both positive and negative experiences, balancing acceptance with stubborn ambition to achieve something better.
"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony."
​
Thomas Merton

Life Requires Flexibility

Life continually challenges us to sway one way or another. Mindfully, we must maintain balance. We need pleasure to accept the unpleasurable; but pleasures should respect futures. We bless our lives when pleasurable moments are balanced with purpose. We acknowledge shortcomings without handicapping new explorations with guilt. We engage in career development while protecting precious time for children and partners.

​Balance is required in all aspects of our lives. Skillfully balancing time, finances and energy effectively blesses today while still enhancing the future. Mindful attention to others prevents too much focus on self.
"Vetting out helpful information from the heaps of trash is the challenge of our era."
We must continually adjust and tamper with balance, as the winds shift, new elements enter, and priorities change, we must dynamically react. Purposeful awareness of balance is required. Oversimplifying, focusing on limited areas, invites chaos in the neglected sections. The fields un-mowed and untrimmed spill over into the carefully maintained gardens. The pesky weeds blow their seeds into the flower beds invading and choking our lives with unnecessary disruptions.
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T. Franklin Murphy
T. Franklin Murphy
Wellness. Writer. Researcher.
​T. Franklin Murphy has a degree in psychology. He tirelessly researches scientific findings that contribute to wellness. In 2010, he began publishing his findings.

Index:

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  • Mindfulness
  • Addiction Recovery
  • Wellness 
Psychology of Wellness
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  • Personality
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About Flourishing Life
Personal Development. A Flourishing Life Society article data base link
External Links:
External Link: How to Live Your Purpose
External Link: Six signs that you need a break
External Link: Why Sleep Deprivation Kills
External Link: Why Establishing Adaptive Habits Is Difficult
Wellness on the Web
External Link: A Stoic’s Key to Peace of Mind: Seneca on the Antidote to Anxiety
External Link: Accomplish goals by identifying and overcoming your weaknesses
External Link: The Behavioral Economics Diet: The Science of Killing a Bad Habit
External Link: Procrastination: It’s Pretty Much All in the Mind

​Other Flourishing Life Society articles of interest on this topic:

Internal Link. Accepting Life on Its Terms: We stress over the hardships; but life is what is. It always will have troublesome moments. Happiness comes and goes; just as sorrows. Once we accept these inevitable truths, the impact of troubles diminishes.
A Flourishing Life Society article image link. The Lure of Sameness
A Flourishing Life Society article link. Fear of Change
We, like the acorn, have great potential. We, unlike the acorn, are empowered beyond our environments. We can create environments that gives more of the nutrients and protection that we need.
A Flourishing Life Society article link. Success Traits
We live in a dynamic environment. When planning, we can't account for all possibilities. We must be flexible.
Motivation. Tips for Staying Motivated. A Flourishing Life Society article image link
Flourishing Life Society article link. Over Analyzing
FLS link. Building Shelter
We can change; it's just not easy. Forces pull us in many directions, usually following a set trajectory, moving in the same direction as before. We can adjust but must do so with confidence and skill.
Whole Person Wellness. A Flourishing Life Society article link
We don't exist in a world of right and wrong choices. There is not a perfect map for us to follow. Most choices include drawbacks and benefits. We must carefully balance our lives, and continually monitor and make adjustments.
Link: A healthy mind utilizes many states of excitement and rest. We must find a balance that pushes us to work but also finds time to recover.
A Flourishing Life Society article link. Balancing Life's Opposing Demands
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