LIFE’S 5 MOST IMPORTANT AREAS……
Last week I wrote about focusing on what is REALLY important in our lives and making those areas our primary focus. It is a choice whether we let the “squirrels” of our lives distract us from what is important or not. I had a recent reminder of this when our son and his beautiful wife visited. As we were talking over dinner I told them about shifting my focus but as I was saying the words I realized that my actions were not completely in harmony with my words…I was not totally practicing this.
I have now written my five areas in my calendar. I write my intentions for the next day every night, so the squirrels of life cannot distract me as easily. We all have the same amount of time, we have 24 hours in a day to either be focused on what we love or chase the squirrels.
The first step to this very important process is to really determine what is important in your life. The second step is to see if your activities are congruent with those 5 areas and if not, why are you spending your precious time on them?
As I made my list, eliminating some things, finding others fit under a broader area it became clear to me that I squander a lot of my time and energy on things that are not really that important in my life. An example would be going to meetings that I felt more of an obligation to go to instead of having a passion for, or spending time with people that the connection isn’t there …dinners…events….etc.
The areas that really spoke to me were:
GOD/Spiritual-church, service to others, spiritual community, prayer & meditation time, reading uplifting spiritual materials. We like to attend workshops that help with our connection to a greater spiritual life.
Healthy Body-food, exercise, rest, stress management, meal planning (also cuts cost). How many chemicals are we putting on our skin? Are the shampoos, soaps, deodorants, lotions, shower gels, bug sprays, sun tan lotions free of harsh chemicals? Are there any dyes in our food?
Relationships-family, friends and self. Scheduling time to listen, be present, visit. Write notes and cards, emails. Taking time to know and reflect on what is important in my life.
Home– relaxing, clean, decluttered. Do I spend too much time cleaning? Do we have too much stuff to shuffle? How toxic are the cleaning materials I am using? Are they biodegradable to help our environment? How am I doing with recycling? Is our home a safe, relaxing haven or do we walk in immediately seeing the to do list to maintain it? Is it more work than pleasure?
Healthy Finances– are we spending more than we earn? Do we spend our monies with companies that support causes that are close to our hearts? Do we make random purchases, or do we plan them?
My next step was to look at each area and decide how to do this. For instance, if I want a strong spiritual life, when will I schedule the time to spend on this in the quiet? I didn’t want it to be where I didn’t truly make it a priority. I decided for me it was first thing in the morning, sometimes requiring me to get up earlier. To have a healthy body I decided it was one conscious choice at a time. Relationships were taking a backseat to other things so each day I reach out to at least one person. Everyday I am focusing on ways to simplify our home so to enjoy it and not have it to be another dreaded “to do” item. As we focused on the first 4 items we are realizing that to truly have healthy finances we needed to be very mindful as to what, where and how we spent our resources.
The steps that made all this quick and workable for us was to focus on our 5 areas. If something doesn’t fit in or enhance those five areas, we are releasing them from our lives.
To get you started on a life of meaning and purpose you might ask yourself these questions.
What are the 5 most important areas of my life?
Is my time spent on developing, enjoying and enhancing those areas?
How can I shift where my energy and time is spent to improve those areas?
What can I release/add to my daily schedule to improve the quality of my life?
What, who, where do I receive my greatest JOY?
We can either sleepwalk through life or live a life a purpose. 