Seeking ways to cultivate balance in a world on fire?

​Feeling overcommitted, stretched too thin, anxious, overloaded or burnt out? You are not alone or imagining it. Increasingly there is more and more evidence indicating just how widespread this sense of overload has become. Everywhere I look I’m finding more and more confirmation of this. 

• From the Six Seconds 2023 State of the Heart Report that concluded that the “world is facing a human energy crisis at home and work” as wellbeing scores continue to decline and rates of burnout, social isolation, and emotional detachment” are reported as being at an all-time high.
• To something closer to home with Gallup 2023 research reporting that half of Australian leaders currently experience significant levels of stress most of the day, every day, and the second highest rate of stress compared with leaders in all other countries.

Not only are you likely to be experiencing overwhelm and overload yourself, with 7 in 10 people struggling (as reported by Gallap) the impact won’t stop with you alone. The chances are you also will be encountering others who are struggling, and this is likely to have a compounding effect.  

How can we turn this around and actively start to cultivate more balance in our everyday lives? These reports and others like them are clear red flags that we need to do something different.

​Whist it can feel hopeless in the moment, there is in fact a great deal of evidence from research and literature on this topic about what works. I was reminded of this at a recent Six Seconds Connect and Learn for the Asia Pacific Region.

​This one-hour catch up consisted of a series of mini conversations where we shared in groups of three or four our answers to the following questions in a series of breakout groups:

• How do you know when you are out of balance?
• How does it feel when you are out of balance – what’s the emotion you’re feeling as part of that experience?
• What is the message that emotion has for you? 
• When it comes to creating balance in your life - What do you already know that works?  What are your top 2 or 3 tips?

​We compiled lists of our answers. It was surprising the wisdom that existed in the room, it was a potent reminder that:

Our emotions are telling us something.

“Emotions are wired into us by eons of evolution. Their purpose is not to scare us and overwhelm us and make us lose control. Emotions are wired into our brains and bodies and nervous systems to help us cope with our environments and thus enhance our adaption.“ - Hillary Jacobs Hendel “It’s not always depression.”

​​Many of us ignore these messages, hoping to avoid the pain or thinking there is something wrong with us for feeling this way. 

“Treasure the richness of emotions and what powerful guides they can be, pointing us toward doing what we need to do to heal old wounds and feel more effective and happy in our lives.” - Hillary Jacobs Hendel “It’s not always depression.”

Just validating the emotion you are feeling can help bring you back into balance.

“Similar to breathing a sigh of relief, when a crooked picture is righted, when we finally feel the emotions that are true to our situation, it feels right. And we feel good.” - Hillary Jacobs Hendel “It’s not always depression.”

​That hills feel less steep and pain less intense when someone is with us and that: 

“Our brains are designed to be social. When we connect and engage with others through conversations, we build new capacity for innovation and change.” -  Judith E. Glaser – Conversational Intelligence.

​​It’s all about making intentional choices and your emotions will give you clues as to whether you are on the right track and how to course correct for: 

“When people are feeling safe, when their very nerves have a sense that the world is a good place to be (Porges calls this a “neuroception of safety”) their systems are set for growth and restoration.” – Sarah Peyton – Your Resonate Self.

There is no need to be perfect, we just need to start, as Simon Sinek says: 

It doesn’t matter when we start.
It doesn’t matter where we start.
All that matters is that we start.

​Perhaps most importantly I was reminded in this one-hour session that simply pausing for a few minutes and intentionally turning towards yourself and towards each other, whilst surprisingly simple, its positive impact can be profound. 

​If you are interested in attending a Six Seconds webinar yourself, you can check out the incredible range of offerings and free webinars, including signing up for one a: 6sec.org/webinars.