To be successful we should be focusing on a few important things that form a part of our life. For example: self, career, home, family and friends. You then can flow between them. When you focus on the self (like working out, reading or meditating) by being present in the moment, you get a break from family. When you focus mindfully on the home (laundry, cleanliness and plants) you get a break from work.
The fewer and meaningful things to focus on, the easier it is.
For example, if you hate your job, it cannot give you the respite you want. If you don’t like the clutter of miniatures which are a family collection – but need to spend time dusting and maintaining them, it won’t give you pleasure.
Success is when you can shift from one meaningful role to the other with less effort. Successful people know this and employ this to focus on a few important things in their life.
Justice Ruth Badar, who went on to become the Second Woman Justice of the US Supreme Court, mentions about how in 1956 she joined and attended law school from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm when her child was just 2 years old. It was a huge thing back then. She mentioned that when she came back it was her child’s hour. She focussed on playing and giving her child her full attention till they went to bed and that gave her the respite she required from law school.
Then after her child went to bed, she went back to her books. The flow between one task and another with commitment and a sense of purpose – was an important factor that made her successful.
We call it work-life balance today. It means being present with whatever you are doing, acknowledging your distractions and coming back to the present moment. For this you need to choose few areas in your life which are meaningful for you and give you a sense of purpose. Then it becomes easy to focus and be present with on one area of work and flow to the next effortlessly and then each job becomes a respite from the other and you begin to see how they complement each other.
Click on the audio link below to practise a guided mindfulness meditation.
Bell The Mind 