Monday, May 1, 2017

May Balanced Life Goals


As I have mentioned earlier, when I first started doing this balanced life goals activity, several years ago, I was instructed to list all the various important areas in my life and rate my level of satisfaction in those areas on a scale of 1-10.  Ideally, each area would rate high on the scale and life would feel well-balanced.  But in reality, some areas rated higher than others and some areas showed a high degree of dissatisfaction.  It was this discrepancy that led to the feeling of being imbalanced.

I was instructed to consider what would be needed to raise the level of satisfaction in those areas that rated low and list what could be done.  Those activities became the goals for the month.  At the end of the month, or the beginning of the following month, I was to rate my satisfaction in each area, again.   Over the years, however, I stopped giving a numeric value to my level of satisfaction and focused more on if I was meeting my goals or not.

In April, since the first quarter of the year was over and we were starting on the second quarter, I thought it was a good time to review how all this was working out for me.  As a result of my review and some contemplation, I decided to make some small changes to the basic areas.  I am continuing with those changes and will probably review again at the end of June.

The goal, as always, is to attend to each area, so that my life feels more balanced and I am not neglecting any aspects of my life that are important to me.  However, as I  am still striving to regain my health, I will continue to focus more on self-care in all aspects of my life.

These are my goals for a more balanced life in May:

Spiritual:  The goal is to live a spiritually meaningful life.

- Continue with daily prayers and gratitude
- Continue to focus on blessings, joy, and abundance
- Take time for meditation(doesn't have to be an extended period of time;  even 5 minutes of intentional, mindful meditation is good)
- Cultivate non-attachment
- Attend the monthly prayer gathering if possible
- Observe Vesak, which commemorates the birth, enlightenment (or attainment of Buddhahood), and death of the Buddha; traditionally observed on the day of the full moon
 
Environment:  The goal is a clean, tidy, uncluttered house and a well-maintained garden.
- Do some regular house cleaning in order to maintain what I have been able to achieve - implement cleaning routines to the extent possible
- Declutter -  Cultivate non-attachment to things by decluttering at least one item a day during the month of May
- Do some regular organizing 
- Plant the new succulents I've been given
- Tend to the vegetable seedlings
- Decide what to do about the grape vines
- Weed and mulch


Daughter:  The goal is to continue to have a close relationship with her. 
- Daily texts, phone calls, email exchanges, and video chatting! 
- Maybe visit her for a long weekend towards the end of the month?

Family & Friends:  The goal is to keep in touch with various family members and friends.
- Communicate regularly - phone calls, texts, and emails
- Call to check on and visit neighbor during her daughter's trip out out town (have already given her my office phone number to call if needed)
  
Career:  The goal is to continue to do work which I enjoy (for the most part) and which enables me to support myself.
- Continue to ease into going to the office full time

Finances:  The goal is financial security.
- Continue budgeting and spending mindfully, with purpose
 
Health & Well Being:  The goal is good health.  This will continue to be the focus, this month, as my longer than anticipated recovery continues!
- Attend the appointments with my various doctors - 3 scheduled, so far, in May!
- Continue to monitor blood pressure and sugar levels
- Continue to focus on a healthier diet (more vegetables!), drinking enough water, exercising regularly, and getting sufficient sleep

Time Management:  The goal is having enough time to do all what I want to do!
- Organize myself and put routines into place so I have a more regular schedule.

Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies/Me-Time:  The goal is to relax doing something I enjoy doing for the pleasure of it.
- Put together a succulents planter to take to the office
- Do a few more things from the Spring Joy list
- Continue to cuddle a kitty!

So those are my goals for May.  Anyone else making monthly goals? 

10 comments:

  1. Great list of Goals. Can I ask a question in your spiritual goals, you have 'cultivate non attachment', is that to material things? Also give yourself time to heal, everyone is different, I have two close friends that are recovering from breast cancer and one healed so fast that everyone was astonished and the other is still struggling even after a year, and the strange thing is that the one that is struggling was a super fit person before treatment. My favourite bit of your goals is 'continue to cuddle a kitty'. Did you know that studies have been done that show that people that have cats and stroke and cuddle them are least likely to have heart attacks and strokes, apparently the purring and the stoking create pheromones that inhibit hypertension etc. I hope that you continue to move forward with all your goals this month.

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    1. Sharon, yes, I am starting with cultivating non-attachment to material things, and I plan to do it by decluttering! My goal is to declutter one item a day during this month. There's a lot of emphasis on cultivating non-attachment in Buddhism, which is why I have listed it as a spiritual goal.

      Yes, stroking pets or watching fish is supposed to relax you and lower blood pressure, stress, etc. Besides, the poor kitty doesn't get enough cuddling since daughter is not here to cuddle him.

      Thank you, Sharon. I hope you, too, have a wonderful month ahead of you. Take care.

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  2. Hello Bless! I like how you state the goal. Maybe that's where I am going a little astray lately. Did you just point me in the right direction to solve my problems?
    My squash seedlings last year, look like yours. I am sorry it happened to you.
    Have a wonderful week! Hugs, Jen

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    1. Jen, to me, goals are the end states that I am trying to achieve. For example, "Better/Good health" is a goal for me; healthy eating and exercise are my objectives or how I plan to attain my goal of being healthy; incorporating more vegetables in my diet, limiting sweets, walking for 30 minutes 3 times a week, etc. are steps I'll implement to attain my objectives of healthy eating and exercise, in order to reach that goal of good health. Those individual steps can be mini goals, if you like, but I like to ask myself why I am doing them; what do I hope to achieve. I hope that the way I state my goals will help you with your goals!

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  3. What I think is important in your goal list is that you have very concrete steps to achieve your goals. It's so easy for someone to say that they want to better at something, but not think through the actual steps they need to get there.

    Good luck with your April goals.

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    1. Yes, the steps to implementing the goals are just as important as the goals, themselves. A clean house (goal) just doesn't happen by itself (much as I'd like it to!). The goal needs to be followed up with steps to achieving it - weekly cleaning schedules, daily maintenance routines, etc. Implementing those schedules and routines is where the problem lies, for me! But I'm working on it!

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  4. Great goal list! Seeing yours reminds me of a few things I left off mine. Thank you for your inspirations!

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    1. You are quite welcome, Anne! Hope you achieve all your goals this month!

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  5. Hi Bless, I love when you share your life balance goals. It makes me think about how I can better try to balance out my life too. I had my last day of work today until next Fall and I will miss those little kiddos and their mommies. I felt like I was just starting to make good progress with one little guy with his behavior and now I will not see him for 4 months. Helping little ones grow is so important to me. Luckily I will be spending lots of time with my 2 older grandson ages almost 4 and now 5 and will also be welcoming grandson #3 later this month. Oh the joy of having all those grandsons to love on! My plan for the Summer is to concentrate on getting my home in order, spend more time in the garden growing good and healthy foods for us, our kids and grandkids and good friends too. I plan on going on spontaneous picnics, spending time camping with family and friends and learning a few new skills too. Thank you for inspiring me to find more balance!

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    1. Debbie, I didn't realize you get to have the summer off! I'm sure the kids and their moms will miss you, too! But you will be busy with your own grandsons and I know they will have fun spending time with you. Sounds like you've good some good goals for the summer, yourself, and plenty to keep you busy!

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