Cultivating Balance and Zen for Ourselves by Teresa Palmer

Finding balance is something that can be really challenging in our lives that are rich in activity and coming and goings. Having a family makes it even harder to carve out time for ourselves to reinvigorate and breathe and just have a more calming experience.

Below I give some examples on how I like to strike a balance in my life whether it be through exercise, food or enriching rituals.

When you wake up feeling invigorated, use that energy to workout in the morning. The endorphins you receive from challenging your heart rate will see you through the rest of the day and keep you feeling happy and inspired.

Meditate. Take moments for yourself to be quiet, imagine being inside your body and feeling beautiful positive energy running through you. Don’t judge any thoughts that come into your mind just try to be still and quiet. We spend too much time multitasking and sorting through problems in our minds that we need to take breaks to recharge our batteries. Calm Mama, happy child.

Try to remain focused on the present moment and slow down. Whether it is sitting in your car driving to work, watching a movie or making dinner. We are so focused on the next task or

something that’s bothering us from the past. We miss the beautiful present moments- try to sit in the now, and observe how you are feeling. Life flies by so quickly as it is.. It’s important to be present you never know what you could miss.

I love to lie in bed before I go to sleep and be very reflective. I light incense and I really enjoying reading a good inspirational book, something that pushes me to delve further into myself. I’m a sucker for spirituality books like “The Alchemist” and “Anatomy Of The Spirit” perhaps my all time favorite thing to do outside of being a Mum is contemplate on the complexities of life and see how I can inspire growth within myself.

Eat foods that nourish your body. Green juices, big salads with lots of different colored veggies, healthy fats like raw almonds and avocado, plenty of water and stay away from refined sugars, processed food and deep fried anything! A healthy body is a healthy mind and a healthy life.

Get rid of toxic people in your life. Anyone too gossipy, anyone who sucks your energy or makes you feel bad about yourself is a toxic friend. Be conscious of who serves your life and who is taking away from it. There are really easy and gentle ways to distance yourself from those people. This is very integral to being your healthiest self. The older I’ve got the more I’ve realized how important this is.

Body bash less. I get it, we like to moan about our bodies.. I do too but try to be aware of how much energy you’re placing on doing this. At the end of the day it’s just not worth the amount of time we spend obsessing over every lump or bump. We are strong beautiful women with all different body shapes, we need to embrace ourselves and if we are serving the world by being good people and serving ourselves by exercising and eating right then we are living wholly. Try to catch yourself when you start to body bash and channel that energy into something more positive. 

Thinking about my birth and what an incredibly profound achievement that was for my body is really helpful in reminding me that the physical form needs to be celebrated and not condemned.

Don’t stop working on personal development. Read books, educate yourself on different areas that interest you, delve into your self more. Take time out from the kids and really carve that time out for yourself to focus on this type of work. For me, I have a vested interest in spirituality, in nutrition, in psychology, in philanthropy and philosophy. Ask yourself how you want to be better and then go about working towards that. It’s so important to keep learning to grow in to a person so rich in ideas, theories, wisdom, experience.. It will not only serve yourself but also the company you keep.

Be of service. This is huge in gaining balance. There are people way less fortunate than yourself. Give of yourself to people in need, whether they are in need of love, companionship, money or food.

Take time out of each week to focus on serving the needs of another person either through a charity that you feel connected to or someone in your life who is facing adversity. Reach out and be there for them, it is so healing and therapeutic to everyone involved.